QuoteProject
I try to live with honor, even if it costs me millions of dollars and takes a long time. It's very unusual in Hollywood. Few people are trustworthy - a handshake means nothing to them. They feel they're required to keep an agreement with you only if you're successful or they need you.
James Cameron
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

Living with honor requires personal integrity and may come at a high cost.

In this quote, James Cameron reflects on the significance of personal honor and trustworthiness, particularly in an industry like Hollywood where such values are often compromised. He emphasizes the rarity of genuine commitment and integrity, suggesting that true honor may involve sacrifices, highlighting the contrast between personal principles and the transactional nature of many relationships in that environment.

Themes

HonorIntegrityTrustHollywoodSacrifice

In practice

Example use cases

This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of integrity in business.

More from James Cameron

The magic doesn't come from within the director's mind, it comes from within the hearts of the actors.
James CameronRead
To convince people to back your idea, you've got to sell it to yourself and know when it's the moment. Sometimes that means waiting. It's like surfing. You don't create energy, you just harvest energy already out there.
James CameronRead
I tend to like strong female characters. It just interests me dramatically. A strong male character isn't interesting because it has been done and it's so cliched. A weak male character is interesting: somebody else hasn't done it a hundred times. A strong female character is still interesting to me because it hasn't been done all that much, finding the balance of femininity and strength. [From a 1986 Fangoria interview]
James CameronRead
But failure has to be an option in art and in exploration - because it's a leap of faith. And no important endeavor that required innovation was done without risk. You have to be willing to take those risks.
James CameronRead
Pick up a camera. Shoot something. No matter how small, no matter how cheesy, no matter whether your friends and your sister star in it. Put your name on it as director. Now you're a director. Everything after that you're just negotiating your budget and your fee.
James CameronRead
Every time you dive, you hope you'll see something new - some new species. Sometimes the ocean gives you a gift, sometimes it doesn't.
James CameronRead

Similar quotes

We cannot make events. Our business is wisely to improve them.
Samuel AdamsRead
Look at this generation, with all of its electronic devices and multitasking. I will confidently predict less success than Warren, who just focused on reading.
Charlie MungerRead
The size of a man's understanding might always be justly measured by his mirth.
Samuel JohnsonRead
To try too hard to make people good is one way to make them worse. The only way to make them good is to be good, remembering well the beam and the mote.
George MacdonaldRead
Nothing is more damaging to the truth than an old error.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
Outsiders always look for a reason to explain why they are not inside. They never look in the mirror. Let's face it, the profession I'm in is a very simple and a very cruel one. There is no way that you can create a career for someone without talent and no way to stop a career of someone with talent.
Isaac SternRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.