I've managed to keep a clear head and remain sane in this business because I remain a kid off-camera.
Interpretation
Staying grounded and preserving childlike wonder helps maintain sanity in a demanding profession.
In this quote, Leonardo DiCaprio highlights the importance of retaining a sense of innocence and playfulness, which aids in navigating the pressures and complexities of his career in the entertainment industry. By keeping a 'clear head' and staying connected to his inner child, he suggests that one can better cope with the challenges of adulthood and fame, ultimately preserving one's mental health and personal authenticity.
In practice
During a motivational speech on creativity, I quoted DiCaprio to emphasize the importance of maintaining a playful attitude.
Mozambique is having an economic resurgence but still four out of 10 people there have HIV or AIDS...There's astounding conditions but what I was left with...was the power of the human spirit there and the fact these people have been through so much and they were still dancing in the streets
The best thing about acting is that I get to lose myself in another character and actually get paid for it. As for myself, I'm not really sure who I am. I change every day.
My career should adapt to me. Fame is like a VIP pass wherever you want to go.
I lived in Hollywood and, ironically, I didn't know you could just go out and get an agent and go on auditions and try and become an actor, I thought it was like a Masonic thing, like a blood line you had to belong to β until I was 13. Then I realised what you had to do. It is the one thing I know I want to do for the rest of my life.
As a young boy, I was obsessed with endangered species and the extinct species that men killed off. Biology was the subject in school that I was incredibly passionate about.
Mother Earth is hurting. And she needs a generation of thoughtful, caring and active kids like all of you to protect her for the future.
Do not be bullied out of your common sense by the specialist; two to one, he is a pedant.
When you are famous it is hard to work on small problems. This is what did [Claude Elwood] Shannon in. After information theory, what do you do for an encore? The great scientists often make this error. They fail to continue to plant the little acorns from which the mighty oak trees grow. They try to get the big thing right off. And that isn't the way things go. So that is another reason why you find that when you get early recognition it seems to sterilize you.
I don't care whether the people believe me to be a prophet, seer, or revelator or not - I have been very profitable to this people, and I have seen a good many things, and I have revealed many things.
So long as you have faith in your Guru, nothing will be able to obstruct your way.
When the human organism is discharging its negative experience efficiently, the mind is empty of past or future concerns; there is no worry, anticipation, or regret. This means that the mind is left open to Being, the simplest state of awareness.
Whenever there is a simple error that most laymen fall for, there is always a slightly more sophisticated version of the same problem that experts fall for.
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