Whatever you do, make sure you want to write more than you want to be a writer. Make sure you want to act more than you want to be an actor. That is what will sustain you.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes that passion for the craft should outweigh the desire for the title of the profession.
Bradley Whitford's quote encourages individuals to focus on the love for their work rather than the pursuit of recognition for being in that field. It suggests that genuine passion and dedication to writing or acting will provide the resilience and sustenance necessary to thrive in challenging artistic careers.
In practice
During a motivational speech at a creative writing workshop.
Infuse your life with action. Don't wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen... yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.
Four steps to achievement: Plan purposefully. Prepare prayerfully. Proceed positively. Pursue persistently.
One of my first races came over 10km in 2002. I won that race and it felt great. I would say that is when I first fell in love with running.
I implore you, I entreat you and I challenge you to speak with conviction. To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks the determination with which you believe it. Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker, it is not enough these days to simply question authority—you've got to speak with it too.
Out of ten swings at the bat, you get maybe seven strikeouts, two base hits, and if you are lucky, one home run. The base hits and the home runs pay for all the strikeouts
Don’t ever let anybody tell you that your efforts don’t matter or that your voice doesn’t count. Don’t ever believe that you can’t make a difference. You have.
But indefinite visions of ambition are weak against the ease of doing what is habitual or beguilingly agreeable; and we all know the difficulty of carrying out a resolve when we secretly long that it may turn out to be unnecessary. In such states of mind the most incredulous person has a private leaning towards miracle: impossible to conceive how our wish could be fulfilled, still - very wonderful things have happened!
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