Steve Martin on Purpose Quotes

"Everything is interesting if you go into it deeply enough."

"The goal is not to be famous. The goal is to be good."

"Comedy is a very serious business."

"A lot of people think that if they're famous, they're successful. But success is doing the thing you love well, with no shortcuts."

"I learned that you can't just wait for inspiration. You have to go out and find it by working."

"The work itself is what gives you a sense of purpose."

"I think the most important thing is to keep moving forward."

"Be so good they can't ignore you."

"Enjoyment is not a goal, it is a feeling that accompanies important ongoing activity."

"I believe entertainment can aspire to be art, and can become art, but if you set out to make art, you're a heavy-handed idiot."

"I've always felt that the work is the reward. The success is just a byproduct."

"My life has been a series of lucky breaks and hard work, and I'm not sure which one is more important, but I know which one I can control."

"I think the most important thing for any artist is to have a point of view."

"The goal was to make the audience laugh, but the purpose was to see how far I could push the absurdity."

"Through the years, I have learned there is no harm in charging oneself up with delusions between moments of valid inspiration."

"I wanted to see if I could make an audience laugh without using a punchline."

"The best thing you can do is to be curious. Curiosity leads to everything else."

"I wanted to be a performer, but I had to become a writer to give myself something to perform."

"I think I did have a gift for self-education."

"I've always been interested in the idea of the professional. Someone who just goes in and does the job regardless of how they feel."

"I don't think I ever had a backup plan. I just had the plan."

"I think the key to a long career is to keep changing. Don't let yourself get stuck in one place."

"You have to be willing to be bad before you can be good."

"I love the process of writing. It's the only time I feel like I'm doing something important."

"Writing is one of the few things you can do where you can be totally alone and yet feel completely connected to the world."

"You can't be afraid to look like an idiot."

"Persistence is a great substitute for talent."

"Comedy is a tool of exploration. It's a way of looking at the world and saying, 'This doesn't make sense, but I'm going to make it work.'"

"A day without sunshine is like, you know, night."

"I'm still trying to figure it out, and I think that's the point."

"I was not naturally talented. I didn't sing, I didn't dance, and the only thing I could do was magic, which I wasn't very good at."

"Integrity is not a destination; it's a way of traveling."

"Why is it we don't always recognize the moment when love begins, but we always know when it ends? As Harris K. Telemacher in L.A. Story (1991)"