Steve Martin on Purpose Quotes

"The banjo was a way to find a voice when I didn't have one."

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

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

"I was seeking a kind of perfection in a medium that is inherently imperfect."

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

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

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

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

"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."

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

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

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

"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."

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

"Art is a way of making sense of the chaos."

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

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

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

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

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

"The only way to learn how to do something is to do it over and over until it becomes a part of you."

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

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

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

"Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don't feel I should be doing something else."

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

"Persistence is a great substitute for talent."

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

"I've always been more interested in the future than the past."

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

"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)"