I stopped writing at the age of 18. I had written incessantly before that. I read, of course, because I was in university, but I wasn't going to write. I wasn't going to do any of those dangerous things. I was going to be a stolid, bourgeois lawyer. James Lipton More Quotes by James Lipton More Quotes From James Lipton I wanted when we began this to have a conversation, the kind that you're able to have, and the only way I knew how to do it was not to have a pre-interview. James Lipton able talking way Olivier was another case of a genius, who couldn't understand why anybody would have any trouble doing this, because for him it came so easily. James Lipton cases genius trouble They change. They're different. There are no two alike, that's the miracle of it. But if they have something to teach the students. You can see them writing during the show. James Lipton miracle writing two Life is just a Box of Chocolates. James Lipton box-of-chocolates chocolate life-is Comedians don't laugh. They're too busy analyzing why it's funny or not. James Lipton comedian laughing funny I love writing. I like reading, other people, not myself. James Lipton reading writing people A good day's writing, when I turn off my computer after I know that I've written okay, or as well as I can write, that's a day well spent. James Lipton day-well-spent good-day writing I may be writing well, I may be writing poorly, but I enjoy the act of writing and sometimes when it turns out okay, I feel an elation that is incomparable. James Lipton elation writing may I became a professional actor in Detroit and I was able to earn some money. It was a good job because it permitted me to study. It fit perfectly with school. James Lipton actors jobs school When I went to school, my intention was to be a lawyer. When I attended university that was still the clear intention; I was going to be a lawyer. Why? Because it was as far as I could get from my father's antics and world. I thought that the world of the arts probably led people into the kind of behavior I had seen with him and that had resulted in a lot of hard times for my mother and me. James Lipton mother father art I work seven days a week and I work about 12 hours a day, from the beginning of September to about the end of May; the school year. I take two days off, Christmas and New Year's, Thanksgiving sometimes - two and a half. And the result is that I bonded myself to my desk. James Lipton new-year years school Landing the airplane I think is the most difficult thing that I've every learned to do in my life. James Lipton difficult airplane thinking I jumped horses over big dangerous fences in competition. And got very, very good at it, at quite a high level. And I realized long since that, yeah, it's the same thing that appeals to me about it. You can't think about anything else, in either case; jumping horses in competition, show jumping, or flying an airplane, for whatever purpose. James Lipton horse airplane thinking I'll miss it until the day I die, and I'm convinced to this day that I can get on a horse and jump a course of fences satisfactorily. It doesn't leave you. James Lipton horse fence missing Because - Bobby Lewis said this once to us in class, the better you get, the less credit you'll get. Because the better you are, the more it looks like walking and talking and everybody thinks they can walk and talk. James Lipton walk better you walking And I thought if I don't pre-interview - first of all, we couldn't afford it - but the second thing was it would force me to do my own research, which takes two weeks. James Lipton thought me my-own research And I thought, my God, there's an off chance that they will say something that's really worth preserving and there is one way to do that and I knew what it was because I come from television. James Lipton thought chance god way I criticize those critics. The reason being that they're doing one of the worst things that ever can be done to an actor, which is to say, Look, you do what we like you to do or else. James Lipton doing look you done I did get Tom Hanks to say, Life is just a box of chocolates. James Lipton box say just life I had something called the back of the chair test. Where I sit, we don't sit like you and I do. I can see a sliver right behind them and they come out and they sit like this like god students and they don't touch the back of the chair. James Lipton back you i-can god
