- Long
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- Nov 07, 2020
Hard Thing Quotes
On the tough parts of creative and leadership work.
This page brings together reflections on things that are genuinely hard to pull off, balancing subtlety with big performance, staying true to personal artistic instincts, and rallying a team across cultural lines. For more on effort, see the Challenge quotes page.
- Last Updated on Aug 01, 2026
- Loved
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- Nov 07, 2020
My dad turned me onto Peter Sellers as a kid. I loved the fact that he was a unique combination of being extremely subtle and over-the-top all at the same time, and that's a hard thing to do. I admire that.
- Evaluate
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- Nov 07, 2020
The ability to take pleasure in one's life is a skill and is a kind of intelligence. So intelligence is a hard thing to evaluate and it manifests itself in so many different ways. I do think the ability to know how to live a life and not be miserable is a sign of that.
- Know
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- Nov 07, 2020
We ought to teach kids more about the Big Bang and entropy and particles. Every high school graduate should know that everything in the universe is made of a handful of particles. That's not a hard thing to know. But that's not what's emphasized.
- Childhood
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- Nov 07, 2020
I have worked very hard on being aware of my childhood but moving forward and not letting it bring me down emotionally. That is a hard thing - especially when you have children of your own and you remember what happened to you at that age.
- Know
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- Nov 07, 2020
I would like to know that I was still going to be employed as a woman well into my 60s. In acting terms, a career that spans a lifetime is a very hard thing to achieve, particularly as a woman.
- People
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- Nov 07, 2020
The hard thing is making sure you work with wonderful people and that you get something out of it so that you can get better as an actor.
- Grow
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- Nov 07, 2020
When it comes to the moves themselves, after I created a style, a lot of guys started doing the same moves I was. I had to switch up my whole offense. Then, when it happened again, I had to switch it up again. It was a hard thing to do, but it helps me grow and helps me not become stale.
- People
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- Nov 07, 2020
The hard thing about the book world is that you never know whether 10 people or a million people will find it interesting.
- Feel
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- Nov 07, 2020
I found out that total creativity involves a certain intellectual rebellion - not to become a criminal, but somehow. to be totally creating, you have to do things that are a little bit forbidden. You have to feel free, and we know freedom is a hard thing to get.
- End
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- Nov 07, 2020
Christmas movies, it's a hard thing to do. The danger is you just end up with a Hollywood star with a Santa beard. You risk it being fake and cheesy and not real.
- Good
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- Nov 07, 2020
The hard thing is getting people to come to the theater to see something, no matter if it's good or not.
- Money
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- Nov 07, 2020
It's such a hard thing to write a song for your fans without sounding naff and thanking them for spending money on you.
- Good
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- Nov 07, 2020