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Doing Quotes

On action, effort and the discipline of doing the work.

These lines describe doing in its many forms: the overlap between film and television production, the uncertainty built into research, and committing to work you believe in even without much recognition. For more, see our Action quotes.

If you're doing a music film, you've got to be singing about something.

Quotes by Jonathan Demme

Tak Fujimoto and I, when we started getting enough of a budget where we could afford the right lenses - 'cause we started out doing low-budget pictures together - we started experimenting with this subjective camera thing. And we kind...

Quotes by Jonathan Demme

What we need is a full field guide to the microbes that live in and on people, so that we can understand what they're doing to our lives. We are them; they are us.

Quotes by Jonathan Eisen

Well, there's much more time to do a weekly show, and much more coverage - as it turns out, it was all preparation for the stuff I'm doing now - but it was interesting to see how much time was...

Quotes by Jonathan Frakes

I used to think it was hard to write, and I still find the process more or less unpleasant, but if I know what I'm doing it rattles along, then the rewrite whips it into shape rather quickly.

Quotes by Jonathan Franzen

I really enjoy doing both, but I didn't write nonfiction until 1994.

Quotes by Jonathan Franzen

I do look forward to doing things in the future that I haven't done before. Do you know what I have always dreamt about? Playing a serial killer!

Quotes by Jonathan Brandis

I've completed the first part of my preparations without injury problems. My speed is good and I'm doing lots of volume for strength.

Quotes by Jonathan Brown

I've had a great love for Al Pacino's work since I first saw him on the stage doing 'The Indian Wants the Bronx' in the early '70s. His work is remarkable. He's the real thing.

Quotes by Jon Voight

It wasn't like, 'I'ma lose weight and start doing dramas.' I wanted to be healthier, and that was the impetus for wanting to lose weight - it's just about being healthy and feeling good.

Quotes by Jonah Hill

It's hard to be taken seriously by anybody above the age of 18 or 20 or something when you're doing a social media tour.

Quotes by Jonah Marais

You have to be so willing to hug and say 'I love you' so much. And you have to talk to every single person individually - which I love doing, but it's actually, like, really emotionally tiring.

Quotes by Jonah Marais

One of the things that is counterintuitive about BuzzFeed is that there's not a natural corollary to what we're doing because it isn't possible to distribute content through word-of-mouth in print.

Quotes by Jonah Peretti

In a chemistry class there was a guy sitting in front of me doing what looked like a jigsaw puzzle or some really weird kind of thing. He told me he was writing a computer program.

Quotes by Jon Postel

There are things I wouldn't do when hosting, like get people up on stage or get the audience doing a sing-song or something like that.

Quotes by Jon Richardson

But when I was doing the KKK I had constant nightmares of being exposed as a Jew and lynched by the Klan.

Quotes by Jon Ronson

Well, I had nightmares when I was doing the Klan story all the time. I had a recurring nightmare of basically being exposed as a Jew inside the Klan compound.

Quotes by Jon Ronson

You always want to know you have somebody at the helm who knows what they're doing.

Quotes by Jon Tenney

My ambition was to be a record producer, and I had started doing that in the late '60s with my work with the MC5 and my friend Livingston Taylor.

Quotes by Jon Landau

I'm not someone who can just be paid to play keyboards on songs. I tried to do it - I needed the money, but it made me really unhappy and ill to be doing it.

Quotes by Jon Hopkins

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does "doing" mean across these quotes?
The quotes use "doing" to describe the actual craft of working (film vs. TV production), following through on belief in your own work, playing certain kinds of roles, and even the nature of research itself.
Is there a quote comparing film and TV work?
Yes: "When you're doing the work, film and TV are exactly the same. TV is just film in reduced pieces." For more on taking action rather than just planning, see Action.
Is there a witty quote about research here?
Yes: "Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing" is a short, self-aware take on the research process.
Does this page include anything about acting roles or casting?
Yes, one quote describes being cast more often as a villain-type ("more Iago than Hamlet") while insisting the real goal is playing people doing the right thing rather than simple villains. For more on positive action, see Doing Good.
Is there a quote about believing in your own work despite doubt?
Yes, one recalls finding award shows hard to watch early in a music career, "because I believed in what I was doing" even while unsure of having a real shot. For more short, punchy takes on getting things done, see Doin or Doers.

Also see our Doing Good quotes for a values-driven angle, or Doers quotes celebrating people who take action.