The Best Master of Improvisation in the Last Fifty Years
One of America’s best and funniest
One of the most brilliant comedians and a remarkable actor, he starred in some of the most memorable movies produced in the past 50 years. He won an Academy Award in 1997, four Grammy Awards, three Emmy Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, and many other awards during his lifetime.
He attended Juilliard on a full scholarship with Christopher Reeves, dropping out during his junior year. He was regarded as a genius by one of his teachers, who said the school’s conservative and classical style of training did not suit him.
Born Robin McLaurin Williams in 1951 in Chicago. he was an active performer from 1976 through 2014, the year he died by suicide. According to his wife, he had a debilitating brain disease called Lewy Body Dementia. Living to the age of 63, he left us far too early and is missed by all that enjoyed his amazing talent and performances.
Although sad circumstances led his life ending too soon, he left a legacy few can compete with. His television and film performances show so much of who he was, a true master of improvisation, and one of the funniest people to ever live.
Enjoy some of this famed actor and comedian’s deep wisdom and inspiration, as well as his wonderful humor in the following quotes:
Wisdom
“Never say goodbye because saying goodbye means going away, and going away means forgetting.”
“What’s right is what’s left if you do everything else wrong.”
“Crying never helped anybody do anything, okay? You have a problem you face it like a man.”
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“A human life is just a heartbeat in heaven.”
“You’re not perfect, sport. And let me save you the suspense. This girl you met, she isn’t perfect either. But the question is whether or not you’re perfect for each other. That’s the whole deal. That’s what intimacy is all about.”
“Please, don’t worry so much. Because in the end none of us have very long on this earth. Life is fleeting. “
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“I always thought the idea of education was to learn to think for yourself.”
“Each cycle of nature brings its own lessons. The winter is a time for introspection and renewal, autumn is a time for letting go of what doesn’t serve us anymore, summer is a time of wholehearted action, expressing joy and spring is a time of exploding with new life!”
“It is easy to be negative in this world. But few people realize that being light-hearted and childlike is not just a choice, but necessary to a healthy life.”
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“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”
“Sometimes you can have a whole lifetime in a day and never notice that this is a beautiful as it gets.”
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“The lesson here is that reality is hard. As Matthew McConaughey said, don’t pretend that life is easy, it’s tough. Either you can endure the pain with self-discipline or you can cover that pain with drugs.”
“You treat a disease, you win, you lose. You treat a person, I guarantee you, you’ll win, no matter what the outcome.”
“After every dark night, there is a brighter day. As Tony Robbins says, bad times and problems call us to a higher level. They help us grow into a better and stronger person.”
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“If someone is ugly on the inside, it is only their nature to be unpleasant. So don’t worry about the toxic people in your lives. Don’t lose your cool, your goodness, because of them.”
“Don’t associate yourself with toxic people. It’s better to be alone and love yourself than surrounded by people that make you hate yourself.”
“Time is the best teacher, unfortunately, it kills all of its students.”
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“I used to think the worst thing in life was to end up all alone. It’s not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people that make you feel all alone.”
“The world is open for play, everything and everybody is mockable in a wonderful way.”
“You know what music is? God’s little reminder that there’s something else besides us in this universe, harmonic connection between all living beings, everywhere, even the stars.”
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“Death is nature’s way of saying, “Your table is ready.”
“Real loss is only possible when you love something more than you love yourself.”
“All it takes is a beautiful fake smile to hide an injured soul.”
“I believe in destiny. There must be a reason that I am as I am. There must be.”
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“I think the saddest people always try their hardest to make people happy. Because they know what it’s like to feel absolutely worthless and they don’t want anybody else to feel like that.”
“You have this idea that you’d better keep working otherwise people will forget. And that was dangerous. And then you realize, no, actually if you take a break people might be more interested in you.”
Inspiration
“To be free. Such a thing would be greater than all the magic and all the treasures in all the world.”
“Make your life spectacular. I know I did.”
“No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world.”
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“The things we fear the most have already happened to us.”
“You will have bad times, but they will always wake you up to the stuff you weren’t paying attention to.”
“My children give me a great sense of wonder. Just to see them develop into these extraordinary human beings.”
“Seize the day. Because, believe it or not, each and every one of us in this room is one day going to stop breathing.”
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“There’s a world out there. Open a window, and it’s there.”
“Life is too short to do things you hate. Tap into the passion that oozes out of your soul. For people like David Goggins, it means going for a 10-mile run. And for others, it means creating extraordinary art. Find what stirs your soul.”
“There’s no shame in failing. The only shame is not giving things your best shot.”
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“Our job is improving the quality of life, not just delaying death.”
“Even mistakes can be wonderful.”
“Comedy is acting out optimism.”
“Reality is hard. Only when we are living our dreams, we become truly free. So dare to dream and more importantly, don’t be a talker, be a doer.”
Humor
“Why do they call it rush hour if no one moves?”
“If it’s the Psychic Network why do they need a phone number?”
“I’m sorry, if you were right, I’d agree with you.”
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“If women ran the world we wouldn’t have wars, just intense negotiations every 28 days.”
“Divorce is expensive. I used to joke they were going to call it ‘all the money’ but they changed it to alimony.”
“Ah, yes, divorce… from the Latin word meaning to rip out a man’s genitals through his wallet.”
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“Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party!’”
“Never pick a fight with an ugly person, they’ve got nothing to lose.”
“In England, if you commit a crime, the police don’t have a gun and you don’t have a gun. If you commit a crime, the police will say “Stop, or I’ll say stop again.”
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“Golf is a game where white men can dress up as black pimps and get away with it.”
“Sometimes you got to specifically go out of your way to get into trouble. It’s called fun.”
“Being a famous print journalist is like being the best-dressed woman on radio.”
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“Come on now! You kick out the gooks, the next thing you know, you have to kick out the chinks, the spicks, the spooks, the kikes and all that’s going to be left is a couple of brain-dead rednecks.”
“Cricket is basically baseball on valium.”
“Most of all, I want to thank my father, up there, the man who when I said I wanted to be an actor, he said, “Wonderful. Just have a back-up profession like welding.”
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“I’m a very tolerant man, except when it comes to holding a grudge.”
“You’re still young. Being a true loser takes years of inaptitude.”
“You are a big country. You are the kindest country in the world. You are like a really nice apartment over a meth lab.”
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“We’ve had cloning in the South for years. It’s called cousins.”
“When I was growing up they used to say, “Robin, drugs can kill you.” Now that I’m 58 my doctor’s telling me, “Robin, you need drugs to live.” I realize now that my doctor is also a dealer…”
“On stage you’re free. You can say and do things that if you said and did any place else, you’d be arrested.”
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“There’s three things in this world that you need: Respect for all kinds of life, a nice bowel movement on a regular basis, and a navy blazer.”
“You don’t attract people’s attention by following the rules. You catch their attention when you break the rules.”
I leave you with this final piece of wisdom from Williams’ to challenge you:
“You must strive to find your own voice because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all.” — Robin Williams
Bill Abbate Leadership Writer and Editor in ILLUMINATION.
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