Quotes About Being Serious

#1. Invest yourself in everything you do. There's fun in being serious.

John Coltrane

#2. One of the problems we have as writers is we don't take ourselves seriously while writing; being serious is setting aside a time and saying if it comes, good; if it doesn't come, good, I'll just sit here.

Maya Angelou

#3. One of the achievements of our generation of feminists was to emancipate women from the division between being interested in clothes and appearance, and being serious and ambitious. I am of the first generation that could go to Biba, wear miniskirts and get a degree.

Marina Warner

#4. What is the stage? It's a place, baby, you know, where people play at being serious, a place where they act comedies. We've got to act a comedy now, dead serious.

Luigi Pirandello

#5. When are people finally going to get serious about being serious?

Leonard Ravenhill

#6. I just started playing music on the street and walking around with a fiddle, and I think that's kind of when I started being serious - or as serious as it's going to get.

Frank Fairfield

#7. I don't believe in being serious about anything. I think life is too serious to be taken seriously.
[Writer's Digest Interview (Robert Jacobs, Writer's Digest, February 1976)]

Ray Bradbury

#8. Sometimes you say things with a smile with the precise intention of making it clear that you are not being serious, and are only kidding. If I salute a friend with a smile and say, 'How are you, you old scoundrel!' clearly I don't really mean he's a scoundrel.

Umberto Eco

#9. People sometimes mistake being serious with being taken seriously.

Patrick Dempsey

#10. They think I'm being serious when actually I'm a very big clown. But you have to know me to see that. I'm constantly cracking up and cracking everybody else around me up.

Lenny Kravitz

#11. She couldn't avoid being serious about things she cared for, and happiness made her grave at the thought of all the things which might destroy it.

Graham Greene

#12. Whatever happens, my audience mustn't know whether I am spoofing or being serious; and likewise I mustn't know either. I am in a constant interrogation; when does the deep and philosophically valid Dali begin, and where does the looney and preposterous Dali end?

Salvador Dali

#13. Blake Riley is a better man than anyone gives him credit for. And I'm ashamed of myself. I'm so fucking ashamed for ever believing that he was just a stupid jock who was incapable of being serious.

Sarina Bowen

#14. Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious

Peter Ustinov

#15. If a man insisted on always being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.

Herodotus

#16. I happen to love Saint-Saens in general. I think he's a brilliant composer and sometimes underrated in a way because people like to pass him off as fluffy and not being serious.

Joshua Bell

#17. I realised that I really disliked him, and I knew exactly why: he didn't know the difference between being solemn and being serious.

John Cleese

#18. I'm not a serious photographer like many of my contemporaries. That is to say, I am serious about not being serious.

Elliott Erwitt

#19. Discovery is the privilege of the child: the child who has no fear of being once again wrong, of looking like an idiot, of not being serious, of not doing things like everyone else.

Alexander Grothendieck

#20. You want at least 5% of the population being serious. That five, 6% of the population carries the rest of the people. You've heard that old axiom: 5% of the people pull the wagon; 95% are in it.

Rush Limbaugh

#21. I loved Woody Allen's short pieces. I was equally influenced by Woody Allen and Norman Mailer. I was very into this idea of being high-low, of being serious and intellectual but also making really broad jokes.

Meghan Daum

#22. Too many people confuse being serious with being solemn.

John Cleese

#23. Sometimes I am so dry that people don't know I'm kidding and think I'm being serious. I enjoy this because their reactions are often funny.

Robert Crais

#24. Do you ... feel anything around me?"
"Other than what I felt this morning when I saw how good you looked in those jeans?"
"Daemon." I sighed, trying to disregard the girl in my that screamed, HE NOTICED ME! "I'm being serious.

Jennifer L. Armentrout

#25. Jokes are another example of stupidity... we are so wise and so clever and we do stupid stuff, how wise is that?

Jokes on stage of being serious... when you aren't serious what you get is more likely somebody being in state of seriousness.

Deyth Banger

#26. Being serious just makes me a little bit embarrassed.

Patricia Marx

#27. I hate the way the English have of not being serious about being serious, I really hate it.

Julian Barnes

#28. I've had an experience through music that has touched almost every part of me. It educated me in ways that I didn't get educated in school. So we try to lay on a bit of that, through being funny, being serious, playing hard.

Bruce Springsteen

#29. People who watch 'Transporter' are maybe asking a little less about reality, being serious, and so on.

Olivier Megaton

#30. We only gain merit and psychological development by accepting ourselves as we are and by being serious enough to live the lives we are entrusted with. Our sins and errors and mistakes are necessary to us, otherwise we are deprived of the most precious incentives to development.

C. G. Jung

#31. Visuals are as artistic as sounds, so being serious about both isn't a contradiction to me.

Dee Dee Ramone

#32. The guy behind the counter scratches his neck. "Are you being serious?" Her face is stoic. "Absolutely. I never kid about teddy bears.

Jessica Sorensen

#33. I am always acting, be at a party, at work or in office. My attitude changes from meeting to meeting, from being serious to intense to funny, depending on who is in the room.

Karan Johar

#34. If someone offers to take your burden, you need to know he is serious, not just being polite and kind. Polite and kind do not last.

Amy Tan

#35. Your problem is a serious lack of imagination. You can't imagine being different than you are.

Linda Morris

#36. Yeah, I'm a physical kind of guy. I've always liked being physical. It takes a stuntman to really say, 'Look, we don't want you to do this. No, no, I'm serious, you're not going to do this' to get me not to do my stuff.

Dominic Purcell

#37. Hey, just be grateful I'm old. When an Arcadian first starts time-walking, we only have about a three percent chance of success. I once ended up on Pluto. (Sebastian) Are you serious? (Channon) They're not kidding about it being the coldest planet. (Sebastian)

Sherrilyn Kenyon

#38. Me and Schopenhauer. Sometimes being German seems to come with some serious disadvantages.

Philip Kerr

#39. I always start a movie by being very firm and very hard and very, very serious, and then I can relax a little more once I've gained respect. That's part of the job - you have to earn the respect of your crew.

Maryse Alberti

#40. What's needed in this case is conscious and serious practice in hearing, and using, and being used by, other people's voices.

Ursula K. Le Guin

#41. Food insecurity and hunger are serious threats to children's health, growth, and development. The idea of not being able to put plentiful, nutritious food on the table for my girls is a horrifying thought.

Samantha Harris

#42. It is one of the great weaknesses of reasonable men and women that they imagine that projects which fly in the face of commonsense are not serious or being seriously undertaken.

Margaret Thatcher

#43. My impression, having been in the Norwegian government for several years, is that taking a child into care is an extremely serious decision which is really taken as a last resort, when the situation warrants it, for the well-being of the children.

Jonas Gahr Store

#44. As an actor, I'm attracted to drama; as a director, it's humor - because it's the story of my life, and I can't be that serious about it. Being alone is a big theme in all my movies, both as a director and as an actress.

Jodie Foster

#45. Indeed, so far from being humorous, the male American is the most abnormally serious creature who ever existed.. It is only fair to admit that he can exaggerate, but even his exaggeration has a rational basis. It is not founded on wit or fancy; it does not spring from any poetic imagination.

Oscar Wilde

#46. Indictments of any kind are serious. That being said, let's not forget that an indictment is not a conviction. We still have due process in this country.

Rob Simmons

#47. Bond is the longest-running franchise ever and there's a reason for that: they are action movies but they are also touched by current events without being political or too serious.

Javier Bardem

#48. I am a serious artist in my own right, in the sense that I've spent my entire life being an artist and trying to be an artist and making work.

David Shrigley

#49. Artists with serious aspirations need to be left alone to follow the course of their own imagination.

Robert Genn

#50. I don't think my acting was ever bad; I always knew that I could do it. But when you go to audition for a drama, they're very serious in the room, and I was used to being kind of goofy and having small talk.

Mary Lynn Rajskub

#51. My authoritarian and quick manner of making decisions led me to have serious problems and to be accused of being ultraconservative. I have never been a right-winger. It was my authoritarian way of making decisions that created problems.

Pope Francis

#52. A cat, after being scolded, goes about its business. A dog slinks off into a corner and pretends to be doing a serious self-reappraisal.

Robert Breault

#53. Pollution is a serious one. Water pollution, air pollution, and then solid hazardous waste pollution. And then beyond that, we also have the resources issue. Not just water resources but other natural resources, the mining resources being consumed, and the destruction of our ecosystem.

Ma Jun

#54. I don't think I've had to change anything, really, apart from being more serious and focussed on my drive. One thing I've realised is that you get out what you put in and because of that my work rate has increased ten fold.

Tinie Tempah

#55. Imagine," she said, her face turning serious for a moment, "imagine if something happened to one of us and there was no Easter egg hunt next year, imagine if everything stopped being perfect - you would wish so hard that you'd taken part today . . .

Lisa Jewell

#56. Modern science, then, so far from being an enemy of romance, is seen on every hand to be its sympathetic and resourceful friend, its swift and irresistible helper in its serious need, and an indulgent minister to its lighter fancies.

Richard Le Gallienne

#57. What all great teachers appear to have in common is love of their subject, an obvious satisfaction in rousing this love in their students, and an ability to convince them that what they are being taught is deadly serious

Joseph Epstein

#58. Apparently, now, though, we writers and artists are not allowed to give offence. We must not question, criticise or insult the other, for fear of being hounded and murdered. These days a writer without bodyguards can hardly be considered serious. A bad review is the least of our problems.

Hanif Kureishi

#59. We can't all succeed following the same path as successful men followed. Each person has it's own destiny. You might get stuck at any stage if it's not your way but you'll fly away if it's yours. Follow your mind and take serious anything you do.

Amen Muffler

#60. I am a serious businesswoman. I don't enjoy being out there on TV; it's not what I do well. But I love building companies; I love making products.

Jennifer Flavin

#61. A lot of times when I sit down with the other comics and try to talk theory, they say I'm being too serious.

Joel Hodgson

#62. The most serious blow suffered by the colonized is being removed from history and from the community. Colonization usurps any free role in either war or peace, every decision contributing to his destiny and that of the world, and all cultural and social responsibility.

Albert Memmi

#63. I'm not gonna become Ann Bancroft or Meryl Streep and have all the burden that being a "serious actress" entails.

Cher

#64. I'm a quite serious actor who doesn't mind being ridiculously comic.

Alan Rickman

#65. By dipping us children in the Bible so often, they hoped, I think, to give our lives a serious tint, and to provide us with quaintly magnificent snatches of prayer to produce as charms while, say, being mugged for our cash or jewels.

Annie Dillard

#66. Now, the soul of Capitola naturally abhorred sentiment. If ever she gave way to serious emotion, she was sure to avenge herself by being more capricious than before.

E.D.E.N. Southworth

#67. For the longest time, I didn't even want to admit I was serious about music. Before the Shins, I would tell myself, 'Oh, I'm going to figure something out someday.' I had this romantic vision of being this old dude maybe making guitars or something.

James Mercer

#68. I think I have a reputation for being really serious. In interviews I use big words, but I'm just an emotional goofball. I play practical jokes all the time.

Darren Hayes

#69. If the world's leaders are serious about improving collective well-being, we'd better get serious about prioritizing education in our nations and in our global discussion.

Wendy Kopp

#70. Do you know what frees one from this captivity? It is every deep serious affection. Being friends, being brothers, love, these open the prison by supreme power, by some magic force. Where sympathy is renewed, life is restored.

Vincent Van Gogh

#71. There's a big difference between being alone and being lonely. And I'm guessing that once you've discovered this distinction you can't go back to solitary confinement without serious emotional repercussions.

Tiffanie DeBartolo

#72. I think [director] Malcolm Lee is a real master at being able to make you laugh while bringing serious subject-matter, so the movie doesn't hinge on silliness, but on real life.

Ice Cube

#73. I could have had my husband put me on a lot of TV shows every day, but I chose not to. I am a serious businesswoman. I don't enjoy being out there on TV; it's not what I do well.

Jennifer Flavin

#74. We are growing serious, and, let me tell you, that's the very next step to being dull.

Joseph Addison

#75. Everything serious in the world is well approached by humour. It's a powerful and often quite subversive tool. I suppose there is an argument that could be made against me for being frivolous, but I do think a laugh is a very generous thing to give.

Beeban Kidron

#76. To mind being disliked by a woman you don't desire and are not married to is yet another serious failure of common sense.

Wendell Berry

#77. Rejection sucks. It sucks every time, whether it's a big suck or a little suck. But it's part of the process. It's part of being a writer. It's a badge that says 'I'm serious about this, and I'm sending out my work.

Allison K. Williams

#78. You can't say that being a fan is more serious, because players are trying to do better in order to get paid better.

David Ortiz

#79. I seem to suffer from a very serious condition called obliviousness by proximity. It causes screaming and the occasional uncontrollable need to stomp stupid wizards for being stupid.

T.J. Klune

#80. As a good picture would come, I would never know exactly what I had done. When you did see it, it would strike you as a great surprise - who did that? How did it happen? Being surprised by your own work makes you both less serious and have serious reverence.

Emmet Gowin

#81. Sometimes
in the rare moments when she wasn't causing quite serious mental discomfort
being friends with Zoe was like being knocked dizzy by grace.

Chris Cleave

#82. If I'm serious about patients and their GPs being able to have more control of their health care, I can't have a top-down system that imposes restrictions on the services they need.

Andrew Lansley

#83. Ruark held the door open for her to pass through. "The first I cannot deny, Shanna, for then I did not know of you. But you are my only love and shall remain for as long as I live." His eyes were serious and seemed to probe her being. "I

Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

#84. From the time I was twelve years old until I retired last year at the age of fifty-seven, the Army was my life. I loved commanding soldiers and being around people who had made a serious commitment to serve their country.

Norman Schwarzkopf

#85. Many organic practices simply make sense, regardless of what overall agricultural system is used. Far from being a quaint throwback to an earlier time, organic agriculture is proving to be a serious contender in modern farming and a more environmentally sustainable system over the long term.

David Suzuki

#86. The most serious thing, and the strangest, is that we are afraid to the point of panic, not so much of seeing ourselves as of being seen by ourselves. This is our root absurdity. What is behind this great fear?

Rene Daumal

#87. I realize that homosexuality is a serious problem for anyone who is - but then, of course, heterosexuality is a serious problem for anyone who is, too. And being a man is a serious problem and being a woman is, too. Lots of things are problems.

Edward Gorey

#88. To overestimate the originality of one's thoughts is perhaps a less serious defect than being unaware of their newness. There is a more pronounced lack of sensitivity in underestimating (ourselves and others) than in overestimating.

Eric Hoffer

#89. The inability to trace DNA to actual diseases has serious consequences. As does the opposite problem - not being able to trace diseases back to DNA.

Sam Kean

#90. I do assure you that I am not one of those young ladies (if such ladies there are) who are so daring as to risk their happiness on the chance of being asked a second time. I am perfectly serious in my refusal.

Jane Austen

#91. I wish that I wasn't such an odd mixture. I wish I was serious, but I do love high heels and romantic comedies: being in them and watching them.

Alice Eve

#92. For better or worse, I take my acting seriously. I may not have been in the best movies ever made, but I take it deathly serious, and I love being an actor.

Matthew Lillard

#93. Being as versatile as I am, I take offense to the notion that no serious musician would not be doing a late night talk show gig. One has to be open enough in other areas to be able to contribute to a show like this.

Kevin Eubanks

#94. Damn it," I muttered.
"What?" asked Adrian.
"I hate when you're the sane one. That's my job."
"Rose," he said, forcibly trying to keep a serious tone, "I can think of many words to describe you, sexy and hot being at the top of the list. You know what's not on the list? Sane.

Richelle Mead

#95. In the history of the world, all five mass extinctions have been accompanied by massive climate change, so we are facing an incredibly serious threat. In fact, we are technically in the sixth mass extinction right now, and it is the first mass extinction being attributed to humans.

Cameron Russell

#96. Being in a girl group, we might bicker a lot about hair dryers or straighteners, but it's never serious. We've been lucky that we get along so much, it's like having three other sisters to party with every day-it's fun!

Perrie Edwards

#97. For someone who loves literature, and all books on principle, being asked to name three titles over a half century of serious reading is akin to asking one to recall their three favorite sunsets.

Thomas Steinbeck

#98. (On "Following") We've got a pretty serious claim on being the cheapest film ever made.

Christopher J. Nolan

#99. Being an artist means ceasing to take seriously that very serious person we are when we are not an artist.

Jose Ortega Y Gasset

#100. I'm an ambitious person, and Harvard makes me feel successful, just having gotten in here. That's the ugly side of why I'm proud of being at Harvard Law School. Another reason is because there's a spirit of serious intellectual endeavor here.

Scott Turow