Top 93 Show Not Tell Quotes

#1. Every reporter who came up in legacy media can tell you about a come-to-Jesus moment when an editor put them up against a wall and tattooed a message deep into their skull: show respect for the fundamentals of the craft, or you would not soon be part of it.

Mary Karr

Show Not Tell Quotes #17152
#2. Politicians show no signs of even knowing the difference between negative and positive rights. Blinded by the dazzle of anything that makes them popular, they honestly may not be able to tell.

P. J. O'Rourke

Show Not Tell Quotes #28869
#3. It is hard to tell whether he's being honest or following the high school commandment of Thou shalt not show thy uncoolness by openly caring about something, which I have never been good at.

Anna Breslaw

Show Not Tell Quotes #30663
#4. Our best moral stories don't tell us what is right or wrong in every situation, but they show us what one character did in one situation at one time. Readers, viewers, and listeners are supposed to extrapolate the moral meaning from the story. We're not supposed to have it handed to us.

Jonathan D. Fitzgerald

Show Not Tell Quotes #42674
#5. We write not just to show off, not just to tell, or only to have written. We write to know ourselves.

Jane Yolen

Show Not Tell Quotes #52855
#6. So tell me about you. The real you. Not the you that you show to people online.

Jodie Andrefski

Show Not Tell Quotes #57663
#7. The reason I quit being a sales manager over twenty years now is because I hate elevator pitches. I want to write stories and show people what's in them when they read them, not tell them all about it ahead of time.

Kurt Busiek

Show Not Tell Quotes #106825
#8. When should you show more than tell? Great writing is balanced! You do not want to be a show-all, or a tell-all. And remember we are storytellers. Balance is the key! And let your ear be the guide. Is it too heavy, or too light? Or is it just right?

Mark Donnelly

Show Not Tell Quotes #115450
#9. From right now until forever, I'm going to show you what you are to me. I'm not going to tell you. I'm going to show you, because I've wasted too much time doing all the wrong things where you're concerned.

Kathryn Perez

Show Not Tell Quotes #148714
#10. As a writer, it is my job to tell a story. I don't want to get involved in social commentary; I just want to show issues from a different point of view. I want to show issues from a perspective that may not be highlighted.

Nicola Monaghan

Show Not Tell Quotes #157117
#11. I do have a core theology though. It's quite simple: God is love and He is always good. It's my position on everything. And I'm not much into debating it. I'd rather show than tell.

Jason Clark

Show Not Tell Quotes #157892
#12. To show don't tell and all that other writery crap. (Adopted-orphan smile, I mean, that's not bad, come on.)

Gillian Flynn

Show Not Tell Quotes #182565
#13. Exactly what don't I think is beautiful? Listen, I don't care what you say about my race, creed, or religion, Fatty, but don't tell me I'm not sensitive to beauty. To me, everything is beautiful. Show me a pink sunset and I'm limp, by God. Anything.

J.D. Salinger

Show Not Tell Quotes #183304
#14. I believe my high school book said I was most likely to become a candlestick maker. Guessing I didn't exactly exude confidence but just goes to show you that your path is yours to choose and make the best of and not for someone else to tell you what you can or cannot be.

Arlene Dickinson

Show Not Tell Quotes #234852
#15. This isn't a thrift store ... We're not selling them something less expensive, we're selling them something more special. We have to tell them the story of what we're showing them. And then we have to show them how they can be the new heroine in the story.

Erin McKean

Show Not Tell Quotes #237163
#16. I tried more than once to tell you, to communicate what I know. You did not or could not listen. You can not show to anyone what he has not seen.

William S. Burroughs

Show Not Tell Quotes #288791
#17. Do not tell them how to do it. Show them how to do it and do not say a word. If you tell them, they will watch your lips move. If you show them, they will want to do it themselves.

Maria Montessori

Show Not Tell Quotes #313621
#18. There are people who follow me on Twitter and tell me how much they don't like me, how much they don't want me on the show, and that they hope I die. And it's not just about the character. They tell me how they've never liked Scott Foley, and that he's a stupid, white, plain-bread looking fool.

Scott Foley

Show Not Tell Quotes #315142
#19. I'll tell you what I think is not okay. Have you ever seen that show on MSNBC, 'Lockup?' It's a reality show that takes place inside a prison. Do the prisoners have to sign release forms? Or do they have to be on it whether they like it or not?

Seth MacFarlane

Show Not Tell Quotes #340195
#20. But don't tell me I'm not sensitive to beauty. That's my Achilles' heel, and don't you forget it. To me, everything is beautiful. Show me a pink sunset and I'm limp, by God ...

J.D. Salinger

Show Not Tell Quotes #347927
#21. God's way is not to show us what tomorrow looks like or even to tell us what decisions we should make tomorrow. That's not His way because that's not the way of faith. God's way is to tell us that He knows tomorrow, He cares for us, and therefore, we should not worry. Verse

Kevin DeYoung

Show Not Tell Quotes #385805
#22. I think it's because it's so different and it takes risks. Plus, it's really smart humor. It gives the audience credit in terms of not needing to tell them when to laugh. I love that about the show. There's no laugh track.

Sarah Chalke

Show Not Tell Quotes #423405
#23. Some people say I appeared on the Phil Donahue show to tell 'my' sex change story but I've never appeared on his show for any reason ... not even as a member of the studio audience.

Eileen Davidson

Show Not Tell Quotes #445867
#24. Aren't we all animals at the end of the day? I like to show that side of me, but in a respectful way. I'm just expressing myself. It's all about feeling good and confident about yourself, and not letting anyone else tell you what you can or can't do.

Fefe Dobson

Show Not Tell Quotes #458491
#25. We expect definitions to tell us not only what is, but what to do about it; to show us how the world fits together and how its different parts connect and work ... A label is the first step toward action.

Elizabeth Janeway

Show Not Tell Quotes #478145
#26. Kayden can't love me because he doesn't understand love. He understands pain and hurt and disappointment, but not love. I know right then that I can't tell him how I'm feeling, but I can show him.

Jessica Sorensen

Show Not Tell Quotes #488635
#27. I feel compelled not to pass on a vision of bleakness, destruction or cynicism. I want to tell the truth as I see it, but I also have to believe that individuals - my kids, your kids, whoever - can do something about it, and I want to show the ways in which they can do something about it.

John Edgar Wideman

Show Not Tell Quotes #489403
#28. Show me proof there is a God, you say. I say use your telescopes to look to the heavens, and tell me how there could not be s God!

Dan Brown

Show Not Tell Quotes #516511
#29. Not sure why you have to show me now, but okay. I'll just tell my penis to take a few hours off, go get a beer or something. -Rob Colter

Toni Blake

Show Not Tell Quotes #523049
#30. I want to play Martin Luther King. I want to tell the real story, his demons, his struggles as a man, not just as a hero but fallible, I want to show that side.

Columbus Short

Show Not Tell Quotes #544796
#31. You have to be rather straightforward with your clients. You can't tell the parties only nice things. This is not an entertainment show; it's not reality television either.

Martti Ahtisaari

Show Not Tell Quotes #590696
#32. Take then this Book, look into it, and show me when Jesus was not forgiving. Read this diving tragedy and tell me where He speaks without mercy and compassion. You visit not the sick and the imprisoned; nor do you feed the hungry or give refuge to the stranger or comfort to the mourner.

Khalil Gibran

Show Not Tell Quotes #620293
#33. The leader's job is to show the way. The bottom line is that you can't tell anything about the condition of the way if you've not traveled on it yourself!

Israelmore Ayivor

Show Not Tell Quotes #674149
#34. I don't like work
no man does
but I like what is in the work
the chance to find yourself. Your own reality
for yourself not for others
what no other man can ever know. They can only see the mere show, and never can tell what it really means.

Joseph Conrad

Show Not Tell Quotes #710368
#35. It's not about what you tell your children, but how you show them how to live life.

Jada Pinkett Smith

Show Not Tell Quotes #721097
#36. That as far as I can tell," Jenkins said, "it's not actually a very good show.

John Scalzi

Show Not Tell Quotes #776079
#37. We don't really need reviewers, just first-night reporters who will tell us faithfully whether or not the audience liked the show.

Carroll O'Connor

Show Not Tell Quotes #799691
#38. I would like a food/lifestyle show. We're not sure what that is yet. I want to be able to share what I do and how I raise my family. I feel like I have a story to tell. I enjoy talking and listening, sharing ideas and sharing advice.

Cat Cora

Show Not Tell Quotes #832671
#39. I'm not exactly Miss Confidence. I busy myself with all kinds of activities and I do well in school and I try to look pretty but I still need someone to tell me I'm worthwhile. To show me attention. I don't like it. I don't like it at all ...

Stephen Emond

Show Not Tell Quotes #834747
#40. I think that there isn't a photograph in the world that has any narrative ability ... They do not tell stories - they show you what something looks like. To a camera.

Garry Winogrand

Show Not Tell Quotes #866101
#41. They call it coaching but it is teaching. You do not just tell them ... you show them the reasons.

Vince Lombardi

Show Not Tell Quotes #866196
#42. My show is sort of a short-film anthology, and I'm able to tell little stories that don't necessarily carry a whole episode in terms of narrative. I like the audience not being sure what they're getting. I think it's more fun to watch something when you're discovering it as you go along.

Louis C.K.

Show Not Tell Quotes #881674
#43. Surveys often show people would prefer a detached house with a lawn and driveway to an apartment. I understand this. It's not my place to presume to tell people where they can live. But perhaps that dream will simply not be possible in the future.

Norman Foster

Show Not Tell Quotes #905526
#44. Writing books is fun because after I do a show for a couple hours, I'm in a bus for 22 hours. It's not hard for me to look out the window and tell a joke here and there.

Willie Nelson

Show Not Tell Quotes #908308
#45. What's interesting is to be sexy but not know it. You'll be in a restaurant, and some girls will walk in and you can tell that they really want to be sexy. It's written on their faces because that's all they want to show. There's a fear that one might not look further.

Olga Kurylenko

Show Not Tell Quotes #915281
#46. I try not to tell people how to live their lives. I try to show them.
-Tate

Tate Volino

Show Not Tell Quotes #916417
#47. You need contrast and conflict in order to tell a story. Stories need to have dark and light, turmoil, all those things. But that does not mean the filmmaker has to suffer in order to show the suffering. Stories should have the suffering, not the people.

David Lynch

Show Not Tell Quotes #963164
#48. I don't tell you what you should do or not do; I only show you who you are
-the timeless and unchanging awareness.
When this is firmly established inside you,
your life will unfold spontaneously and joyously.

Mooji

Show Not Tell Quotes #972609
#49. Do not tell me that I have not shown courage in standing up to the gun people, in voting to ban assault weapons, voting for instant background checks, voting to end the gun show loophole and now in a position to create a consensus in America on gun safety.

Bernie Sanders

Show Not Tell Quotes #998354
#50. I hope you know I love you, not just because I tell you so at every opportunity, but because I show you so as often as the sun sets.

Richelle E. Goodrich

Show Not Tell Quotes #1009559
#51. At some point, you have an opportunity to not be a first-time filmmaker anymore. You can embrace the genre and show the world how you can tell stories on a bigger scale.

Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

Show Not Tell Quotes #1028248
#52. I tell people all of the time that they would make any show in this business - whether it's black, white, Hispanic, Jewish, Colombian, Dominican - whatever. They'll make it if it sells. It's a business. It's not personal.

Kirk Acevedo

Show Not Tell Quotes #1055830
#53. People may not tell you how they feel about you, but they always show you. Pay attention.

Keri Hilson

Show Not Tell Quotes #1127047
#54. If you'd asked me then if I saw how big 'The Steve Harvey Morning Show' was going to be, I couldn't tell you. But I knew I could reach people not as a character but as Steve Harvey, because although I tell jokes for a living, I've also lived, and I think I can relate to you more than you know.

Steve Harvey

Show Not Tell Quotes #1155469
#55. But I will say this: When the scientists of the future show up at my house with robot eyes and they tell me to try them on, I will tell the scientists to screw off, because I do not want to see a world without him.

John Green

Show Not Tell Quotes #1184995
#56. I have new bodyguards ever since I got a TV show. I didn't know, but it's a lot like becoming president. They tell you every single secret, like who shot JFK. When you have a TV show, they not only tell you who shot JFK, but they assign you bodyguards.

Scott Aukerman

Show Not Tell Quotes #1194657
#57. I try to create an environment where it's okay to make a mistake, though it's not okay to be unfocused or come in unprepared. I'm challenging and demanding, but very patient. I don't tell you how to get there and I don't show you what to do, though I'll ask leading questions.

Ruben Santiago-Hudson

Show Not Tell Quotes #1225107
#58. TELL THE WORLD WHAT YOU INTEND TO DO, BUT FIRST SHOW IT.This is the equivalent of saying deeds, and not words, are what count most.

Napoleon Hill

Show Not Tell Quotes #1236635
#59. Any actress will tell you, when you've been given a starring role in the initial run of a show, you want to be getting the standing ovations every night, not just on review night.

Martine McCutcheon

Show Not Tell Quotes #1262384
#60. I've learned from doing my own show with Fox that people are not your partners if they're signing the checks. Whoever signs your paycheck is the boss - no matter what they tell you.

Joan Rivers

Show Not Tell Quotes #1283414
#61. Be a role model not a critic. Don't tell your children, your peers, or your subordinates what to do - show them. And when the lesson is over, keep showing them by demonstrating that your actions are part of your character, not part of their curriculum.

Denis Waitley

Show Not Tell Quotes #1296597
#62. I hear they're all infected with chlamydia, which just goes to show that you really can't tell who's got the clam. I mean, look at a picture of a koala ... tell me you're not shocked.

Elle Lothlorien

Show Not Tell Quotes #1317201
#63. Parents should watch what their children watch and not use TV as a babysitter. If a show is objectionable they should turn it OFF. They should write the president of the network and tell him they are never going to watch that program again and why.

Bill Bixby

Show Not Tell Quotes #1318838
#64. Plutarch rushes to reassure me. "Oh, no, Katniss. Not your wedding. Finnick and Annie's. All you need to do is show up and pretend to be happy for them."
"That's one of the few things I won't have to pretend, Plutarch," I tell him.

Suzanne Collins

Show Not Tell Quotes #1328988
#65. To show you all my scars, is not to tell you that this Dunya would always leave you wounded, and bruised, and on knees, but to show you that see, healing is always possible. Healing is easy. Healing is beautiful.

Khadija Rupa

Show Not Tell Quotes #1349817
#66. I'm quite a good reader of people; I like to meet people, and I can tell if they're lying or not, and I've certainly had interviews with people in this radio show I've done that swear they've seen things or have had bizarre experiences with creatures, and so I think they're telling the truth.

Rhys Darby

Show Not Tell Quotes #1359865
#67. I sing songs from the theater and pop songs. When I say 'pop songs,' I mean from the 90's. And I tell jokes. So it's sort of a stand up show meets a concert - not your traditional lounging across a piano cabaret show. It's much looser.

Laura Benanti

Show Not Tell Quotes #1402384
#68. Show, not tell, right? Action, not words. You don't want to hear how sorry I am or how things will be different this time. You want to see it with your own eyes. And until I can show you that, you won't tell me what I want to hear.

Ann Aguirre

Show Not Tell Quotes #1409440
#69. I want them to like the real me, not what they think I am. And I don't want to them to carry it around inside. I want them to show me, so I can feel it, too. I want them to be able to do whatever they want around me. And if they do something I don't like, I'll tell them.

Stephen Chbosky

Show Not Tell Quotes #1422290
#70. You know what I'm not going to do I'm not going to tell you every move I'm going to make. This isn't a reality TV show. Some things are just best left unsaid. I'll handle the club the way I deem is necessary. They just need to play.

Clint Hurdle

Show Not Tell Quotes #1434457
#71. We have to be avenues through which others can find and accept help. We have to be willing to reach out and show, not just tell, those suffering how they are not alone. Jeremy

Jeremy Koch

Show Not Tell Quotes #1440894
#72. When the scientists of the future show up at my house with robot eyes and they tell me to try them on, I will tell the scientists to screw off, because I do not want to see a world without him." I

John Green

Show Not Tell Quotes #1446375
#73. I've never bought a Dylan record. A singing poet? It just bores me to tears. I've got to tell you, if I had 10 Dylans in the final of 'American Idol,' we would not be getting 30 million viewers a week. I don't believe the Bob Dylans of this world would make 'American Idol 'a better show.

Simon Cowell

Show Not Tell Quotes #1471129
#74. The Reich may tell you whom you may love and whom you must hate. Oh, yes, Thomas, the Reich can dictate the inward life of every man."
"Not the inward life." Thomas looked up sharply. "Only the outward show.

Bodie Thoene

Show Not Tell Quotes #1515289
#75. It is the business of economists, not to tell us what to do, but show why what we are doing anyway is in accord with proper principles.

Joan Robinson

Show Not Tell Quotes #1538190
#76. I walk on a stage, and I know if it's been a good show or not. You know when it's been a good interview. No one has to tell you. You know it. You feel it. You can feel the air. You can feel everything about it when it's a good show. And you know when you've messed up.

Joan Rivers

Show Not Tell Quotes #1577871
#77. Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader - not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.

E.L. Doctorow

Show Not Tell Quotes #1596794
#78. Might not be able to tell them I loved them, but I could do my best to show them, and maybe, just maybe, they'd notice. Maybe they'd even love me back, after a fashion.

Josephine Myles

Show Not Tell Quotes #1604102
#79. I'm a man. I don't do conversation well, but I do my best to show you every day what you mean to me. If I'm not doin' that right, you need to tell me. I'll do better. But don't fuckin' question how I feel about you. I feel nothing unless I'm with you. You give me life.

Norma Jeanne Karlsson

Show Not Tell Quotes #1610107
#80. Here's the thing: You rescue us every day in small, quiet ways, so why not in this way? Let us into your mystery, tell us how you would like to be loved, show us how to see you, really see you.

Chris Abani

Show Not Tell Quotes #1629555
#81. Real sadness is such an all-encompassing intense thing that it takes you out of your humdrum existence. If you can still function, you want to show it while it's peaking. So when people tell you to cheer up, it's not always the best thing.

David Byrne

Show Not Tell Quotes #1661753
#82. I basically use the sketch step to turn the beats (the "tell") into a draft (the "show"), and then to make notes about anything that's not yet fully formed in my mind, but that I know will eventually need to be in the draft (i.e. transitions).

Monica Leonelle

Show Not Tell Quotes #1667375
#83. When you do not have the dialogue to explain things, you will use everything to show and to tell the story. I think that this is what makes you believe that it is impeccable.

Michel Hazanavicius

Show Not Tell Quotes #1668618
#84. The canvas isn't empty. It's full of whatever you imagine it to be full of. My art is so conceptual that not only do I not tell, but I don't even show. All I do is sign the canvas and try to sell it.

Jarod Kintz

Show Not Tell Quotes #1686301
#85. Did that work?" I ask into the quiet night. "Um, yeah. Couldn't you tell?"
I shake my head. "That's not what I meant. I meant, did I show you love?"
"Yes. You and me, this is what love is."
We learned it together.

Lauren Blakely

Show Not Tell Quotes #1701286
#86. I'm uncommonly slow to show my work to other people, and by the time I do I've usually exhausted myself so completely that all I really want is for someone to tell me that my efforts have added up to something - not one of my better qualities, I admit.

Kevin Brockmeier

Show Not Tell Quotes #1735438
#87. Fernand," cried he, "of my hundred names I need only tell you one, to overwhelm you! But you guess it now do you not? - or, rather, you remember it? For notwithstanding all my sorrows and my tortures, I show you today a face which the happiness of revenge makes young again..

Alexandre Dumas

Show Not Tell Quotes #1768417
#88. What you have when everyone wears the same playclothes for all occasions, is addressed by nickname, expected to participate in Show And Tell, and bullied out of any desire form privacy, is not democracy; it is kindergarten.

Judith Martin

Show Not Tell Quotes #1806166
#89. We do not tell - we show. We do not claim - we prove.

Ayn Rand

Show Not Tell Quotes #1827053
#90. You can show me some stick ice cream and I can tell you if it's good or not just looking at it.

O. Winston Link

Show Not Tell Quotes #1831282
#91. 'Big Bang Theory' is not my kind of show. It's not my humor. I don't like multicam comedies. I don't want an audience to tell me when to laugh.

Zachary Knighton

Show Not Tell Quotes #1832628
#92. I would tell anyone who wants something from someone else to feign not wanting it. People are perverse. If you show great affection to them, they'll run the other way.

Hedy Lamarr

Show Not Tell Quotes #1851686
#93. Good fathers not only tell us how to live, they show us.

Mark Twain

Show Not Tell Quotes #1858012

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