Show Business Quotes

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the road less traveled by and they CANCELLED MY FRIKKIN' SHOW. I totally shoulda took the road that had all those people on it. Damn.”
― Joss Whedon

“If politics is like show business, then the idea is not to pursue excellence, clarity or honesty but to appear as if you are, which is another matter altogether.”
― Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

“When it comes to your career, you must always try and allow the positive aspects of your character to dictate what happens to you. Be led by your talent, not by your self-loathing; those other things you just have to manage.”
― Russell Brand, My Booky Wook

“All of the myths of mankind are nothing but show business,' the other man said to me during our initial meeting. 'Everything that we supposedly live by and supposedly die by — whether it's religious scriptures or makeshift slogans — all of it is show business. The rise and fall of empires — show business. Science, philosophy, all of the disciplines under the sun, and even the sun itself, as well as all those other clumps of matter wobbling about in the blackness up there —' he said to me, pointing out the window beside the coffee-shop booth in which we sat, 'show business, show business, show business.' 'And what about dreams?' I asked, thinking I might have hit upon an exception to his dogmatic view, or at least one that he would accept as such. 'You mean the dreams of the sort we are having at this moment or the ones we have when we're fortunate enough to sleep?”
― Thomas Ligotti, Teatro Grottesco

“It's a man's world and show business is a man's meal, with women generously sprinkled through it like overqualified spice.”
― Carrie Fisher

“Liberace was certainly master and commander of the ivories ~ he is the only pianist I can watch or listen to without suffering a case of 'Stagefright Sympathy Sickness'.”
― E.A. Bucchianeri

“HENSLOWE: Mr. Fennyman, let me explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster. Believe me, to be closed by the plague is a bagatelle in the ups and downs of owning a theatre.
FENNYMAN: So what do we do?
HENSLOWE: Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well.
FENNYMAN: How?
HENSLOWE: I don't know, it's a mystery.”
― Tom Stoppard, Shakespeare in Love: A Screenplay

“Oh damn and fuck show business and all its ways.”
― David Hare, Acting Up

“There just seems to be too much violence everywhere, even the news can't help break now and then on TV”
― Nikhil Sharda

“Part of show business is magic. You don’t know how it happens.”
― Sammy Davis Jr.

“This book is dedicated to every woman who has ever felt self-conscious about her size. Outer beauty comes in all sizes, shapes, heights, ages, and colors. And inner beauty will always shine through, no matter what the packaging.”
― Raynetta Manees, Fantasy

“The Pope's entrance was stunning. Maybe the Catholics know about miracles, and maybe they know about saints, but they've never received enough credit for what they know about show business.”
― George Burns, Gracie: A Love Story

“Late in November, Lenny took off for his eagerly anticipated job in Chicago. It had been nearly a year since he played the chilly city, and those who hadn't seen him for that period, or even longer, were shocked at the change in his appearance. The once handsome, animated, brilliant performer and commentator was now a fat, bent, shabby-looking street loafer, a horribly dissipated, baggy-eyed, numb-fleshed junkie, with a tragic darkness in his eyes.”
― Albert Goldman, Ladies and Gentlemen, Lenny Bruce!!

“There is no show business like show business, Irving Berlin once proclaimed, and [in 1950] he may have been right, but not anymore. Nowadays almost every business is like show business, including politics, which has become more like show business than show business is.”
― Russell Baker, So This Is Depravity and Other Observations

“People who grew up in major cities may wonder why the hell I would act like it's a big deal to be unaccompanied in New York City at that age. It's populated with both adults and children, it's a functioning metropolis, Kevin McCallister was only ten in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and that kid saved Christmas. Conversely, people from suburban areas act like my parents sent me wandering around the site of the Baby Jessica well, blindfolded and holding a flaming baton. So pick a side and prepare to judge me either way!”
― Anna Kendrick, Scrappy Little Nobody

“You know something, Stu?' Reagan said to Stuart Spencer. 'Politics is just like show business... You begin with a hell of an opening, you coast for a while, & you end with a hell of a closing.”
― Jill Lepore, These Truths: A History of the United States

“Later film shoots’ casting calls would advertise that they’re “fun shoots” and a “good way to get exposure”—but working in entertainment is not entertaining, even though it is not what’s traditionally thought of as “work.” You know what’s fun, indie filmmakers? Being paid for your time.”
― J. Richard Singleton, Background Guy

“People who grew up in major cities may wonder why the hell I would act like it's a big deal to be unaccompanied in New York City at that age. It's populated with both adults and children, it's a functioning metropolis, Kevin McCallister was only ten in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and that kid saved Christmas. Conversely, people from suburban areas act like my parents sent me wandering around the site of the Baby Jessica well, blindfolded and holding a flaming baton. So pick a side and prepare to judge me wither way!”
― Anna Kendrick, Scrappy Little Nobody

“Writing is show business for shy people.”
― Lee Child

“Buzz and the right publicist are not only important but crucial in show business.”
― Roy Halston Frowick

“Heads roll in Hollywood, but they usually roll into another studio.”
― Dan Bronson, Confessions of a Hollywood Nobody

“Any movie that gets made is a miracle. A good one is the second coming.”
― Dan Bronson, Confessions of a Hollywood Nobody

“LA, the city where everyone's constantly waiting for their phone to ring, and I'm part of it.”
― Daniel Ruczko, Pieces of a Broken Mind

“Quickly, Butter security descended upon Jenny and escorted her one on each arm to the lobby and out the door. Mickey J ran behind them.

"Your friend is a pig and you were trying to pimp me. Take your bag back bitch!", Jenny screamed across the cobblestones.

She threw the Fendi clutch at him. Mickey J caught it shrugged, and went back into the restaurant.. He casually dropped the clutch in the trash while texting another model an invite. Back at the table, Micky soothed his thirsty cohort because another nubile beauty was on the way to the restaurant for Niles. Fighting back tears of rage, Jenny hadn't thought this through because in the discarded bag was her Metro card and her good poppy red lipstick.

"Can I get you a car?", Brock asked.

Jenny looked into the deepest brown eyes with confusion to see had who was talking.

"No thank you" Jenny said fuming.

Men! So helpful but always with fishing wire attached.

Brock motioned over a black town car and opened the back door for Jenny to slid in.

"It's on me", he said.”
― Yvonna Russell, Snatch