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Jerry Seinfeld

337 quotes

“I think spending your life trying to dupe innocent people out of hard-won earnings to buy useless, low-quality, misrepresented items and services is an excellent use of your energy!”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If your things don't make you happy, you're not getting the right things!”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have always wanted a Clio. I don't know much about it... but I know it's a good award, because in 1991, they screwed up this whole presentation, and there were a bunch of awards left over, and all of these ad people here climbed up onto the stage and tried to grab them! So, to me, that says: "This means something!" That really happened, and it's my all-time favorite award-show occurrence because it was so honest. People just said "I want a damn Clio", and they went for it.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thank you all for this great honor, and for all your great work. I hope it makes you happy, as you have made me happy for this five minutes of my life, which will last until I get to the edge of this stage and it hits me that this was all a bunch of nonsense.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was a minimalist from the beginning. I think that's why I've always done well as a comedian. [...] If you always want less, in words as well as things, you'll do well as a writer.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Bee Movie was a very unhappy experience, from start to finish. I remember standing in the back of the theater and it wasn't great, but it was decent and, and I remember listening to their laughs and thinking, These laughs are shit. That was not worth it.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Once I'm done with [a] bit, it either goes in the garbage or the accordion folder. Those are the only two destinations. And then it's in the air. It has to survive on its own. Bits are like turtles right after they hatch, running to the beach.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Seinfeld] gave me everything, and that was always my thought when I was doing it. If I sacrifice every cell of energy that I have doing this, the rest of my life will be pretty good. So I just died on the shield. I went to the point where I thought, If I keep going, I could lose my sanity. That was how far I took it mentally.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I've always loved getting sold [on something]. That's true of all good salesmen. All good salesmen love to get taken in by a pitch.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What's wrong with [pursuing vanity projects]? [...] If there's no vanity, that's the end of show business.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The less you know about a field, the better your odds. Dumb boldness is the best way to approach a new challenge.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Should I mention the other shows that were on at [the same time as Seinfeld]? 'Unsolved Mysteries'? 'Alf'? Where are they? Why is there no Hulu deal for them?”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It might be fun to see what it's like to run something into the ground. I missed out on that. I'm curious about it. I want to know what it's like for everyone else.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I like all jokes. Okay? That's what I do; that's what I live for. There's really nothing else I care about, than jokes. And I don't really care who the victim is or who has-- whose feelings have to be hurt. If it's a good joke, I'm into it.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What I am good at -- and what every comedian is good at -- is knowing how to carefully manage an audience's attention span.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Internet is the most brutal medium for attention span. The distance from your finger to that "off" -- or "stop" -- is-- it's-- you're holding it right there, while you're watching the thing!”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm a little compulsive-- a compulsive tinkerer. Y'know? I love to just "Well, let's try this, and maybe shrink that section a little bit." I mean, that's what stand-up is, is constantly moving the accordion to different sizes.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Audiences love to hear about something very stupid. Y'know? But I impose kind of an-- a very rigorous intellect to it. It's kind of philosophical, that joke about the-- y'know, "If it was really donut holes, the bag would be empty.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There's absolutely no difference between the greatest painting ever made and a joke. It's just something someone invented that someone else likes! That's art. And it has no reason to exist, except its own virtue.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I had an episode [of Seinfeld] all ready to go that we were gonna do entirely -- secretly -- in claymation. And I had the studio ready, and the figures ready, and it was all good to go; and then, someone said "Y'know, Tim Allen did an animation thing", or something, "on Home Improvement last season." And I go "What? What kind of thing was it?" And I never saw it; I didn't know what it was. And I got scared off; and I thought "I don't want people to say I'm imitating Tim Allen." And I cancelled it; and I realize now that was a huge mistake.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Comedy is a bit of a masochistic pursuit. If you don't have a masochistic streak, I don't think you can succeed at it, 'cause so much of it is painful. You have to kind of like it, in a sick way: y'know, that this really hurts.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I do have a bucket list. And I looked at the list, and then, I decided to turn the B [into] an F, and I was done with it.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I believe in detailed notes and jokes, and also winging it onstage. But, not for your first open mic. For your first open mic, my advice to you would be to make sure you have what you're gonna do memorized, to the point that one of your friends can gently slap you across the face, and you'll still be able to get it out of your mouth.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don't do movies because I think generally the size of that content does not lend itself to great comedy; it lends itself to people saying, "Hey, I made a movie." To me, the funniest things are shorter, so I think TV series or comedians in cars, I think I have a better chance of making you laugh.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I actually have quite a bit of [the Seinfeld set], and we're looking for a museum that wants to display it. I have the couch, I have the two blue stools, I have the table and chairs; the coolest thing I have is the door, which we never repainted in nine seasons. It has every scuff mark that Kramer put on it with all those crazy entrances.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I did swear a little bit in the beginning [of my stand-up career] and then I didn't like how easy it was. It felt like cheating, so I stopped.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Funniest" is completely personal. Whoever you think is funniest, is funniest.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think the best Seinfeld episode idea I ever contributed was that George pretending to be a marine biologist would find Kramer's golf ball in the blowhole of the whale. Believe it or not, we were doing both of those stories without seeing any connection that Kramer was gonna hit golf balls at the beach, and George was gonna be pretending to be a marine biologist. And it was in the middle of the week that it suddenly hit me of a way to connect the two stories.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The sad truth is, people are only interested in themselves. So, if you just ask them what they are doing or what’s going on or how they feel, they generally go on for hours.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have often wondered if there's a way to teach being funny or comedy, and George Stephanopoulos actually got me wound up enough at one point that we were going to contact, I think his name was Lee Bollinger, the president of Columbia, and we were gonna go in there, and I was going to teach a course on comedy. Because I know a lot about it, but I just don't know if it's teachable.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Bee Movie was definitely my favorite movie that I've starred in, because I've always wanted to be a bee. They seem to have the most organized society on earth, and they make honey! Which is a pretty amazing product.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The best advice I ever got was from Rodney Dangerfield, who when I asked him a question about something in comedy, just looked at me for a second and then went, "You'll figure it out.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Learning to be a writer is the delta of success and failure in comedy.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A lot of comedy sounds like you're driving to a point of logic or perspective, and you're really just setting up a joke!”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is not easy to find someone who you can say to "That's not funny", and they're not gonna get upset. Y'know? Really hard to do that. Most comedians are very defensive, very protective of their stuff. And even if you may be a person of accomplishment, they don't want to hear that. They don't want to hear from anybody!”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I like the brutality of stand-up and the simple, boiled-down "it either lives or dies" of a joke.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Inexplicable malevolence was our favorite thing [on Seinfeld]. There's no reason-- There was never a reason I didn't like Newman; there was no reason. "We just think it's better to hate this guy.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There's this little thing of "I want to say this" and "I want to be funny". And that little balance: if it's a little-- if it's one inch above -- (raises one hand) "I really want to say this" and (lowers other hand) "It's not that funny" -- (snaps fingers) the audience will just-- they will recoil instantly. It's like "You're preaching", or "You're trying to make some stupid point". Y'know? And they just-- (recoils) But if it's always "This is really funny and it says something", then you're okay.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I want comedians to always push themselves to be bigger than the niche that they start in. [...] You work to get broader and broader, without being generic or pandering. And to me, that is the mission.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Get bigger! Don't just play to the people that get you. Play to the people that don't get you, and you'll get better!”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Great steering is, to me, the essence of the automotive experience.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I love art! It's great. But a guy with his hands on his face is not worth $100M. (laughs) "Screaming!" Okay? So, he's screaming. Fine. I'm not getting 100M value here: (imitates "The Scream")”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Here's the dumbest thing car people will think: you'll look at some car that you have and you['ll] go "Do I really need that?" That's the dumbest question! You didn't need any of it! [...] "Need" is not an applicable verb in this world.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Most comedians do not relate to cars. I don't know why.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A great joke and a great car: everything on it works. And there's nothing excessive that doesn't make sense or doesn't need to be there. [...] To me, the Speedster and a great piece of comedy are identical: they're perfectly minimalized ideas.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The time-travel aspect of old cars, to me, is a big part of the fun. [...] I live out in East Hampton, and there's a lot of roads out there where you can't tell what year it is. So, if you get in a '63 -- and that's a '63-- everything on it was made in '63 -- you can kind of go into that little dream, like "Well, gee, if I was-- had this car in that year, this-- it would be just like this!”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was the only guy, by the way, in the early '80s [who] was welcome on your show and Carson; usually, it was kind of-- that was-- there was a bit of a wall there. [...] If you were a Carson comic, you were probably not young enough or cool enough for Late Night. And vice-versa. But I for some reason was able to go back and forth, and I was always very proud of that, in the early days.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A comedian is a-- to me, a-- a full-fledged-- not only a monologist, but somebody who can really work a room, work a crowd, and has a real act. A comic? That's a-- like-- I think a notch down.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Talent is a horse that [you] just find yourself on. And the extent to which you can learn to ride it -- or it guides you or even throws you-- I mean, Freddie Prinze is a perfect example of a guy [who was] sitting on a stallion, but had no clue how to ride it. [...] That's [how] I think of a career, as kind of a rider and a horse: you trying to control this talent.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The thing that's great about [having] kids is: they don't care what you think is great. [...] Everything you like, they've got to take the other side. That's the great balancing thing of kids: they're not impressed with anything you're impressed with.”
Jerry Seinfeld (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source