Honing Quotes

• Talent is a dreadfully cheap commodity, cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work and study; a constant process of honing. Talent is a dull knife that will cut nothing unless it is wielded with great force.

  Stephen King

  Work, Cutting, Successful

  Stephen King (2011). “Danse Macabre”, p.88, Simon and Schuster

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• A family is a place where principles are hammered and honed on the anvil of everyday living.

  Charles R. Swindoll

  Family, Everyday, Principles

  Charles R. Swindoll (1979). “Standing Out: Being Real in an Unreal World”, Multnomah

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• Talent doesn't appear over night. It takes a lot of work and honing your craft, but also don't give up because people may say you're not good enough. I had so many teachers in high school and college saying "You're not going to make it. You're not. You can't." Luckily I had enough people around me who said I could.

  Lea Michele

  Teacher, Giving Up, Don't Give Up

  Source: www.moviesonline.ca

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• I loved planning 'The Tyra Show' more than actually having to do it. I loved coming up with show ideas, honing each program and crafting it. I'm more excited being in a meeting than being on TV.

  Tyra Banks

  Ideas, Tvs, Planning

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• It is easy and dismally enervating to think of opposition as merely perverse or actually evil -- far more invigorating to see it as essential for honing the mind, and as a positive good in itself. For the day that moral issues cease to be fought over is the day the word human disappears from the race.

  Jill Tweedie

  Thinking, Race, Issues

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• The journalistic vision sharpens to the point of maximum impact every event, every individual and social configuration; but the honing is uniform.

  George Steiner

  Impact, Media, Vision

  George Steiner (1991). “Real Presences”, p.27, University of Chicago Press

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• A fellow who has a funny bone can learn to hone his skills, but I don't think you can develop a funny bone - you either have it or you don't. And by the way - when you get it, we don't know it.

  Carl Reiner

  Thinking, Skills, Way

  "Reiner's Roar". Interview with Ken P., www.ign.com. October 26, 2004.

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• You can increase your problem-solving skills by honing your question-asking ability.

  Michael J. Gelb

  Skills, Asking, Problem

  Michael J. Gelb (2009). “How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day”, p.100, Dell

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• It's just the more you do it the better you get, or at least that's how I feel in my case. I think it's a combination of confidence and just having done it this long and just learning. I'm always learning. I'm still honing my craft.

  Lucinda Williams

  Thinking, Long, Done

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• I go on at least 2-3 auditions a week in the pursuit of more work. So I'm constantly working on material and constantly honing and trying to perfect a craft that is never perfectible - it's always new, and it's always different. It's always a work in progress.

  Jake Busey

  Perfect, Trying, Progress

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• I went from years of honing my craft to sudden recognition. It was quite a life changer.

  Kathy Bates

  Life Changing, Years, Crafts

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• Honing a thing down until you can still get through with economy, that's power. Learn your technique thoroughly, immerse yourself in it, and then just throw it all out the window, and express what you feel... and it will come through that you are a technician.

  William Dobell

  Art, Technique, Window

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• Partly I was honing my self-consciousness into a torture device, sharp and efficient enough to last me the rest of my life.

  Lucy Grealy

  Self, Lasts, Consciousness

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• Film is very much about capturing the essence of things - if you feel it, and you've got the right person shooting it, it'll come across. Theater's a different animal; it's physically different and requires a different discipline. In the theater, you're mining the same material, constantly honing the same thing, executing it and keeping it alive and fresh.

  Clive Owen

  Animal, Essence, Discipline

  Interview with RZA, www.interviewmagazine.com. October 28, 2015.

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• Curran struck at my wrist. His fingers were cat-quick, but I had spent my life honing my reflexes, and he missed. “Well, look at that.” I studied my free wrist. “Denied. Good-bye

  Ilona Andrews

  Cat, Bye, Looks

  Ilona Andrews (2009). “Magic Strikes”, p.45, Penguin

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• A part of being a female musician is kind of getting past your looks and just honing in on the music.

  Weyes Blood

  Past, Musician, Female

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

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• Self-interest leads to honing your skills, the better to trade with.

  P. J. O'Rourke

  Self, Skills, Interest

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• It's one of the ironies of mountaineering,' said Young, 'that grown men are happy to spend months preparing for a climb, weeks rehearsing and honing their skills, and at least a day attempting to reach the summit. And then, having achieved their goal, they spend just a few moments enjoying the experience, along with one or two equally certifiable companions who have little in common other than wanting to do it all again, but a little higher.

  Jeffrey Archer

  Men, Skills, Two

  Jeffrey Archer (2009). “Paths of Glory”, p.72, Pan Macmillan

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• I need to start honing in on projects that I want to devote my time to and not put my energies into the unattainable ones.

  Dan Deacon

  Energy, Needs, Unattainable

  Interview with Chris Martins, www.avclub.com. April 22, 2009.

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• Shooting in real-life situations helps actors because they're competing against the noise and the wind. Out of that comes things that shift and change, in terms of tone, but not in terms of re-honing the whole sequence.

  Tony Scott

  Real, Wind, Noise

  Source: collider.com

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• Social media is a giant distraction to the ultimate aim, which is honing your craft as a songwriter. There are people who are exceptional at it, however, and if you can do both things, then that's fantastic, but if you are a writer, the time is better spent on a clever lyric than a clever tweet.

  Bryan Adams

  Clever, Media, People

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• Cats appear to have a wonderful ability to weed out everything they don't need to know, while honing in on what is important to them.

  Christina Hendricks

  Weed, Cat, Important

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• For me, the most important thing I learned was just honing my eye. I think I had a good eye.

  Herb Ritts

  Eye, Thinking, Keys

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• I used to think that people who regarded everyone benignly were a mite simple or oblivious or just plain lax-until I tried it myself. Then I realized that they made it only look easy. Even the Berditchever Rebbe, revered as a man who could strike a rock and bring forth a stream, was continually honing his intentions. "Until I remove the thread of hatred from my heart," he said of his daily meditations, "I am, in my own eyes, as if I did not exist."

  Marc Ian Barasch

  Heart, Eye, Simple

  Marc Ian Barasch (2010). “The Compassionate Life: Walking the Path of Kindness”, p.114, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• To me, getting notes, honing the part, and refining the role is the real fun of the play.

  Swoosie Kurtz

  Fun, Real, Play

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