Steve Martin is an American actor, producer, comedian, writer, and musician; acting in a large portion of comedy movies, and receiving 5 Grammy Awards, Primetime Emmy, and many others. Steve Martin has been ranked 6th on the list of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians of all time by Comedy Central. 

Check out these motivational Steve Martin quotes on life, success and motivation as a classic comedian!

Here are 30 Inspirational Steve Martin Quotes:

1. “Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.” – Steve Martin

2. “Why sip from a teacup, when you can drink from the river?” – Steve Martin

3. “Be so good they can’t ignore you.” – Steve Martin

4. “Now let’s repeat the non-conformists’ oath: I promise to be different! I promise to be unique! I promise not to repeat things other people say! Good!” – Steve Martin

5. “Always make room for the unexpected in yourself.” – Steve Martin

6. “You can’t really conduct your life by one or two phrases.” – Steve Martin

7. “You have to get comfortable [with your work], you really have to know what you’re doing, and it has to be almost boring to you to be able to do it well.” – Steve Martin

8. “When your hobbies get in the way of your work – that’s ok, but when your hobbies get in the way of themselves – well.” – Steve Martin

 

9. “I’ve got to keep breathing. It’ll be my worst business mistake if I don’t.” – Steve Martin

10. “There’s no better way to learn something than to learn it in front of an audience. Your terror drives you.” – Steve Martin

11. “I believe in equality. Equality for everybody. No matter how stupid they are or how superior I am to them.” – Steve Martin

12. “You’re nuts but you’re welcome here.” – Steve Martin

13. “I just believe that the interesting time in a career is pre-success, what shaped things, how did you get to this point?” – Steve Martin

14. “Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you do criticize him, you’ll be a mile away and have his shoes.” – Steve Martin

15. “Yeah, well, we’re all writers, aren’t we?” – Steve Martin

16.

17. “It’s not what you know, it’s what you think you know.” – Steve Martin

18. “I don’t really manage my time. I really just wait until I’m inspired to do something. And when I’m inspired to do something, it just happens.” – Steve Martin

19. “Writer’s block is a fancy term made up by whiners so they can have an excuse to drink alcohol.” – Steve Martin

20. “It’s pain that changes our lives.” – Steve Martin

21. “Despite a lack of natural ability, I did have the one element necessary to all early creativity: naïveté, that fabulous quality that keeps you from knowing just how unsuited you are for what you are about to do.” – Steve Martin

22. “I have found that, just as in real life, imagination sometimes has to stand in for experience.” – Steve Martin

23. “I’ve heard lots of people lie to themselves but they never fool anyone.” – Steve Martin

24. “Love is a promise delivered already broken.” – Steve Martin

25. “The conscious mind is the editor, and the subconscious mind is the writer.” – Steve Martin

 

26. “It was essential that I never show doubt about what I was doing.” – Steve Martin

27. “I thought yesterday was the first day of the rest of my life but it turns out today is.” – Steve Martin

28. “I like a woman with a head on her shoulders. I hate necks.” – Steve Martin

29. “Acting has helped me understand people, not only because you are acting as a character, but also because you are watching other actors work. That really helps you identify in life when someone is acting, not being true.” – Steve Martin

30. “It is not the big events that hurt the most but rather the smallest questionable shift in tone at the end of a spoken word that can plow most deeply into the heart.” – Steve Martin

31. “Be undeniably good.” – Steve Martin

32. “I did stand-up comedy for 18 years. Ten of those years were spent learning, four years were spent refining, and four years were spent in wild success. I was seeking comic originality, and fame fell on me as a byproduct. The course was more plodding than heroic.” – Steve Martin

33. “I understood that as much as I had resisted the outside, as much as I had constricted my life, as much as I had closed and narrowed the channels into me, there were still many takers for the quiet heart.” – Steve Martin

34. “Teaching is, after all, a form of show business.” – Steve Martin

35.

36. “When someone less capable is ahead of me, I am not pleased. It makes me insane.” – Steve Martin

37. “Chaos in the midst of chaos isn’t funny, but chaos in the midst of order is.” – Steve Martin

38. “I love money. I love everything about it. I bought some pretty good stuff. Got me a $300 pair of socks. Got a fur sink. An electric dog polisher. A gasoline-powered turtleneck sweater. And, of course, I bought some dumb stuff, too.” – Steve Martin

39. “Through the years, I have learned there is no harm in charging oneself up with delusions between moments of valid inspiration.” – Steve Martin

40. “I believe entertainment can aspire to be art, and can become art, but if you set out to make art you’re an idiot.” – Steve Martin

41. “Acting is collaborative because you are working with another actor, and it’s almost like a two-man juggling team. You have to really be in sync.” – Steve Martin

42. “Thankfully, persistence is a great substitute for talent.” – Steve Martin

 

43. “She tried to get even with him through psychological warfare but couldn’t, because he didn’t care.” – Steve Martin

44. “A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.” – Steve Martin

45. “Introductions are hard to come by when your natural state is shyness.” – Steve Martin

46. “I really enjoy finding the right word, creating a good, flowing sentence. I enjoy the rhythm of the words.” – Steve Martin

47. “The banjo is such a happy instrument – you can’t play a sad song on the banjo – it always comes out so cheerful.” – Steve Martin

48. “Comedy is the art of making people laugh without making them puke.” – Steve Martin

Which Steve Martin quote is your favorite and why? Comment below!