Ed Helms quotes: Andy Bernard’s best advice.
“Be bold, be courageous, be your best.”
“Never let others define you; define yourselves.”
“So long as your desire to explore is greater than your desire to not screw up, you’re on the right track. A life oriented toward discovery is infinitely more rewarding than a life oriented toward not blowing it.”
“When you try hard at everything you do, even when it feels foolish to do so, you’re opening up doors and possibilities you might not be seeing in the moment.”
“It’s worth pointing out here that there are infinite definitions for a successful life. Maybe you want to be the president, maybe you want be a great parent, or maybe you want to pretend to rip your tooth out and marry a stripper in a movie. All equally noble choices. But simply asking ourselves what we want is easy. Another far more powerful question that can be much harder to explore, but has the potential to bring you breathtaking clarity, is simply: ‘What do I fear?'”
“Success lies in the tension between fear and discovery.”
“Don’t be afraid of fear. Because it sharpens you, it challenges you, it makes you stronger; and when you run away from fear, you also run away from the opportunity to be your best possible self.”
“Fear is good. Maybe you feel fear right now – fear that you won’t land a job, fear that you won’t find love. But to understand why fear is good, one has to stop viewing fear as a feeling, emotion or behavioral command, and start looking at it simply as information. Fear is good because it is our brain’s way of identifying the things about which we are ignorant. Knowing this, we should look at our fear not as a reason to avoid the things that frighten us, but as a reason to engage them.”
“Fear of known physical danger is obviously warranted and needn’t be questioned or overthought. But that other kind of fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear that shuts down action without any real explanation. When you feel that fear, let it be a trigger for curiosity.”
“If you let it, fear can become a kind of spirit guide on your path to a successful life.”
“It has been said that a rolling stone gathers no moss. I would add that sometimes a rolling stone also gathers no verifiable facts or even the tiniest morsels of journalistic integrity.”
“Improvisation is about finding the best joke or the silliest way to get something across. Improvising conflict is always fun because you can just go for it.”
“There is something beautiful in the mundane if you take enough microscope to it and focus in on something that seems innocuous to begin with.”
“I know a thing or two about small midwestern schools. They somehow mix heartland American values of hard work, grit and determination with a burning curiosity, a progressive disposition and a genuine thirst for knowledge.”
“I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you actually left them.”
“The world will tell you that it’s time to grow up and leave those foolish, youthful diversions behind. But don’t fall for that. I’m here to tell you those foolish diversions are the real nectar of life. Put up a fight. Be a fool.”
“I feel like I’m worried about my later years in life because I feel like I’m using up so much good karma right now. There’s going to be some sort of karmic backlash somewhere down the road.”
“I had envisioned doing comedy since childhood. For sure.”
“All I knew is that I loved movies and comedy and TV, and I wanted to perform. I made a bunch of shorts and movies in college, and that was always fun too. I directed some plays in college. It was taking it all in and trying to immerse myself in as much of it as possible.”
“Getting any movie made is just like trying to push a giant boulder up a mountain, and there’s so many moving parts. Obviously, there’s the creative side, and then there’s the logistical side, and they’re both colossal.”
“It’s incredibly fun to play someone that you don’t like. It exorcises your own demons in a way. It’s cathartic. We all have things that we don’t like about ourselves, little things. And I get to amplify those things and put them out there. It’s fun and it has a cleansing effect.”
“I try to explain to people that you get the roles that are right when they’re right. If you have a nerd character but you’re kind of a cool guy, you’re probably not going to get the nerd part. The nerd is going to get the nerd part. You know, someone like me.”
“When I was first asked to speak to the Knox Class of 2013, I must admit: I didn’t know if I was the guy you wanted giving advice. If you think about it: I’m best known for playing a character who makes nothing but bad decisions – and then doesn’t even remember them.”
“There are certain relationships in our lives that implode, and it can feel really inexplicable and terrifying. You don’t know why, and sometimes relationships end for reasons that one person keeps from the other person, and it’s just totally unclear, and it just goes south and it’s heartbreaking.”
“I found myself often asking the question, ‘Who deserves to be made fun of?’ Depending on your mood, the answer can be no one or everyone. It took me a while to understand the math of how those field pieces came together. I don’t think that ridicule is ever funny, but there are times when that gets the biggest response.”
“This may come as a surprise, given the nature of my job, but I am very guarded and contemplative. I’m not a naturally boisterous person.”
“Indeed, the truth about fear, as with the rest of life, is that you’ll only really figure it out by living through it. So, by God, get out there and live. Take your lumps. Dole out a few lumps. And trust you’ll figure it out.”
“Trust your instincts, trust your passions, trust your empathy, and trust your love. And trust that even fear itself will want to stop, drop and roll when confronted with the unstoppable passion and power.”
“So you’re all wondering where to go from here and how your lives are going to turn out. Well, let me start by saying, ‘You’re all going to be fine.'”
Next: Vince Vaughn quotes.
