Keep Moving Foreward

I decided I had enough gloom on my profile page thingy, so I'm making a new journal entry--partially as a COLOSSAL THANK YOU to my friends and family who were all so supportive in my emotional breakdown momomirasaki, mke927, CrimsonMidnight469, you guys rock!

So instead of a rant of depressing proportions, have some words of wisdom from my biggest hero: Walter Elias Disney


SOURCE: The Quotable Walt Disney compiled by Dave Smith

ON FILMS, ART, AND ANIMATION

"In learning the art of storytelling by animation, I have discovered that language has an anatomy. Every spoken word, whether uttered by a living person or by a cartoon character, has its facial grimace, emphasizing the meaning."

"Until a character becomes a personality it cannot be believed. Without personality, the character may do funny or interesting things, but unless people are able to identify themselves with the character, its actions will seem unreal. And without personality, a story cannot ring true to the audience."

"I don't pretend to know anything about art. I make pictures for entertainment and then the professors tell me what they mean."

"I am in no sense of the word a great artist, not even a great animator; I have always had men working for me whose skills were greater than my own. I am an idea man."

ON BUSINESS AND THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY

"There's really no secret about our approach. We keep moving forward--opening up new doors and doing new things--because we're curious. And curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. We're always exploring and experimenting. We call it Imagineering--the blending of creative imagination with technical know-how."

"Everyone needs deadlines. Even the beavers. They loaf around all summer, but when they are faced with the winter deadline, they work like fury. If we didn't have deadlines, we'd stagnate."

"Get in. Not choose but get in. Be part of it and then move up. I've always had that feeling about things. And it upsets me so much when people want to get into something but they're too darn choosy about what they want to do. Get in while you have a chance to at least look and see, and out of it might come something."

"I'm not the perfectionist anymore. It's my staff--they're the ones always insisting on doing something better and better. I'm the fellow trying to hurry them to finish before they spoil the job. You can overwork drawing or writing and lose the spontaneity."

"You can dream, create, design, and build the most wonderful place in the world...but it requires people to make the dream a reality."

ON SUCCESS AND FAILURE

"All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles have strengthened me."

"You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you."

"Get a good idea, and stay with it. Dog it, and work at it until it's done, and done right."

"People often ask me if I know the secret of success and if I could tell others how to make their dreams come true. My answer is, you do it by working."

ON CHILDREN, YOUNG AND OLD

"A child is helpless in choosing what is to be engraved on his mind during the formative years. The awesome responsibility is assumed, for better or worse, by us adults. Today we are the shapers of the world of tomorrow. That is the plain truth. There is no way we can duck the responsibility; and there is no reason, except sloth and cowardice, why we should."

"Why do we have to grow up? I know more adults who have the children's approach to life. They're people who don't give a hang what the Joneses do. You see them at Disneyland every time you go there. They are not afraid to be delighted with simple pleasures, and they have a degree of contentment with what life has brought--sometimes it isn't much, either."

"The way to keep children out of trouble is to keep them interested in things. Lecturing to children is no answer to delinquency. Preaching won't keep kids out of trouble. But keeping their minds occupied will."

"That's the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up. They forget. They don't remember what it's like to be twelve years old. They patronize; they treat children as inferiors. I won't do that. I'll temper a story, yes. But I won't play down, and I won't patronize."

"Childishness? I think it's the equivalent of never losing your sense of humor. I mean, there's a certain something that you retain. It's the equivalent of not getting so stuffy that you can't laugh at others."

ON AMERICA

"Laughter is America's most important export."

"If certain events continue, much of America's natural beauty will become nothing more than a memory. The natural beauty of America is a treasure found nowhere else in the world. Our forests, waters, grasslands and wildlife must be wisely protected and used. I urge all citizens to join the effort to save America's natural beauty...it's our America--do something to preserve its beauty, strength, and natural wealth."

ON ENLIGHTENMENT, EXPLORATION, AND EXPERIMENTATION

"As I see it, a person's culture represents his appraisal of the things that make up his life. And a fellow becomes cultured, I believe, by selecting that which is fine and beautiful in life and throwing aside that which is mediocre or phony. Sort of a series of free, very personal choices, you might say. If this is true, then I think it follows that freedom is the most precious word to culture. Freedom to believe what you choose and read, think, and say and be with what you choose. In America, we are guaranteed these freedoms. It is the constitutional privilege of every American to become cultured or to grow up like Donald Duck. I believe that this spiritual and intellectual freedom which we Americans enjoy is our greatest cultural blessing. Therefore, it seems to me, that the first duty of culture is to defend freedom and resist all tyranny."

"I am interested in entertaining people, in bringing pleasure, particularly laughter, to others, rather than being concerned with expressing myself with obscure creative impressions."

"I can never stand still. I must explore and experiment, I am never satisfied with my work. I resent the limitations of my own imagination."

"Ideas come from curiosity. When I settle one idea, my confidence takes command; nothing can shake it, and I am constant to it until it comes a reality. Then I drop it abruptly, and I rarely mention it again."

"I use the whole plant for ideas. If the janitor has a good idea, I'd use it."

"By nature I'm an experimenter. To this day, I don't believe in sequels. I can't follow popular cycles. I have to move on to new things. So with the success of Mickey, I was determined to diversify."

ON LIFE


"When you're curious, you find lots of interesting things to do. And one thing it takes to accomplish something is courage."

"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."

"Somehow I can't believe there are many heights that can't be scaled by a man who knows the secret of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four C's. They are Curiosity, Confidence, Courage, and Constancy, and the greatest of these is Confidence. When you believe a thing, believe it all over, implicitly and unquestioningly."

"In order to make good in your chosen task, it's important to have someone you want to do it for. The greatest moments in life are not concerned with selfish achievements but rather with the things we do for the people we love and esteem, and whose respect we need."

"I've got a lot of ideas. I haven't worked them out and I haven't proved them out. I carry ideas around in my head for a long time."


"Never get bored or cynical. Yesterday is a thing of the past."

"I am a patient listener, but opinionated to the point of stubbornness when my mind is made up."

"Always, as you travel, assimilate the sounds and sights of the world."

"Why worry? If you've done the very best you can, worrying won't make it any better. I worry about many things, but not about water over the dam."