Steve Martin

Steve Martin

29 quotes

Since 1945, American comedian, actor, musician and writer Steve Martin has given the world some of its most quotable lines. Beyond his work in comedy films, television, and recording, he has received many accolades, including five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award as well as nominations for eight Golden Globe Awards and two Tony Awards, Steve Martin proved equally skilled at capturing ideas in a sentence or two. Discover 39 of Steve Martin's most memorable quotes, ranging across Funny, Music, Art, Business, and Movies. Readers often gravitate to this one: "I believe that sex is one of the most beautiful, natural, wholesome things that money can buy."

“I feel good about being able to take bluegrass on to television like 'Letterman' and 'The View,' and I've heard nice things about being able to do that. I really haven't felt any negativity toward me or my music.”

— Steve Martin

Music

All Quotes by Steve Martin

“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

Art

“Everything is fraught with danger. I love technology and I love science. It's just always all in the way you use it. So there's no - you can't really blame anything on the technology. It's just the way people use it, and it always has been.”

— Steve Martin

Science

“You want to be a bit compulsive in your art or craft or whatever you do.”

— Steve Martin

Art

“There's a lot of thought in art. People get to talk about important things. There's a lot of sex, you know, in art. There's a lot of naked women and men, and there's intrigue, there's fakery. It's a real microcosm of the larger world.”

— Steve Martin

Art

“Movies always are open to being remade because times change so much, and the tempo of movies changes. I think of it like a James Bond. They can have different actors play the same role... I've had people come up to me and say, 'We want to remake 'The Jerk' with so and so.' And I say, 'Fine.' It just doesn't bother me. It's an honor actually.”

— Steve Martin

Change

“I thought 'Borat' was a breakthrough comedy, because it was really funny. It wasn't some studio-produced script with 14 writers.”

— Steve Martin

Funny

“I think I meant that, given the circumstances of my childhood, I had the illusion that it's easier to be alone. To have your relationships be casual and also to pose as a solitary person, because it was more romantic. You know, I was raised on the idea of the ramblin' man and the loner.”

— Steve Martin

Alone

“A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.”

— Steve Martin

Funny

“When I was in college, I was debating to try my hand at show business, or to become a professor. I just thought of the risk of not going into show business and always wondering if I would've had a chance. Because that's where my real heart was.”

— Steve Martin

Business

“I've always believed that there are funny people everywhere, but they're just not comedians. In fact, some of my best comedic inspirations were not professional entertainers.”

— Steve Martin

Best

“Boy, those French: they have a different word for everything!”

— Steve Martin

Funny

“I've got to keep breathing. It'll be my worst business mistake if I don't.”

— Steve Martin

Business

“Comedy may be big business but it isn't pretty.”

— Steve Martin

Business

“Chaos in the midst of chaos isn't funny, but chaos in the midst of order is.”

— Steve Martin

Funny

“Bad psychoanalysis would say I enjoyed pleasing people, working really hard and pleasing people, which is probably related to my father in some way. But I really liked working hard. When I worked at Disneyland, I'd do 12 hours straight and go home thrilled.”

— Steve Martin

Home

“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

Work

“I like a woman with a head on her shoulders. I hate necks.”

— Steve Martin

Funny

“'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' is a good one because it not only turned out, I think, to be a really funny movie but it was also a delight to shoot. We were in the South of France, working with Glenne Headly and Michael Caine and Frank Oz the director - who were just fun.”

— Steve Martin

Funny

“I cringe at backstory. Because it never quite explains or gets into some psychological thing that is never quite right and never quite the truth and who knows why someone is some way.”

— Steve Martin

Truth

“I feel good about being able to take bluegrass on to television like 'Letterman' and 'The View,' and I've heard nice things about being able to do that. I really haven't felt any negativity toward me or my music.”

— Steve Martin

Music