73 Quotes by Colin Jost

Tiger Woods said that he’s always nervous before a big tournament because if you’re not nervous, it means you don’t care. I’m still at least a little nervous before every set I do, even a ten-minute spot at a bar downtown for twenty-five people and zero money. Because I care very deeply about doing a set I’m proud of and that I stand behind.

What I realized was: I might never have this chance again. In fact, I almost certainly would never have this chance again. Did I really want to look back and think: I could have done more, but I was afraid people would think I was lame for trying too hard? I decided to try really hard.

Lorne always says, 'You never want to be the smartest person in the room,' because you always want to challenge yourself and try to get to the level of the people you admire.

As Lorne says, 'Careers are made by choices.

And the faster you find friends who challenge you and sometimes make you jealous, the faster you'll grow as a comedian.

When you go to auditions and you fail to prepare, prepare to fail.'-Paula Abdul

I submitted dozens of pieces for every issue, and even if only a couple made it into the magazine, I was still learning from all the rejections, too. My thought process was always: Keep writing new stuff. Don’t worry what gets accepted or rejected. Just keep moving forward and keep improving.

That’s two lessons I learned very quickly: (1) You don’t need to do anything in life—if it feels wrong or unnatural, it probably is. And (2) I had no one but myself to blame for not trusting my own instincts and pushing back when I felt something was wrong.

I now hate the phrase ‘That will work.’ It’s such a mediocre goal to set for yourself.