"As an artist, I feel that we must try many things - but above all we must dare to fail"
About this Quote
Cassavetes isn’t selling failure as a cute badge of authenticity; he’s drawing a line between art as risk and art as product. “Try many things” sounds generous, almost improvisational, but the hinge is “must.” For him, experimentation isn’t an elective vibe, it’s an obligation. Then he narrows the demand even further: “above all we must dare to fail.” That phrasing treats failure not as an accident but as an active, chosen danger - something you step toward with your eyes open.
The subtext is a quiet indictment of professional safety. In film and acting, “competence” can be a trap: the polished performance, the clean arc, the version of a scene that plays well in the room. Cassavetes is arguing that real discovery often looks, at first, like mess. If you’re never failing, you’re probably repeating what you already know works - or what the industry already knows how to reward.
Context matters because Cassavetes built a career out of defying systems designed to minimize uncertainty. As an actor who became a fiercely independent filmmaker, he wagered money, reputation, and relationships on work that could be uneven, abrasive, or too emotionally raw for conventional taste. His movies chase human behavior the way life delivers it: unresolved, contradictory, sometimes ugly. The quote doubles as a manifesto for that aesthetic.
It also sneaks in an ethic of humility. “Dare to fail” admits the possibility that your instincts won’t land, your methods won’t translate, your audience won’t follow. That admission is the price of making something that isn’t pre-approved.
The subtext is a quiet indictment of professional safety. In film and acting, “competence” can be a trap: the polished performance, the clean arc, the version of a scene that plays well in the room. Cassavetes is arguing that real discovery often looks, at first, like mess. If you’re never failing, you’re probably repeating what you already know works - or what the industry already knows how to reward.
Context matters because Cassavetes built a career out of defying systems designed to minimize uncertainty. As an actor who became a fiercely independent filmmaker, he wagered money, reputation, and relationships on work that could be uneven, abrasive, or too emotionally raw for conventional taste. His movies chase human behavior the way life delivers it: unresolved, contradictory, sometimes ugly. The quote doubles as a manifesto for that aesthetic.
It also sneaks in an ethic of humility. “Dare to fail” admits the possibility that your instincts won’t land, your methods won’t translate, your audience won’t follow. That admission is the price of making something that isn’t pre-approved.
Quote Details
| Topic | Art |
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