Daily Inspiration Quote by John Schlesinger

Hollywood as a "temporary place" sounds like a travel tip until you hear the fatigue in it. John Schlesinger, a director who moved between British realism and American dream-factory spectacle, is naming the industry’s defining contradiction: it sells permanence (stars, classics, immortality) while operating like a bustling layover. People arrive with a script, an agent, a face that photographs well; they leave with a deal, a grudge, a reinvention, or nothing at all. Even the winners live on short-term contracts with long-term anxieties.

The phrasing is doing quiet work. "Extraordinary" is not pure praise; it’s a sign of unnatural weather. Hollywood isn’t merely different, it’s temporarily unmoored from ordinary rules: money moves faster than judgment, charisma substitutes for character, and consensus is built on rumor. Schlesinger’s choice of "place" matters too. Hollywood isn’t just an industry or an aesthetic; it’s a habitat that trains people to treat life as a pitch meeting. Everything is provisional: friendships, loyalties, even selfhood. You are the version of yourself that currently tests well.

Context sharpens the edge. Schlesinger made Midnight Cowboy, a film that punctured American glamour by following drifters and hustlers - the human collateral of a culture addicted to images. By the late 20th century, as studios consolidated and marketing began to dominate filmmaking, "temporary" also meant the shrinking lifespan of attention. Movies became events, then content, then back-catalog. In that light, his line isn’t nostalgic; it’s diagnostic. Hollywood’s magic comes from its impermanence, and its cruelty comes from the same source.