Daily Inspiration Quote by Ernst Lubitsch

Perfectionism is usually sold as a virtue; Lubitsch treats it like a trapdoor. He admits, almost casually, that he sometimes makes work that falls short of his own bar. Then comes the knife twist: only a mediocrity can claim total consistency, because their "standard" is conveniently low. The line is a self-defense mechanism and a status flex at once, delivered with the dry elegance you associate with his films.

The intent is partly to normalize failure inside ambition. Lubitsch is reframing unevenness not as incompetence but as evidence of risk. If you are actually reaching, your output will wobble. The subtext is competitive: he's separating the artist who stretches from the craftsman who repeats. That word "mediocrity" is doing heavy lifting, naming the real enemy as complacency rather than the occasional misfire.

Context matters. Lubitsch worked in the studio system, where directors were expected to be productive, bankable, and legible - a machine that rewards reliable delivery. Yet his reputation rests on "the Lubitsch touch": tonal tightrope-walking, sophisticated sexual comedy, a kind of airy precision that looks effortless and is anything but. This quote is the backstage truth: even a master has drafts, compromises, days when the touch doesn't land.

What makes it work is the paradox. He confesses vulnerability, then turns it into a hierarchy. It's humility with teeth: an artist insisting that inconsistency is the cost of having standards worth failing.