Skip to main content

Daily Inspiration Quote by Carol Channing

"If I talk about something I either talk about it or I DO it... the minute I talk about it it's lost all it's drive and all it's fun"

About this Quote

Channing is defending a particular kind of showbiz power: momentum. The line sounds like a pep talk, but it’s really a warning about what happens when desire gets processed into language. For an actress whose whole career ran on velocity - quick timing, big choices, the kind of stage confidence that reads as joy - “talking about it” isn’t reflection, it’s deflation. Planning becomes a substitute performance, a rehearsal that steals the electricity from the real one.

The intent is bluntly practical. Either commit to action or commit to speech, because mixing them turns ambition into a cocktail-party anecdote. Underneath is a performer’s suspicion of the confessional impulse: narrating your dreams too early invites applause for the idea instead of the work. You get the social reward (attention, validation, the illusion of progress) before you’ve earned the artistic one. That’s why the “drive” disappears. The engine runs out of fuel once it’s been idled for public consumption.

Context matters. Channing came up in an era when actors were expected to deliver, not curate a personal brand in real time. Today, we live inside pre-announcements, soft launches, and identity statements that can feel like achievements. Her sentence punctures that culture with old-school pragmatism: keep the fun private until it can survive daylight. It’s also a tiny philosophy of pleasure - creation as play, not as a thesis - and a reminder that some motivations only stay alive when they’re allowed to be a little secretive, even from yourself.

Quote Details

TopicSelf-Discipline
More Quotes by Carol Add to List
If I talk about something I either talk about it or I DO it... the minute I talk about it its lost all its drive and all
Click to enlarge Portrait | Landscape

About the Author

USA Flag

Carol Channing (born January 31, 1923) is a Actress from USA.

3 more quotes available

View Profile

Similar Quotes

Bernie Worrell, Musician
Lara Flynn Boyle, Actress
Small: Lara Flynn Boyle
Abigail Van Buren, Journalist