Improvisation Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old improvisation quotes, improvisation sayings, and improvisation proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

We actually use a lot of improvisation on 'Transparent.' Amy Landecker
To sing a song is like whispering to a child's ear. It is an art heavily relying on improvisation. Andrea Bocelli
Improvisation means coming to the situation without rigid expectations or preconceptions. The key to improvisation is motion — you keep going forward, fearful or not, living from moment to moment. That’s how life is. Bobby McFerrin
Improvisation is the courage to move from one note to the next. Bobby McFerrin
There's nothing that makes you so aware of the improvisation of human existence as a song unfinished. Or an old address book. Carson McCullers
Improvisation is the ability to talk to oneself. Cecil Taylor
The shortest feedback loop I can think of is doing improvisation in front of an audience. Demetri Martin
Free improvisation, in addition to being a highly skilled musical craft, is open to use by almost anyone - beginners, children, and non-musicians. Derek Bailey
Comedy is far more difficult, as it involves improvisation and impromptu acting, and as an actor, that came as a welcome break for me. Divyanka Tripathi
It ain't about if he knocks a guy out. It's about how he knocks a guy out. It's the style, the improvisation. Don King
The apparatus has to serve our improbability and improvisation. Being good and playing the songs is not enough. Flea
People are tired of constant movement, improvisation, and wild scrambling when plans fail. Francois Hollande
I stopped being interested in improvisation, and I continue to not be that interested in it. Comedians can do it on a different level because they have a goal, but if you're improvising something that's dramatic, there's not that much to be good at. Greta Gerwig
When life gets you down, improvise as if crawling was part of the choreography. Iveta Cherneva
Sometimes it works, sometimes it fails, but that's what we face when we're dealing with improvisation. Jan Garbarek
Reinvent new combinations of what you already own. Improvise. Become more creative. Not because you have to, but because you want to. Evolution is the secret for the next step. Karl Lagerfeld
The improvisation had to be in public, because you only get value playing to strangers. Keith Johnstone
Actors need bricks to play with, and in fact we rejected all the improvised fragments we had made without a plan. Improvisation without a plan is like tennis without tennis balls. Lars Von Trier
Improvisation can be either a last resort or an established way of evoking creativity. Mary Catherine Bateson
In improvisation, there are no mistakes. Miles Davis
The most useful virtues, for one who walked on, were flexibility and a willingness to improvise. Rachel Hartman
The nature of improvisation is you don't know what's going to happen. Sam Richardson
The rules of improvisation apply beautifully to life. Never say no - you have to be interested to be interesting, and your job is to support your partners. Scott Adsit
Improvisation is doing better than the best work we could have done, it only takes a spontaneous reaction on our side to make the best use of things in hand, rather than waiting for better things to come our way. ShahenshahHK
Mediocrity is comfortable, it makes you join the crowd, but would you like to be remembered as part of the crowd or someone followed by the crowd? For rising above the crowd - don't be a slave to procedures, practice more & improvise. Shahenshah Hafeez Khan
Just because we have nowhere to run, it isn't a dead end. Every dead situation requires us to improvise & improve, remember we learn to climb the wall only when left with no place to run. Shahenshah Hafeez Khan
Improvisation is intuition in action, a way to discover the muse and learn to respond to her call. Stephen Nachmanovitch
In composition you have all the time you want to decide what to say in 15 seconds, in improvisation you have 15 seconds. Steve Lacy
Life is improvisation. All of those [improv] classes were like church to me. The training had seeped into me and changed who I am. Tina Fey
You criticize, I improvise. Toba Beta
Improvisation is the power of spontaneous observation. Wyatt Pringle
There is no room for church mice in improv quilting. You have to own your ideas, your choices, and your determination. Patricia Belyea
Self study leads to improvisation and improvisation leads to evolution. Oscar Auliq-Ice
Writing structure is logical. Writing method at its best is instinctive. That way you get the benefits of both styles - improvisation within calculation. Stewart Stafford
We feel safe in following the past successful efforts & fear the innovation or improvisation, but we don't realize that everything still & not updated is bound to be backdated and open to decay. Shahenshah Hafeez Khan
Take opportunities to initiate ideas and action as often as you stand ready to offer support for them. Amy Lisewski
To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well. Isaac Asimov
When you don’t have honesty in love then there is no communication. Honesty is improvisation of the heart; anything less is a well thought out and rehearsed script. Shannon L. Alder
Bad improvisers block action, often with a high degree of skill. Good improvisers develop action. Malcolm Gladwell
That, as my cousin Nord would say, is where my improvised lie falls apart. Eoin Colfer