What’s the best piece of advice you’ve given to your children, inside and outside of the industry?
Always make your work be personal.
And, you never have to lie. If you lie, you will only trip yourself up. You will always get caught in a lie. It is very important for an artist not to lie, and most important is not to lie to yourself. There are some questions that are inappropriate to ask, and rather than lie, I will not answer them because it’s not a question I accept. So many times we are asked things in our work or in life that you want to lie, and all you have to do is say, “No, that is an improper question.”
So when you get into a habit of not lying when you are writing, directing, or making a film, that will carry your personal conviction into your work. And, in a society where you say you are very free but you’re not entirely free, you have to try. There is something we know that’s connected with beauty and truth. There is something ancient. We know that art is about beauty, and therefore it has to be about truth.
– Francis Ford Coppola
Thanks for posting this; it’s sage advice. From a spiritual perspective, I can personally vouch for the benefit of complete honesty and holding one’s ground — I made a commitment to stop lying almost five years ago, and it has completely changed my life in terms of making peace with the world.