Wisdom of Tom Shadyac

Tom Shadyac (December 11, 1958) is an American author, director, producer, and screenwriter. He wrote and directed the comedy films The Nutty Professor, Liar Liar, Bruce Almighty Patch Adams, and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. In 2010, Shadyac wrote, directed, and narrated his documentary film I am, that looks at his leaving materialistic lifestyle after a bicycle accident.

Below we list some words of wisdom by Tom Shadyac.

"The bike accident caused me to start talking about spiritual truths. This accident - where I faced my own death - compelled me to talk about these truths and try to make a movie about them."

"I come from a family of lawyers. I was expected to be a professional of some sort, not an artist. I was never uplifted for my art."

"TRUTH: When a child believes he must win to be worthy, when young adults define themselves by what they do and not who they are, it is a kind of slavery a slave master would envy."

"I am part of a divine essence. I don't have to become anything. I already am."

"Nature is very clear on this. In fact, there's one fundamental law that all of nature obeys that mankind breaks everyday. Now this is a law that's evolved over billions of years and the law is this: nothing in nature takes more than it needs. A redwood tree doesn't take all of the soil's nutrients, just what it needs to grow. A lion doesn't kill every gazelle, just one. We have a term for something in the body when it takes more than its share. We call it cancer."

"You can't sow an apple seed and expect to get an avocado tree. The consequences of your life are sown in what you do and how you behave."

"I hope people start to look at their lives as the most powerful, creative act they will ever offer this world."

"The one thing that advances a society is not technology or so-called development; its love - that one principle."

"When an individual changes in even a small way he immediately changes the world around him. And that concentric circle moves out and changes everything."

"Authenticity means to be the author of your own life."

"Nature actually works through intense cooperation. There is competition in nature , but it thrives through cooperation. We don't teach this to our kids. It's actually a violent ideology. It's why kids go into school and bully each other and god forbid do things even worse. Cooperation will become the marching orders of the human species or we're not going to make it."

"What matters is who we are, not who we beat."

"I think true success is intrinsic... It's love. It's kindness. It's community."

"Love is not always about ‘everything’s fine’…love is about truth. Truth and love are one in the same. It doesn’t always come in a sweet little box with a bow on it."

"We started by asking what’s wrong with the world, and we ended up discovering what’s right with it."

"In movies you can shoot a guy 3,000 times and get a 'PG-13', but if you say the 'F' word twice it's automatically an 'R'. I'll let that be its own comment."

"Hope is the belief we might get it done, and faith is the knowledge we will get it done."

"You send a message in everything you do, I’m always very conscious about what ideas and what energy I put out there."

"If you look at the Bible as a whole, it's redemptive and beautiful, and it's God's love story to mankind."

"I was raised Catholic and didn't like the dogma and exclusivity of that teaching but I was moved by the moral teachings and by the power of the Jesus fellow."

"I'm from the Madeleine L'Engle school. The more she delves into science, the more she knows there's a creator who's behind these amazing laws, these amazing events. The symmetry of nature, the structure and order of it."

"Love is the essential energy of the universe. It is the force that puts the stars in the firmament, and it makes the blood run through the veins."

"Illnesses are often times a reflection of an emotional place that needs healing or attention."

"Death is not the enemy. A life lived without love is the enemy."

"I wasn't paying enough attention to what my heart was telling me. When I paid attention and got the message, I could move forward and heal."

"I think laughter is a sacred act."

Copyright © Stephen Petullo, Scott Petullo