Top 66 Self-Taught Quotes

Many people who excel are self-taught.

You know, I grew up very self-taught.

When I was 13, I thought I was pretty hot stuff because I knew BASIC programming, self-taught on the family’s Commodore 64. One of my crowning accomplishments was writing a silly little program that showed a crudely-drawn Space Shuttle lifting off in a cloud of pixelated smoke.

I got my first guitar in October of 1968. I’m self-taught.

I’m entirely self-taught, which I think is both a blessing and a curse.

I had no real respect for good technique because I didn’t know what it was. I was self-taught, so that stuff didn’t matter to me.

My mom is a self-taught home cook, so books that offer guidelines on how to organize menus are critical to ‘cook from the book’ people like her.

As far as inspiration, the most I got from YouTube was that I’m kind of self-taught by watching YouTube tutorials on how to use Adobe After Effects and Final Cut Pro. I just taught myself enough to produce the content that I had in my head.

I’m not a trained chef. I’m a self-taught cook, and I want people to be like, ‘Yo, I could do that! Maybe I didn’t think to or maybe it seemed harder than it really is.’

I had no training in research as such, and as a consequence, I am, in a sense, self-taught.

Almost everything I’ve been paid to do was something that was largely self-taught.

I consider myself something of a self-taught anthropologist. I try not to talk about something unless it’s something I love. But if it’s something that really annoys me, I fixate on it, learn something about it and then, when I’m onstage, it comes out.

We’re so tribal in Britain about music. But my music – my guitar playing, the rhythms, et cetera – just express my personality, because I’m self-taught.

The brainy class is made up of individuals who think for themselves and beyond formal education are continuous learners who tend to be self-taught.

James Thurber was an inspiration because his drawings were so primitive. I am self-taught – I didn’t go to art school – so I thought when I started doing them, ‘If James Thurber can be a cartoonist, I can,’ because his stuff is very raw.

I’m self-taught and emailed photographers I knew if I had questions I couldn’t figure out from the manual or online.

I think the ability to focus is a thread that runs through so-called successful people. And that’s something that can be developed. It can be self-taught.

I consider myself something of a self-taught anthropologist. I try not to talk about something unless it’s something I love. But if it’s something that really annoys me, I fixate on it, learn something about it and then, when I’m onstage, it comes out.

My father was born in the year 1900 in South Carolina, and he grew up at a time where being an African-American child in the American South was to be deprived of access to anything close to a reasonable education. He only had three years of formal education, but he was self-taught. He read two newspapers a day.

I got my style. I got my own way of playing. I’m a musician. I’m self-taught.

I’m a self-taught landscape gardener; it’s a real passion of mine. It’s what I do in my spare time because trees don’t ask questions!

I’ve gone through a whole series of careers where something started as a hobby of some kind. Almost everything I’ve been paid to do was something that was largely self-taught.

We’re so tribal in Britain about music. But my music – my guitar playing, the rhythms, et cetera – just express my personality, because I’m self-taught.

I was in a band in high school and college and I always had a love for music, but I didn’t go to a conservatory or anything like that. I was fairly self-taught.

My brother Carl taught me how to play bass. I’m a self-taught keyboard player, though – I figured out our harmonies at the piano.

My great-grandfather was a self-taught man, and his library was extraordinary. I read the lot.

I self-taught myself music at 19-20.

There are many actors who have not been trained, but self-taught means one cannot be limited. It means you’re continuously learning.

Yes, I’m a reasonably good self-taught historian of the 1930s and ’40s. I’ve never wanted to write about another time or place. I wouldn’t know what to say about contemporary society.

I actually went to film school, but I didn’t like it. I’m basically self-taught.

I’m pretty much a self-taught player. My swing hasn’t changed a whole lot, I don’t think. But I watch a lot of people.

Apart from my work, my greatest pleasures have been mainly out-of-doors, and although I no longer ski, I greatly enjoy walking in the mountains and leading country rambles. I am fond of music, whether light or classical, and play the piano in a self-taught way. In company, I enjoy lively, way-out discussions.

I am a self-taught guitarist. I just try to piece together passages that have some melodic value!

I’m all self-taught. I never had a teacher. Even for English, and French, and German, I hardly went to school.

Computer programming has always been a self-taught, maverick occupation.

I actually went to film school, but I didn’t like it. I’m basically self-taught.

My brother Carl taught me how to play bass. I’m a self-taught keyboard player, though – I figured out our harmonies at the piano.

I’ve gone through a whole series of careers where something started as a hobby of some kind. Almost everything I’ve been paid to do was something that was largely self-taught.

I’m a self-taught musician aside from what I’ve been able to pick up from other players.

My approach to being a self-taught programmer was to find out who was smart and who would be helpful, and these were – these are both men and women. And without learning from my co-workers, I never could’ve gone on in the profession as long as I did.

Tiger had the advantage of high school, college, and a father who knew golf. I was self-taught. Blacks really won’t play golf in great numbers until some of these basketball and football stars buy some golf courses where blacks can play.

I had no training in research as such, and as a consequence, I am, in a sense, self-taught.

I’m a self-taught guitarist, but I have a classical music background.

I was in a band in high school and college and I always had a love for music, but I didn’t go to a conservatory or anything like that. I was fairly self-taught.

I love color. When I paint, I use a lot of color. I love art that has a vibrancy of color and compositions. I adore the Impressionists, and I’m influenced strongly by them as a self-taught artist.

I studied computer science and graphic design, yeah, so music was self-taught and a backburner thing, an obsessive hobby.

When I was 13, I thought I was pretty hot stuff because I knew BASIC programming, self-taught on the family’s Commodore 64. One of my crowning accomplishments was writing a silly little program that showed a crudely-drawn Space Shuttle lifting off in a cloud of pixelated smoke.

I have a four-and-a-half-, nearly five-octave range. I probably should have had extra lessons as a child, as I am certain my family heard my potential, but I didn’t. I was in the choir as a schoolgirl, but really, it is all self-taught.

A self-taught man usually has a poor teacher and a worse student.

I would say I’m self-taught, but Corinne Day made me less conscious of myself. I was 15, and she’d make me take off my top, and I’d cry. After five years, you get used to it, and you’re not self-conscious anymore.

I’m a self-taught guitarist, but I have a classical music background.

Yes, I’m a reasonably good self-taught historian of the 1930s and ’40s. I’ve never wanted to write about another time or place. I wouldn’t know what to say about contemporary society.

I’m pretty much self-taught – I never went to any courses. If I want to learn about, say, the frontal lobe, I’ll buy 40 books and absorb them in a couple of weeks. I’m a nerd like that.

There are many actors who have not been trained, but self-taught means one cannot be limited. It means you’re continuously learning.

A self-taught man usually has a poor teacher and a worse student.

I’m all self-taught. I never had a teacher. Even for English, and French, and German, I hardly went to school.

My mom is a self-taught home cook, so books that offer guidelines on how to organize menus are critical to ‘cook from the book’ people like her.

My father was a trained accountant, a BCom from Sydenham College and a self-taught violinist. In the 1920s, when he was in his teens, he heard a great violinist, Jascha Heifetz, and he was so inspired listening to him that he bought himself a violin, and with a little help from an Italian teacher, he learned to play it.

As far as inspiration, the most I got from YouTube was that I’m kind of self-taught by watching YouTube tutorials on how to use Adobe After Effects and Final Cut Pro. I just taught myself enough to produce the content that I had in my head.

When you play with great musicians, whether they’re schooled or self-taught, they keep you on your toes. It comes down to people’s personalities and individual energies.