Jagoš Marković: Letter to my younger self

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Cool down, slow down, enjoy.

Do not speak wrongly of others, do not judge, do not gossip, and do not be surprised, those are some verbal delicts against your own self.

Miočinović said, “Until you learn to respect the work of others, you will never do anything good…” You heard her.

Do not be scared of criticisms full of semi-conceptual incompetent insults. They can’t hurt you… Those people write about themselves. And people with careers, with duration and quality don’t even read this, everyone told you so, trust them. And this is not a metaphor, it is a literal truth.

Do not be harmed by injustice so much, it is a natural part of life. Do you want to be right or happy?

Get away from people who make you feel bad, irrationally bad, they poison you and drain your energy

You selected good teachers and that will save you … Your ego and your provincialism and primitivism will be erased by them…

Thank God for being recognizing by Mira Stupica, for her believing in you and teaching you. Aaaa! You’re scared of Mira, but you listen to her, though…

Leave the whiskey, it will not make you a bigger dude, or a better friend, it will only make you look a fool… I would say even more, but I won’t.

A man must do everything himself.

I respect your courage and responsibility for life, and I despise it when it goes into arrogance…

Hold on through everything, when the excruciating youth passes all will be easier… It is good that you’re afraid of so much success that you achieve. It’s dangerous … Don’t shout at people at the theater rehearsals, you powerless, angry, half-mad man. No one in the theater has a bad intention, people who do not know better make mistakes… The artist’s outcome is no justification for inhuman behavior in the process. Don’t be angry with the wardens, they leave, we stay, Bobić said it a long time ago. Remember what the great Ljuba Tadić told you when you apologized to him for the mistake you made (it’s good that you are ashamed of it even now, shame is a corrector): “Do not apologize to me, it’s your shame, not mine!”

Life in the theater, survival and growth, the path to art can’t be found in books, you are looking for it in vain, it must – as folk poetry, as an oral tradition – spread from mouth to mouth…

This wild self-ignition, which is just a passion and nothing else, just gives an illusion that we are alive, but in fact we go against ourselves. Even worse, it is the part of the youth that is called “because I can.” After it comes no joy in the soul, but “you can”, because you will bear it afterwards.

Give up on the desire to be loved by all. Performances are made with actors and associates, not with friends. And if you need such love, love them, it will be more than enough for your whole life.

Because only the love we have for others can keep us warm.