Quote Of The Day By Bryan Cranston: 'If Everything In Your Life Was Beautiful And Terrific, Where Are The Lessons You're Going To Get From That...'

Bryan Cranston has made a career playing characters whom bad things befall; those characters then have to figure out a path through the storm. To wit: Walter White in AMC's "Breaking Bad," Judge Adam Desiato in HBO's "Your Honor," or even Hal in Fox's "Malcolm in the Middle." So it's fitting that the actor has lived his life by learning from misfortune and trying to grow as a person.

When Cranston was a child, his father, Joe, also was an actor, but couldn't land enough work to make it a full-time profession. He left the family when the future star was 11 years old. The pair reconciled a decade later when Bryan Cranston was 22, and they even worked together on "The Big Turnaround," a 1988 action thriller directed by Joe Cranston.

Bryan Cranston is best known for his work on "Breaking Bad." His performance as Walter White/Heisenberg was met with widespread praise and earned him four Emmy awards for playing one of the best TV protagonists of all time. He also won another two Emmys as a producer of the show. 

Cranston's experience is an example of learning to roll with both the good and the bad to get the most out of life, which is why he's today's Quote of the Day.

"Whenever something bad happens, it's going to make a great story. If everything in your life was beautiful and terrific, where are the lessons you're going to get from that, and where are the stories? Every single story worth its merit comes from a place of failure."

The quote above comes from a 2021 interview with Bryan Cranston on the "Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend" podcast. During the conversation, he recalled the poetic advice he gave his daughter, "The Pitt" star Taylor Dearden, and explained how he had to make a difficult choice to make at university. 

Instead of continuing his police science course and going into law enforcement, he chose to travel on his motorbike with his older brother for two years. During this time, they slept in random places like golf courses, or stayed in homeless shelters. They worked hard in restaurants to keep them on the road. Seeing more of the United States forced Cranston to mature and figure out what he wanted to do with his life, ultimately choosing to pursue an acting career.  

Bryan Cranston's quote is a lesson about recognizing that when bad things happen in life, we can use them to grow and change for the better as human beings. If everything went right all the time, there would be no room for learning or improvement. It's an idea that can be applied to anything, including work, relationships, and hobbies. 

Bad things happening give us great anecdotes to tell friends and family, but they can also teach us about ourselves and how we adapt to hurdles and negativity. The actor has also had his fair share of misfortune his life that has made fascinating stories in the years since. For example, he and his brother were arrested in the 1970s for the murder of a chef in Daytona Beach because they'd been overheard joking about the victim prior to his death.

The siblings were acquitted when surveillance footage led to the real culprit, who was later found guilty of the crime. It was an awful thing that happened, but it makes for a great story to reel off on late-night talk shows and podcasts. 

Essentially, Cranston is saying that life isn't perfect, and if it were, it'd be boring. That's not to say that every single bad thing that happens in life can be a teaching moment, but those times can be opportunities to better yourself afterwards.

"My passion is becoming involved in good work, whether that means as an actor or writer or director or producer or all — that is not as important to me." — From a 2003 interview with IGN.

"Luck is a component that a lot of people in the arts sometimes fail to recognise: that you can have talent, perseverance, patience, but without luck you will not have a successful career." — From a 2012 interview with The Guardian.

"If you have a level of expectation in your life that you have to be a quote-unquote star, whatever that means, you might be setting yourself up for failure." — From a 2012 interview with The Guardian.

"Take a chance, take a risk. Find that passion, rekindle it, fall in love all over again. It's really worth it." — From his acceptance speech at the 2014 Emmy awards.