Kirk Douglas Quotes
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I know Italians and I like them. A lot of my father's best friends were Italians.
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People are composed of many things, and in my work, what influences me is the complexity of people - the chiaroscuro of dark and light. When I play a strong guy, I try to find, where is he weak? And, conversely, when I play a weak guy, where is he strong?
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When I first came to Hollywood, the blacklist was just starting, and they were having hearings in Washington. What most people don't know is the judge of these hearings himself was later convicted of misappropriation. 'Spartacus' helped break the blacklist, because Spartacus was a real character.
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Sometimes, the thing that ties you down sets you free.
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Acting is make-believe. I never believe I'm the character; I want you to believe.
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I love talking to interesting people - people like O.J. Simpson, Andretti... I love champions. A champion has something special about him.
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It's tough to make a movie about movies... We're all too close to it. But 'The Bad and the Beautiful' was very good.
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The foreign directors are always fumbling about in obscurity, and the critics are always writing about the juxtaposition of black and white and the existential dilemma and all that shit, to disguise the fact that they don't understand the first damn thing about it either.
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I studied Judaism a lot. I studied religion in general, and I have never imposed my Judaism on my kids. They are what they want to be. I think... you must care for others. That's the correct religion, I think.
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I was not a very good Jew. I never practised what Judaism tells you to do, to teach your kids all about Judaism.
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Listen - pacemaker, crash, stroke. What does it mean? God doesn't want me now. That's all.
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I never had any desire to be a film actor. I never thought I was the good-looking movie type, which I assumed they wanted.
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Virtue is not photogenic. What is it to be a nice guy? To be nothing, that's what. A big fat zero with a smile for everybody.
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Love has more depth as you get older.
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The learning process continues until the day you die.
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I don't need a critic to tell me I'm an actor. I make my own way. Nobody's my boss. Nobody's ever been my boss.
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When you have a stroke, you must talk slowly to be understood, and I've discovered that when I talk slowly, people listen. They think I'm going to say something important!
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Fame is as much about luck as it is about talent, perhaps more.
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I came from abject poverty. There was nowhere to go but up.
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I was conscious of my father's fame from the time I was 6.
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Compared to Thoreau, Saint Francis of Assisi was peanuts.
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All children are natural actors, and I'm still a kid. If you grow up completely, you can never be an actor.
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Too often, I have not been what I wanted to be; I've succumbed to pressures. Yes, I have. The things I've done that I liked, I've always done against advice.
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Now, what does an actor who can't talk do? Wait for silent pictures to come back?