Paul Newman Quotes
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I wasn't driven to acting by any inner compulsion. I was running away from the sporting goods business.
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Hollywood is a changing world these days. This is one of the things that ought to be changed.
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To be an actor you have to be a child.
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It's like chasing a beautiful woman for 80 years. Finally, she relents and you say, 'I'm terribly sorry. I'm tired.'
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I'm a supporter of gay rights. And not a closet supporter either. From the time I was a kid, I have never been able to understand attacks upon the gay community. There are so many qualities that make up a human being... by the time I get through with all the things that I really admire about people, what they do with their private parts is probably so low on the list that it is irrelevant.
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The first time I remember women reacting to me was when we were filming Hud in Texas. Women were literally trying to climb through the transoms at the motel where I stayed. At first, it's flattering to the ego. At first. Then you realize that they're mixing me up with the roles I play - characters created by writers who have nothing to do with who I am.
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The characters I have the least in common with are the ones I have the greatest success with. The further a role is from my own experience, the more I try to deepen it.
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I cannot bear to look at a film that I made before 1990. Maybe 1985. There's no sense even trying to explain it. I really just can't watch myself. I see all the machinery at work and it just drives me nuts, so I don't look at anything.
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If you have no enemies, you have no character. Taking a stand always creates opposition.
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I like racing but food and pictures are more thrilling. I can't give them up. In racing you can be certain, to the last thousandth of a second, that someone is the best, but with a film or a recipe, there is no way of knowing how all the ingredients will work out in the end. The best can turn out to be awful and the worst can be fantastic. Cooking is like performing and performing like cooking.
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We all die, just a question of when.
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You can't be as old as I am without waking up with a surprised look on your face every morning.
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Fill the moment and find variety.
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Building weapons that we don't need, don't work, and aren't necessary, and have no mission that's not bad politics, that's robbery.
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I picture my epitaph: 'Here lies Paul Newman, who died a failure because his eyes turned brown.
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I certainly never expected to be a professional actor. I never expected to be in movies. I thought I would probably become a teacher.
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Being on President Nixon's enemies list was the highest single honor I've ever received. Who knows who's listening to me now and what government list I'm on?
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People like to do what they used to do after they've stopped being able to do it.
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Men experience many passions in a lifetime. One passion drives away the one before it.
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I was always a character actor. I just looked like Little Red Riding Hood.
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In the early days of films, the movie star in this country replaced royalty. They've been demoted since then but they're still treated as beings larger than life.
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Watching something is nothing like doing it.
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It seems to me that the older I get, the more running around I do with less satisfaction, just spinning my wheels.
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The need is great and so are the opportunities to make a difference.