Kirk Douglas's Quotes

You know, sometimes an interviewer will look at me and say - you're bright! They're actually surprised I might be bright.

You know, you have to have some inner philosophy to deal with adversity.

I have been an actor for most of my life. When I started out, I didn't think about anything except what was good for me. Like many movie stars, I became all wrapped up in myself.

People are always talking about the old days. They say that the old movies were better, that the old actors were so great. But I don't think so. All I can say about the old days is that they have passed.

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?

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.

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!

If you want to know about a man you can find out an awful lot by looking at who he married.

Listen - pacemaker, crash, stroke. What does it mean? God doesn't want me now. That's all.

Acting is a youthful profession.

All children are natural actors, and I'm still a kid. If you grow up completely, you can never be an actor.

Fame is as much about luck as it is about talent, perhaps more.

Fear is a terrible thing. It makes you do awful things.

I came from abject poverty. There was nowhere to go but up.

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.

I guess I was a bad boy... Yes, yes, I've had lots of women in my life.

I have one computer that my wife gave me. All I know how to do, and I do it every day, is play Spider Solitaire. And I don't have a cell phone.

I know Italians and I like them. A lot of my father's best friends were Italians.

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.

If I have to speak in public, I am terrified.