Quotes By Kirk Douglas

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

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.

Acting is a youthful profession.

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.

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

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

When you become a star, you don't change - everyone else does.

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.

The learning process continues until the day you die.

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

In order to achieve anything you must be brave enough to fail.

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.

Why can't a woman be more like a dog, huh? So sweet, loving, attentive.

Sometimes, the thing that ties you down sets you free.

When you reach 95, after you get over your surprise, you start looking back.

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

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.

Now, what does an actor who can't talk do? Wait for silent pictures to come back?

If I thought a man had never committed a sin in his life, I don't think I'd want to talk with him. A man with flaws is more interesting.

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

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

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.

What would my parents think about America if they arrived here today? Would they even want to come? I wonder.

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.

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

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

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?

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

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

Love has more depth as you get older.