Quotes By Philip Seymour Hoffman

You know the circus performer who spins the plates in the air you know, and he'll spin six or seven plates in the air? Acting sometimes is kind of that guy spinning all those plates in the air but in your head and in your body.

I've worked with a lot of characters that are unhinged. I've played characters that are unhinged. That's, like, my job.

The foibles of my body are pretty much out there in the work I do.

I think I'm less anonymous than I was.

To act well isn't an easy thing.

Vanity is something that will only get in the way of doing your best work, and ultimately if you're truly vain you care more about your work than how you look in your work. I actually consider myself a pretty vain guy when it comes to that.

I think directors should be confident in their leadership capabilities. I think directors should be confident in what they want to do.

My soul is in good shape.

When you become a parent, you look at your parents differently. You look at being a child differently. It's an awakening, a revelation that you have.

Being unemployed is not good for an actor. No, it isn't, no matter how unsuccessful you are. Because you always remember getting fired from all the restaurants. You remember that stuff very, very strongly.

I didn't have any idea that I would be able to have a career in film.

People actually live with their id exposed. They're not good at concealing what's going on inside.

I had a father who was a traveling salesman.

My love for the theater has always been a priority. That hasn't changed. I got into acting that way. The film work that came up was really a surprise.

Creating anything is hard.

Film's hard when you don't have any relationship with the director at all and you just show up. Then you really are just a gun for hire.

If I don't feel like I'm doing the job well, and I don't know how to get there, or I'm too scared, or whatever, I'm not a happy guy and I'm not pleasant. I'm not pleasant to be around.

My girlfriend's a costume designer in the theater.

My ideal weight is 205, actually.

You have to understand that crew members make movies so they're seeing a lot of actors all the time in their career acting.

To be fair to my dad, he is one of the brightest men I've ever met.

I know some really great actors who are pretty judgmental people, pretty critical people. But they're great actors. When they're acting, that's the craft.

When you have a child, as anyone knows who has them, that's basically all you want to talk about.

I didn't really buy LPs or go to concerts.

When you're playing someone who really lived, you carry a burden, a burden to be accurate. But it's one that you have to let go of ultimately.

If I was a little bit younger I would worry more. I'd want to do one thing at a time but now I try to do a bunch of different things at a time if I can.

The size of my head though is pretty abnormal.

It's hard for anybody who works a lot and has children. But I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Well, I think everyone struggles with self-love.

The idea that you have a vision of what you're supposed to be, or going to be, or where your kids are going to be - and that that doesn't work out - is always going to be something that's going to affect people and move people.