Quotes By Kirk Douglas

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

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.

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

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.

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.

No matter how bad things are, they can always be worse. So what if my stroke left me with a speech impediment? Moses had one, and he did all right.

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!

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

Love has more depth as you get older.

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.

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.

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?