If you're an actor, always be true to your character. If you are not an actor, have character and always be true to yourself.

The talent is in the choices.

Sometimes if you have financial restraints, it’s a benefit. It forces you to come up with a more creative way.

I hurt someone's feelings once.

A guy told me one time, "Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner

I got some bad ideas in my head.

If you don't go, you'll never know.

Movies are hard to make, and you have to work toward a common ethic and do your best. You don't want to work with people who don't care or who are acting out some neurotic, crazy thesis on the set.

I didn't have a problem with rejection, because when you go into an audition, you're rejected already. There are hundreds of other actors. You're behind the eight ball when you go in there.

It's a very stressful thing, directing a movie. You have the budget, you have the schedule, you are in certain confines, and you have everybody giving you advice about what to do.

The hardest thing about being famous is that ... in a conversation everybody's agreeing with what you're saying. ... You need people who can tell you what you don't want to hear.

Everyone's always interested in a dark theme, especially when there's humor connected to it. It seems like that helps, if that's an integral and organic part of the whole story.

I don’t get into these long-winded heavy discussions about character - do we do this or that or what. At the end of the day, what you gotta do is just go out there and do it.

I go to Paris, I go to London, I go to Rome, and I always say, 'There's no place like New York. It's the most exciting city in the world now. That's the way it is. That's it.'

Good directors can bring certain things out of you, with their intensity or gentleness or sensitivity or understanding. They can make an actor feel he can do no wrong.

I always tell actors when they go in for an audition: Don't be afraid to do what your instincts tell you. You may not get the part, but people will take notice.

In the casino, the cardinal rule is to keep them playing and to keep them coming back. The longer they play, the more they lose, and in the end, we get it all.

I've never been one of those actors who has touted myself as a fascinating human being. I had to decide early on whether I was to be an actor or a personality.

I always wanted to direct. Directing is a lot more of a commitment though, a lot more time. I like directors who do very few takes, they know what they want.

You always learn something about movies. Directing or acting, there's always something new. It's the technological thing; there's always something to learn.

I love to find new people. It's not for the sake of their being new; it's because if you find someone who perfectly fits a part, that's such a great thing.

When you love someone you gotta trust them, there's no other way. You gotta give them the key to everything that's yours. Otherwise, what's the point?

In civilized societies, we spend our lifetimes trying to become what is socially acceptable. We're dark and we're light. We all have both sides to us.

Everybody's in New York and, hopefully, my younger kids will go to college in New York and find something they want to do so they'll stay in the city

I guess the only thing to do now is meet his parents. I'm sure they're decent people. I mean they gotta be if they named their son Gaylord Focker.

I mean, the actors that I admired were Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, an actress named Barbara Harris. And Greta Garbo. They were great actors.

Running a casino is like robbing a bank with no cops around. For guys like me, Las Vegas washes away your sins. It's like a morality car wash.

I think that's what we love about the vodka, is that it's consistent. It's consistent in its pureness and that's how I tie it to restaurants.

Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner.

When you are working hard, you don't have time for anything other than what you are doing in the scene and what the director wants.

You talking to me? You talking to me? Then who the hell else are you talking to - you talking to me? Well, I'm the only one here.

When you feel that you can't fight it, you just go for it. When it comes to the arts, passion should always trump common sense.

Auditions are like a gamble. Most likely you won't get the part, but if you don't go, you'll never know if you could've got it.

Movies are hard work. The public doesn't see that. The critics don't see it. But they're a lot of work. A lot of work.

I think Hollywood has a class system. The actors are like the inmates, but the truth is they're running the asylum.

Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney. Now do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady?

The director respects what they've hired you for and chosen you for: to do the part and respect what you're doing.

In acting, I always try to go back to what would actually be the real situation, the real human behavior in life.

I think it's important to have had at least a few years of obscurity, where people treat you like everybody else.

Sometimes if you have financial restraints, it's a benefit. It forces you to come up with a more creative way.

If De Niro wants to spend the twilight of his career as the McDonald's of master thespians, we can't stop him.

One of the things about acting is it allows you to live other people's lives without having to pay the price.

Somebody steals from me, I'm gonna say you stole. Not talk to him for spitting on the sidewalk. Understand?

You have to think about one shot. One shot is what it's all about. A deer's gotta be taken with one shot.

When I think of a good restaurant, it's where the food has been consistent; there's always a consistency.

You learned the two greatest thing in life, never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut.

I always say people can call me anything they want as long as they don't call me late for supper.

Write down everything you want to do with your life and then spend the next 25 years doing them.

It's important not to indicate. People don't try to show their feelings, they try to hide them.

One regret I have: I didn't get as much of the family history as I could have for the kids.