Robert De Niro Quotes

My definition of a good hotel is a place I'd stay at.

You draw on whatever's relevant to the part you're playing; it makes it more personal.

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.

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

If you don't co-operate you're gonna suffer from fistophobia.

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.

When you make a movie, everyone should leave their own personal problems at home. When they start bringing those to set, filming can be very difficult ... You don't need any extra drama. Put the drama into the story, in the characters.

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?

A lot of young actors have the idea that, "I've got to do this right. There's a right way to do this." But there's no right or wrong. There's only good and bad. And "bad" usually happens when you're trying too hard to do it right. There's a very broad spectrum of things that can inhibit you. The most important thing for actors - and not just actors, but everybody - is to feel loose enough to create what you want to create, and be free to try anything. To have choices.

I like to visit L.A., but I wouldn't want to live there.

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 ...

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

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 have to be able to trust you with my life. Do you understand?

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

Loneliness has been following me my whole life.

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.

Passion should always trump common sense.

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'm not a big football person at all.

I don't like to watch my own movies - I fall asleep in my own movies.

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

Thank God for the rain to wash the trash off the sidewalk.

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.

The mind of a writer can be a truly terrifying thing. Isolated, neurotic, caffeine-addled, crippled by procrastination, consumed by feelings of panic, self-loathing, and soul-crushing inadequacy. And that's on a good day.

I'll work with a director if I think I'm going to get into a comfortable situation, and if it's someone I respect and who respects me, even if they're not so well known. Movies are hard to make, and you have to work toward a common ethic and do your best.

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

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

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.

I got some bad ideas in my head.

Feeling a little bit alive is a lot better than just waiting to die.

I always enjoy coming to Israel. Israelis are warm, they're energetic people. Forthright. Very smart. I always like smart people. They're nice people, you know. Aggressive, and I respect that aggressiveness because you need it in their situation.

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

Time goes on. So whatever you're going to do, do it. Do it now. Don't wait.

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.

According to a new survey, women say they feel more comfortable undressing in front of men than they do undressing in front of other women. They say that women are too judgmental, where, of course, men are just grateful.

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

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.

There is a certain combination of anarchy and discipline in the way I work.

I'm lucky that I have whatever I had that makes me have a successful career, if you will.

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.

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.

Some day a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets.

I don't remember what made me want to be an actor. In fact, I'm always curious.

Things rarely turn out the way we want them to.

I always go back to how people behave. If you watch how people actually behave in a situation, it's very simple and honest and contained. You don't need to use as much expression, as much feeling. Some characters will boil over, and that's another thing, but a lot of times I think you can just do very, very little.

Every set up that you do, everything is precisely modulated and raised and lowered."

If it's the right chair, it doesn't take too long to get comfortable in it.

Leonardo DiCaprio is a very serious young actor.

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

With 'Silver Linings,' I didn't feel - I was thinking of certain things, but I just said, 'Let me go with it.' You have to know what you're doing, where you're going with the scenes, and I put a lot of work into that. But when you're out there, at the same time you gotta be ready for anything.

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.

You never know what you do that could be totally out of left field, which actually might work and give something fresh to the whole scene, to the character, whatever. If you have that with a director who then knows how to shape it, either in the direction, in the moment, or in the editing, then that's good.

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

Whenever there is any doubt, there is no doubt.

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 don't just play a part. You've got to earn the right to play it.

The talent is in the choices.

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.

I never walk into a place I don't know how to walk out of.

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.

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

I can get around pretty easily. People don't expect to see me walking around.