Steve McQueen Quotes

I want people to do what they want to do because when they feel comfortable it seems to translate better on screen. It is when you put people in a straitjacket that it doesn't seem to translate very well at all. The individuals I work with are usually people I know.

I find it difficult to breathe when l'm in the space. There seems to be no oxygen. I want to put people into a situation where they're sensitive to themselves watching the piece.

Sometimes you have to say goodbye to the things you know and hello to the things you dont.

I'm not sure that acting is something for a grown man to be doing.

The camera movement should be like a cat jumping onto a table - with just enough amount of effort and that's it. That's enough.

I'm not a great actor - let's face it. I don't have a great deal of scope. There are certain things I can do, but when I'm bad, I stink. There's something about my shaggy dog eyes that makes people think I'm good. I'm not all that good.

Racing is life. Everything else is just waiting.

If I hadn't made it as an actor, I might have wound up a hood ...

I believe in me. I'm a little screwed up, but I'm beautiful

When a horse learns to buy martinis, I'll learn to like horses.

The best thing about making films is the time spent making them. When I see works that I've made, I always think what a great time I had making them. The films remind me of that time.

Nobody trusts anyone, or why did they put tilt on a pinball machine ...

I live for myself and answer to nobody

When I did 'The Great Escape,' I kept thinking, 'If they were making a movie of my life, that's what they'd call it - the great escape.'

I don't like to put too much effort into things. I find that once you get involved with special effects it is no longer about what is happening in front of the camera and I really want to concentrate on what is happening in front of the camera, like the man apparently peeing on the surface of the screen.

When I believe in something, I fight like hell for it.

I always feel I'm an amateur. I don't most of the time know what I'm doing.

You see, I don't believe in that grabbin' and grabbin' and stuffin yourself and not givin' anythin' or puttin' it back.

Stardom equals freedom. It's the only equation that matters.

I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth.

There is no right or wrong angle for something. The idea of putting the camera in an unfamiliar position is simply to do with film language. Sometimes it is spectacular, sometimes it is ugly, sometimes it is uninteresting.

I liked being in the Marines. They gave me discipline I could live with. By the time I got out, I was able to cope with things on a more realistic level.

Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting.

When I walk out into the street or go to the toilet, I don't think of myself as being black. Of course, other people think of me as black when I walk into a pub. Obviously being black is a part of me.

Stardom equals financial success and financial success equals security. I've spent too much of my life feeling insecure. I still have nightmares about being poor, of everything I own just vanishing away. Stardom means that can't happen.

People try to contain things by putting them into categories. I don't.