Al Pacino Quotes

You don't get to know anybody in a movie until after it's over. You work less together in a film than you do onstage. ~ Al Pacino

There are people whose sense of reality is very strong, who have a sense of honesty. Lee Strasberg is like that, my grandfather was like that. These are the kinds of men I've had close relationships with. ~ Al Pacino

My dad was in the army. World War II. He got his college education from the army. After World War II he became an insurance salesman. Really, I didn't know my dad very well. He and my mother split up after the war. I was raised by my maternal grandmother and grandfather, and by my mother. ~ Al Pacino

Michael Caine, Tom Courtenay and Al Pacino made me want to act. I've always been interested in men with a vulnerable side. ~ Martin Freeman

Sometimes it's better to be with the devil u know than the angel u didn't know ~ Al Pacino

When my mother got home from work, she would take me to the movies. It was her way of getting out, and she would take me with her. I'd go home and act all the parts. It had a tremendous influence on my becoming an actor. ~ Al Pacino

I believe in one day at a time; you've got TODAY, that's what you' ve got. ~ Al Pacino

I turned down a lot of films before I made my first one. I knew that it was time for me to get into movies. ~ Al Pacino

I always tell the truth. Even when I lie. ~ Al Pacino

Chekhov was as important to me as anybody as a writer. ~ Al Pacino

I remember acting in a school play about the melting pot when I was very little. There was a great big pot onstage. On the other side of the pot was a little girl who had dark hair, and she and I were representing the Italians. And I thought: Is that what an Italian looked like? ~ Al Pacino

It turned out that time doesn't heal the wound , but in its so merciful way , blunts the edges ever so slightly ~ Al Pacino

I have grown up watching Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Dev Anand, Amitabh Bachchan and the likes. These are actors who have changed with time. They have no shelf-life. They have immortalised themselves because they have evolved with time. ~ Arjun Rampal

I was not prepared for fame. It hit me hard, and I did not have the capacity to cope. ~ Al Pacino

I actually love auditioning because I usually don't get the part. I've tested with Daniel Day-Lewis, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Tom Cruise. So I've gotten to that point, and I understand when I don't get it. There are a lot of very talented people out there. ~ Deborah Kara Unger

Attica! Attica! Attica! ~ Al Pacino

Sometimes you're fighting corporations and forget that people can talk to each other. ~ Al Pacino

I want to be a great actor someday, and I've decided there's no use philosophizing; the only way is to work at my craft. ~ Al Pacino

I guess 'Scarface' was the Cuban Al Pacino. ~ Oscar Isaac

Forget the career, do the work. If you feel what you are doing is on line and you're going someplace and you have a vision and you stay with it, eventually things will happen. ~ Al Pacino

Whether he's doing great acting or not, you're seeing somebody who is in the tradition of a great actor. What he does with it, that's something else, but he's got it all. The talent, the instrument is there, that's why he has endured. ~ Al Pacino

The play is the source, it is orchestrated with words. In a movie, you are not dealing with as much as that. There are machines and wires. When you're acting for a camera, it keeps taking and never giving back. ~ Al Pacino

Any project that I find encouraging that isn't attached to a studio, I can go to them, which I definitely would. You have to take an interest in what you do. ~ Al Pacino

It would be hard to play a character you don't like - for me anyway - or can't find something in them to like. ~ Al Pacino

The difference between the actor and the painter is that the actor would buy somebody a knish in order to have them watch him act. ~ Al Pacino

I was born in Dallas; then I moved to Allen, Texas. But then I got sent to boarding school, where I started to get fascinated with actors like Al Pacino. ~ Scott Haze

For me, the motivation really was to work with Al Pacino. To me, that seemed like an incredible opportunity, just a learning opportunity because I thought so highly of him. ~ Karen Allen

The fruit falls off the tree. You don't shake it off before it's ready to fall. ~ Al Pacino

Our life is looking forward or looking back, that's it. Where is the moment? ~ Al Pacino

It used to worry me what people said about me. I'm learning not to worry as much. Sometimes you feel critics are wrong all the time, but I don 't take objection to it, because that's the way it goes. They can be wrong, they can be right. They can be cruel, they can be kind. ~ Al Pacino

Doing Shakespeare once is not fair to the play. I have been in Shakespeare plays when it's not until the last two or three performances when I even understand certain things. In the old days star actors would travel the world doing the same parts over and over again. ~ Al Pacino

I was doing a play out in L.A. 20-some-odd years ago called 'Goose and Tomtom' by David Rabe, and somebody saw it and the next thing I know I'm doing the table read of the film version of 'Glengarry Glen Ross' with Al Pacino and Jack Lemmon - one of the great films of our generation. ~ Richard Schiff

I don't believe in God, I only believe in Al Pacino, and that's the truth. ~ Javier Bardem

I want to be interesting in an interview just as much as I want to do well in a part. ~ Al Pacino

At this point in my career, I don't have to deal with audition rejections. So I get my rejection from other things. My children can make me feel rejected. They can humble you pretty quick. ~ Al Pacino

I have a life and do a lot of things, and so far my work has been my life. If I was a painter no one would question me about my age. I'm an artist, I hate saying that. ~ Al Pacino

Freedom, baby, is never having to say youre sorry. ~ Al Pacino

Failure's relative. I've always felt, even early on, if I lose the freedom to fail, something's not right about that. It's how you treat failure, too. There's something to learn from it. I've had movies that have failed colossally, so you kind of analyze your failures: What kind of failure was it? A failure because it's misunderstood by others? A failure because you misunderstood it yourself? ~ Al Pacino

Romantic love can be a lot of crap, though, let me tell you. And it can hurt you. ~ Al Pacino

Money makes your life easier. If you're lucky to have it, you're lucky. ~ Al Pacino

I've often said there's two kinds of actors. There's a more gregarious type and the shy type. ~ Al Pacino

Playing a character is an illusion, and I feel that when you know too much about a person, possibly part of that illusion is disrupted. ~ Al Pacino

But I'm not as bad as Al Pacino - he doesn't even know what month it is half the time when he's working. ~ John Goodman

Sometimes what we imagine and the world aren't different things. Sometimes they are the same exact thing. ~ Al Pacino

If something is working, don't fix it. Keep going. Go with the glow. ~ Al Pacino

Be careful how you judge people, most of all friends. You don't sum up a man's life in one moment. ~ Al Pacino

I was never very happy with performing; it didn't turn me on much. ~ Al Pacino

It makes me feel good that I can now sit there and go, I've worked with Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, all the great actors that I've worked with ... Sir Ben Kingsley. ~ Aaron Eckhart

What's this thing that gets between us and Shakespeare? ~ Al Pacino

I learned to wrestle, I learned defensive fighting at a young age, because when someone hit me, I would throw up and fall down. ~ Al Pacino

When I was young, 'Scarface' was my favorite film. Al Pacino is my hero. I want to work with him. ~ Rain

Vanity is my favourite sin. ~ Al Pacino

I wouldn't be able to act like Al Pacino or play the piano like Dr. John, But I could probably act better than Dr. John and play the piano better than Al Pacino. ~ Hugh Laurie

On any given Sunday you're gonna win or you're gonna lose. The point is
can you win or lose like a man? ~ Al Pacino

My grandmother always came to my shows. She was always concerned about the way I dressed - even later on, when I was well known and I supported her. ~ Al Pacino

You sharpen the human appetite to the point where it can split atoms with its desire; you build egos the size of cathedrals; fiber-optically connect the world to every eager impulse; grease even the dullest dreams with these dollar-green, gold-plated fantasies, until every human becomes an aspiring emperor, becomes his own God ... and where can you go from there? ~ Al Pacino

I like, for instance, 'Serpico.' I enjoyed playing Serpico because Frank Serpico was there. He existed. He was a real life person and I could - I could embody him. I could, you know, I could work and get to know him and have him help me with the text, the script and become him. It's almost like a painter having a model to become. ~ Al Pacino

Vanity: my favorite sin. ~ Al Pacino

The actor becomes an emotional athlete. The process is painful - my personal life suffers. ~ Al Pacino

The thing is doing it, that's what it's all about. Not in the results of it. After all what is a risk? It's a risk not to take risks. Otherwise, you can go stale and repeat yourself. I don't feel like a person who takes risks. Yet there's something within me that must provoke controversy because I find it wherever I go. Anybody who cares about what he does takes risks. ~ Al Pacino

If you get all tangled up, just tango on. ~ Al Pacino

I always had this thing, when I was younger especially, I didn't want to do movies that much. I found they took a lot out of you and they were exhausting for me in a lot of ways. ~ Al Pacino

I went back to the stage because it was my way of dealing with the success I had, my way of coping. It was a way of escaping the responsibilty of what was happening. ~ Al Pacino

You know one scene I always think about is in 'The Godfather', when Marlon Brando's in the hospital. Al Pacino arrives there and enlists the help of the baker to protect his father. The two of them stand outside and the baker fiddles with a cigarette lighter, but Pacino's hands are rock steady. That's when we sort of realize that he can do this. ~ Garret Dillahunt

A kiss is a lusty dollop of dessert to be served with desire and savored with passion. ~ Al Pacino

In America most everybody who's Italian is half Italian. Except me. I'm all Italian. I'm mostly Sicilian, and I have a little bit of Neapolitan in me. You get your full dose with me. ~ Al Pacino

The truth is, you know, we need our anodynes. You know that word, anodynes? We need that in life some times. A good warm bath can be one for you, or a whatever. ~ Al Pacino

My grandfather was a provider. Work, any kind of work, was the joy of his life. So I grew up having a certain relationship to work. It was something that I always wanted. ~ Al Pacino

I don't need bodyguards. I'm from the South Bronx. ~ Al Pacino

Women! What can you say? Who made 'em? God must have been a fuckin' genius. The hair ... They say the hair is everything, you know. Have you ever buried your nose in a mountain of curls ... just wanted to go to sleep forever? Or lips ... and when they touched, yours were like ... that first swallow of wine ... after you just crossed the desert. ~ Al Pacino

When you perform with a live audience, the audience comes back to you, so that you and the audience are giving to each other, in a sense. It's an extraordinary thing. It's wild turf up there. ~ Al Pacino

When I was younger, I would go to auditions to have the opportunity to audition, which would mean another chance to get up there and try out my stuff, or try out what I learned and see how it worked with an audience, because where are you gonna get an audience? ~ Al Pacino

I didn't go for the needle at all. I never cared for drugs, because I saw what they did to most people. I thought that was the end of the road. ~ Al Pacino

I'm constantly striving to break through to something new. You try to maintain a neutral approach to your work, and not be too hard on yourself. ~ Al Pacino

You do get very tired sometimes, when you're sitting around for hours in movies. You get depleted. ~ Al Pacino

I come from the South Bronx - a true descendant of the melting pot. I grew up in a really mixed neighborhood; it was a very integrated life. ~ Al Pacino

I'm a big fan of all the great movie devils, from Walter Huston to Ray Walston to Al Pacino to Jack Nicholson. ~ Ray Wise

Some of the roles that are challenging are more in theater and TV. In movies, there's a tendency to cast actors in roles that have been successful for them. It has to pay for itself. ~ Al Pacino

I don't know what I expected – no
maybe I do, Al Pacino from Scarface-
but this drug dealer is more like Al Pacino
at the beginning of The Godfather
reasonably bemused, untouched by his
criminal world, sitting with Diane Keaton
whispering about Luca Brazzi, not yet asleep
with the fishes, or like Al Pacino
from Glengarry Glen Ross, although actually,
now that I think about it, he's not
like Al Pacino at all but more like
Kevin Spacey from that film, and who's
ever been afraid of Kevin Spacey? ~ Jess Walter

I am more alive in the theater than anywhere else, but what I take into the theater I get from the streets. ~ Al Pacino

I grew up watching Marlon Brando, Christopher Walken, Robert de Niro, and Al Pacino and even Robert Duvall and was impressed by their caliber of work. ~ Cole Hauser

I wouldn't be interested in [nowadays] television simply because I think it goes too fast. Except if something was maybe a play on television or some great television script. ~ Al Pacino

I wanted to be a baseball player, naturally, but I wasn't good enough. I didn't know what I was going to do with my life. I just had a kind of energy, I was a fairly happy kid. ~ Al Pacino

Certainly the movies were always in the air for me. I come from the era when actors thought it was a big deal to be in the movies. ~ Al Pacino

I don't regret anything. I feel like I've made what I would call mistakes. I picked the wrong movie, or I didn't pursue a character, but everything you do is part of you and you get something from it. ~ Al Pacino

All I am is what I'm going after. ~ Al Pacino

The hardest thing about being famous is that people are always nice to you. You're in a conversation and everybody's agreeing with what you're saying - even if you say something totally crazy. You need people who can tell you what you don't want to hear. ~ Al Pacino

[Marlon] Brando's a giant on every level. When he acts it's as if he landed from another planet. A planet where they produce great actors. ~ Al Pacino

We start to realize that there are anodynes in life that help us through the day. I don't care if it's a walk in the park, a look out the window, a good bubble bath - whatever. Even a meal you like, or a friend you want to call. That helps us solve all this stuff in our head. ~ Al Pacino

I was a theater guy growing up and I wanted to be Al Pacino, and I think I just looked and sounded too funny. ~ Charlie Day

Take a look at Israel's history and you would know who the terrorist is. ~ Al Pacino

Love goes through different stages. But it endures. ~ Al Pacino

The reasons you have for doing a movie will vary with the way your life is going. There was a time when a made a some movies because I felt I needed to work. And I didn't think about the material as much. But sometimes I've thought about the material a lot and thought I was doing the right thing, and it didn't work out. ~ Al Pacino

There has been a lot of self-doubt and unwelcome events in my life. ~ Al Pacino

Acting is hard work. At times, it's very energizing and enervating. It's childish. It's also responsible. It's illuminating, enriching, joyful, drab. It's bizarre, diabolical. It's exciting. ~ Al Pacino

Th e basic principle of Method acting is that you should draw on your own personal experience - "You know how you felt when you were seven, and your dog died? Well, think about that when you're playing Hamlet." It sounds simple enough, but it involves learning lots of techniques to heighten your capacity for emotional recall. Those techniques were westernized from the original Russian templates by people like Lee Strasberg, who taught James Dean and Al Pacino, and Stella Adler - another teacher in New York at the time - who taught Brando. ~ Anonymous

I'm so shy now I wear sunglasses everywhere I go. ~ Al Pacino

It's easy to fool the eye but it's hard to fool the heart. ~ Al Pacino

Did you know I started out as a stand-up comic? People don't believe me when I tell them. That's how I saw myself, in comedy. ~ Al Pacino

I like 'The Usual Suspects'. Great film. I also like 'Scarface', films like that. Lots of gangster films. I really like watching all kinds of films, dramas, romance. I'll watch comedies. I like Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Denzel Washington, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle. I'd like to meet them. ~ Barkhad Abdi