“[Oscar Wilde’s Salome screenplay] is not autobiographical in a sense where you go to my house and see my kids and stuff like that, but that’s why I guess it’s semi-autobiographical.”

What kind of failure was it? A failure because it’s misunderstood by others? A failure because you misunderstood it yourself?

The whole thing is, they never asked for it, that kingdom.

Man is a little bit better than his reputation, and a little bit worse

An actor basically likes to be asked to do something, no matter what position he’s in. It feels more natural. Sitting and waiting is more gratifying.

Lee Strasberg is like that, my grandfather was like that. These are the kinds of men I’ve had close relationships with.

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.

Either we heal now, as a team, or we will die as individuals.

There’s something to learn from it. I’ve had movies that have failed colossally, so you kind of analyze your failures.

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.

You’ll never be alone if you’ve got a book.

One of the things that made me want to be an actor more than ever was seeing a Chekhov play, “The Sea Gull,” when was 14 in the Bronx.

We live in a world where the more you’re working, the more things you do. It’s a workaday world.

Drinking and smoking grass were a part of my life as far back as I can remember.

Actually, the person I related to was James Dean. I grew up with the Dean thing. Rebel Without A Cause had a very powerful effect on me.

There is only one way of surviving all the early heartbreaks in this business. You must have a sense of humor. And I think it also helps if you are a dreamer. I had my dreams all right. And that is something no one can ever take away.

Early on in my career, I remember running – fleeing – to the theater as a way of coping with all the meshugaas that was going on for me.

The sense you get in a poem that the poet takes for granted an interest on the reader’s part in the poet’s autobiographical life, in the poet’s memories, problems, difficulties and even minor perceptions.

What I was talking about was, of course, very autobiographical – ’68 was the moment when all the young people were incredibly excited, because when we were going to sleep, we knew we would wake up not tomorrow, but in the future.

A drawing is an autobiographical record of one’s discovery of an event – either seen, remembered or imagined. A ‘finished’ work is an attempt to construct an event in itself.

I had to find a way to be more honest about what happened. And it wasn’t fun to write, even though the poems aren’t 100% autobiographical.