“Nowadays, he lives in a world we don’t understand too well, the actor’s world. We don’t see too much of him. But he’s a good boy, my Jim.”

To me, acting is the most logical way for people’s neuroses to manifest themselves, in this great need we all have to express ourselves.

Racing is the only time I feel whole.

In the short span of his lifetime, an actor must learn all there is to know, experience all there is to experience, or approach that state as closely as possible.

What better way to die? It’s fast and clean and you go out in a blaze of glory!

There is no way to be truly great in this world. We are impaled on the crook of conditioning.

It was an accident, although I’ve been involved in some kind of theatrical function or other since I was a child – in school, music, athletics.

Am I in love? Absolutely. I’m in love with ancient philosophers, foreign painters, classic authors, and musicians who have died long ago. I’m a passionate lover.

I’m a serious-minded and intense little devil – terribly gauche and so tense that I don’t see how people can stay in the same room as me. I know I couldn’t tolerate myself.

A good boy, and I’m very proud of him. Not easy to understand, no sir. He’s not easy to understand. But he’s all man, and he’ll make his mark.

You need to drink the drink, not act drinking the drink. You’ve got to do things and not show them.

I have sacrificed a physical bond, for a metaphysical relationship. I am the ultimate idealistic lover.

I firmly believe Rebel Without A Cause is such a picture.

A fish that is in the water has no choice that he is. Genius would have it that we swim in sand. We are fish and we drown.

Anyone with the physical qualifications can do that. So the director’s task is just that – to direct, to point the way. Then the actor takes over.

Being a good actor isn’t easy. Being a man is even harder. I want to be both before I’m done.

Only the gentle are ever really strong.

Arguments are like eels: however logical, they may slip from the minds weak grasp unless fixed there by imagery and style.

I feel like there’s too many paintings left unpainted that I just don’t want to take the time away.

I like traditional music. I listen to a lot of it. There is no particular reason to present these recordings.

Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can’t take it, and my heart is going to cave in.

I’ve never forgotten that experience. But I had nobody at school that was either like Hector or Irwin.

Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once and it’s too much. My heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst.

It’s like going to a place that you’ve never been to before – you’ve got a picture of it and then you go there and that picture is totally wiped out by the reality.

When we are young, we think life will be like a supo: one fabric, one weave, one grand design.