I don't remember anything anybody said in any Jack Ford picture. Nothing happens except action.

I was the hero of the young insurgent working class art movement.

It's difficult, if not impossible, to get away with anything false before the camera. That instrument penetrates the husk of the actor; it reveals what's truly happening - if anything, if nothing. A close-up demands absolute truth. It's a severe and awesome truth

The essence of the stage is concentration and penetration. Of the screen action, movement, sweep.

I was an outsider... but I was also sympathetic with people that were struggling to get up, because I struggled to get up.

I will say nothing to an actor that cannot be translated into action.

I've come to believe that everything worth achieving is beyond one's capacity - or seems so at first. The thing is to persist, not back off, fight your fight, pay your dues, and carry on. Effort is all; continue and you may get there despite everything.