The only good reason to have money is this: so that you can tell any SOB in the world to go to hell.

It's a good thing [James] Dean died when he did. If he'd lived, he'd never have been able to live up to the publicity.

I hate funerals. They aren't for the guy who's dead. They're for the guys who are left alive and enjoy mourning.

I gave up drinking once -- it was the worst afternoon of my entire life.

There is more to talking than just words.

I don't approve of the John Waynes and the Gary Coopers saying "Shucks, I ain't no actor - I'm just a bridge builder or a gas station attendant." If they aren't actors, what the hell are they getting paid for? I have respect for my profession. I worked hard at it.

(on Katharine Hepburn) She talks at you as though you were a microphone; she lectured the hell out of me on temperance and the evils of drink. She doesn't give a damn how she looks. I don't think she tries to be a character. I think she is one.