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.

Ah, nuts. I'm an actor. I just do what comes naturally.

It is at least worth arguing that there is a modicum of the creative novelist in all of us, and that this absorption with how men get out of difficulties, single-handedly and alone if possible, is the stuff of which we weave the warp and woof of our own better dramatic imaginings.

Ugarte: You despise me, don't you? Rick Blaine: If I gave you any thought I probably would.

I can't say I ever loved my mother; I admired her.

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.

Errol Flynn and I are the only ones left who do any good old hell raising.