Kirk Douglas Quotes

I was going to play in First Blood, but I suggested to changing it and I dropped out. I said to [Silvester] Stallone, 'You know, I almost stopped you from making millions of dollars,' because in my suggestion, I killed his character at the end of the picture .

You'll never see Spartacus in a (expletive) chair!

I have a great respect for actors like Clint Eastwood, who's a wonderful director. I think two pictures that I directed were not successful, so I decided not to make any more.

Acting is a youthful profession.

Listen - pacemaker, crash, stroke. What does it mean? God doesn't want me now. That's all.

Maybe there is no peace in this world. I don't know ... But I know as long as we live we must stay true to ourselves.

Michael [Douglas] is, I think, a great actor. He's made some very interesting pictures. When he was going to college, I was very proud of him, but when he said, 'Dad, I want to be in a play,' he had a bit part. I went to see it and Michael said, 'Dad, how was I?' I said, 'You were terrible.' I thought he would go on to be a lawyer and in three months, he was in another play and I went and, I must admit, he was great. I think he has been good in everything he's done.

When you reach 95, after you get over your surprise, you start looking back.

Sometimes, the thing that ties you down sets you free.

When you get to my age, you find that most of your dear friends are gone.

A stroke is a very difficult thing. You get depressed. . . . What I found was this: the cure for depression is to think of others, to do for others. You can always find something to be grateful for.

I felt [It Runs in the Family] it was a picture that, after I'm gone, my family would like to see it. It was a wonderful mixture of people in my family.

I'm concerned that the world is a mess. That's why when I wrote my last book, Let's Face It, I dedicated it to the younger generation because, let's face it, the world is in a mess. Right now, the young people will inherit that mess. I think we have to do everything we can.

I never wanted to be in movies. In a sense, I'm still a failure because I wanted to be a star on the stage.

In order to achieve anything you must be brave enough to fail.

Really a bad guy is more interesting, dramatically, than the good guy.

I guess I was a bad boy... Yes, yes, I've had lots of women in my life.

You have not learned to live until you have learned to give

Obey the voice within - it commands us to give of ourselves and help others. As long as we have the capacity to give, we are alive

On a crowded bus in Israel, a mother was speaking to her son in Yiddish. An Israeli woman reprimanded her. "You should be speaking Hebrew. Why are you talking to him in Yiddish?" The mother answered, "I don't want he should forget he's a Jew."

If you want to know about a man you can find out an awful lot by looking at who he married.

Michael [Douglas] was just leaving the TV series The Streets of San Francisco and he said, 'Dad, let me try it.' I thought, 'Well, if I couldn't make it...' So, I gave it to him and he got the money, the director and the cast. The biggest disappointment for me, I always wanted to play McMurphy. They got a young actor, Jack Nicholson. I thought, 'Oh God. He will be terrible.' Then I saw the picture and, of course, he was great in it! That was my biggest disappointment that turned out to be one of the things I'm most proud of because my son Michael did it. I couldn't do it, but Michael did it.

I'm glad they gave women the right to vote, but sometimes I'm sorry they have the right to smoke. Most women are messy about it, particularly about their lipstick. I don't mind wiping lipstick off myself, but I hate seeing it on cigarettes, napkins and coffee cups! I don't like women with all their beauty machinery showing-curlers, cold cream, mascara brushes. I'd even prefer to not see a woman touch up her lipstick, but I guess that's expecting too much.

The first thing I look for in a woman is warmth-femininity. It's got nothing to do with a pretty face.

I know Italians and I like them. A lot of my father's best friends were Italians.

We look for wine when we should be hunting bread.

Streets crowded with people strolling, or sitting at outdoor cafes. And always, talking, gesturing, singing, laughing. I liked Rome immediately.Everybody was a performer.

I think the election of [Barack] Obama was a great step to prove to the world that we believe that all men were created equal. I think it will show that we have humility.

Fear is a terrible thing. It makes you do awful things.

You know, you have to have some inner philosophy to deal with adversity.

My kids never had the advantages I had. I was born poor.

When you get old the worst thing is you lose so many friends. Burt Lancaster, Frank Sinatra, John Wayne. People who I loved to work with.