17 quotes
Political correctness is tyranny with manners.
Speech at the Harvard Law School (1999)
As an actor, I'm thankful I have lived not one life, but many.
Winning the Cultural War (1999)
Telling us what to think has evolved into telling us what to say, so telling us what to do can't be far behind.
Sam is the only person I've ever physically threatened on a set.
I have lived my whole life on the stage and screen before you. I found purpose and meaning in your response.
Winning the Cultural War (1999)
You could say that the paparazzi and the tabloids are sort of the "assault weapons" of the First Amendment. They're ugly, a lot of people don't like them, but they're protected by the First Amendment — just as "assault weapons" are protected by the Second Amendment.
To me Moses is all men grown to gigantic proportions.
Los Angeles Times interview (1956)
Let me make a short, opening, blanket comment. There are no "good guns". There are no "bad guns". Any gun in the hands of a bad man is a bad thing. Any gun in the hands of a decent person is no threat to anybody — except bad people.
Now, I doubt any of you would prefer a rolled up newspaper as a weapon against a dictator or a criminal intruder. Yet in essence, that is what you have asked our loved ones to do, through an ill-contrived and totally naive campaign against the Second Amendment.
To be an actor you need four things: energy, concentration, a lot of luck and, of course, good roles.
Interview in The Sunday Times (1990)
If you see a little less spring in my step, if your name fails to leap to my lips, you will know why. And if I tell you a funny story for the second time, please laugh anyway.
Winning the Cultural War (1999)
I always work on the theory that the audience will believe you best if you believe yourself. This meant that I had to come to understand Moses well enough to believe in my portrayal of him.
Los Angeles Times interview (1956)
It's fashionable for modern actors to talk about getting "inside" a character. But you can't get to the inside without getting the outside right first.
Interview in The Sunday Times (1990)
I simply cannot stand by and watch a right guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States come under attack from those who either can't understand it, don't like the sound of it, or find themselves too philosophically squeamish to see why it remains the first among equals: Because it is the right we turn to when all else fails. That's why the Second Amendment is America's first freedom.
I used to think if it wasn't possible to be a family man and a totally dedicated artist, I'd rather be the former. I'm an idealist and a romantic.
Interview in The Sunday Times (1990)
Celebrity is a corrosive condition for the soul. I have tried to restrain its inroads on me, but there are odd corners of my character that have been harmed.
Interview in The Sunday Times (1990)
I have played some of the great men in history and I believe in the great man who does heroic deeds, even in these egalitarian times.
Interview in The Sunday Times (1990)