Billy Crystal quotes: the accomplished actor’s best quotes.
“To be good, you need to believe in what you’re doing.”
“You give up your dream, you give up.”
“Your success is in your point of view. It’s your life that you’re talking about; it’s your observations. That’s the best lesson that I ever had.”
“Don’t give up your power.”
“What life throws at you – you just have to learn how to hit it, which is a baseball metaphor. The ball’s outside, you hit to the right. You don’t let them go by.”
“If you’re not happy doing what you’re doing, then you shouldn’t be doing it.”
“Change is such hard work.”
“By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he’s too old to go anywhere.”
“Consider the rose… the rose is the sweetest-smelling flower of all, and it’s the most beautiful because it’s the most simple, right? But sometimes, you got to clip the rose. You got to cut the rose back, so something sweeter-smelling and stronger, and even more beautiful, will grow in its place.”
“My parents always looked like they loved being together. That’s what I took from them, and that’s how my wife and I are.”
“Kids need a happy household. They need to be loved and supported in their dreams. And I don’t think you can make your kids’ dreams your own. They need you to support them in their dreams.”
“You have to really respect what your kids are doing with their kids and how they’re raising them. You can’t push your way into areas where you shouldn’t be saying anything. You have to always remember they’re not your own kids. Play with them, love them, spoil them to death – then hand them back.”
“My family is the most important thing in my life. When we’re all together you just stop worrying about things you shouldn’t worry about and you go, ‘Wow, look what we did!'”
“I always was a performer, from the time I was little. It was always a natural place for me to be.”
“My dad, Jack, had a great sense of humor and had a strong impact on me and my humor.”
“In high school, I was the class comedian as opposed to the class clown. The difference is the class clown is the guy who drops his pants at the football game, the class comedian is the guy who talked him into it.”
“I was always looking for something else to do most of the time, until I got into the acting program. Then, I really found myself.”
“A laugh is a weird sound, and when you get a couple thousand people making it at once, it’s really strange. But when I can feel proud of myself for causing it, it’s great.”
“I’ve been very fortunate to work with great people in great projects. And, I’ve constantly had to reinvent myself. I don’t like to be denied anything. I’ve always had to make my own way. When I look back on all the things I’ve done… I think about the fact that as a kid I used to watch Bob Hope on the Oscars, and now I’ve hosted the second amount of Oscar shows after him. I think about that fact and all the things I’ve been able to do, and what I attribute it to is that I work really hard, people have helped me achieve things and, hopefully, I do good work.”
“The Academy and the Oscars have been very gracious to me.”
“I pride myself in being able to survive just about any situation on stage now. I can handle pressure.”
“I love doing it [hosting the Oscars] because I love the danger of it and you have to come through and think on your feet. That’s why that show, no matter who hosts it, it really should be a fast-thinking comedian who is really quick on their feet that can handle situations that happen, or somebody with that kind of mentality that can capitalize on something.”
“All that time, you go, ‘God, am I slipping away here?’ And then something great happens, you get a call, and work begets more work. At this point, there’s so many other things I’d like to get a chance to do.”
“My mind is always going. I’m always thinking what I need to do, what I haven’t done, what I did do, what I didn’t do as well as I could – I’m relentless that way with myself.”
“I’m a baby. I sleep like a baby – I’m up every two hours. And I think a lot. I worry a lot. I have great nights of no sleep where ideas come.”
“At 60, I could do the same things I could do at 30, if I could only remember what those things are.”
“I love what I am doing. These past few years have been some of the best in my career. I have been as busy as ever. It’s been hot like crazy… I am just very blessed.”
“What’s so fascinating and frustrating and great about life is that you’re constantly starting over, all the time, and I love that.”
“I think it’s like a relay race. You run, and you hand over the baton, and your kids pick it up. They take the stuff they want, throw the rest away, and keep running. That’s what life is about.”
“When you realize you want to invest the rest of your lifestyle with somebody, you want the rest of your life to commence as quickly as achievable.”
“I’d like to think there is a heaven, and it starts from the happiest day in your life.”
“There are all these things I want to accomplish. We never know how long we’re going to get.”
“I’m proud that I have done so many different kinds of things and maintained an amazing family. And I think that’s the joy: that I’ve been able to have everything.”
“I think I’ve far exceeded what I ever thought I could possibly do. I’m almost shocked that I’m still around after all of these years… and always grateful that I get another turn to do something.”
“I’m going to go on just living and laughing and loving.”
“Do something special on your birthday. Whatever you do, celebrate the fact that you’re here, and that people love you and you love them. We only do this once.”
“We’re in this together. We are Americans. We all have to do the best we can. And we will because that’s who we are.”
“You really have to have some muscle to be on the stage in front of the world.”
