Richard Dreyfuss quotes: honest words from the actor.
“Don’t just talk about it. We’ve all been guilty of talking about our dreams and plans, and then not following through on them.”
“Are there any plans and goals you’ve been announcing to the world without taking any real steps toward accomplishing them? How much difference might it make if you told yourself to stop talking about them until you’ve actually gotten them done?”
“Genius is imagination and attention to detail. The ability to achieve to the minutest detail what you perceive in your imagination.”
“Power never turns power down, ever.”
“Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos… these are the people we really will look to for the way up and the way back in real life. I know how Bezos should proceed into the 21st century. He’s already broken all the rules and he’s going to break some more, and he should do that with the confidence that brought him to this point. He should not be afraid of changing as many rules as he has to. So I have a long email ready for him.”
“If I wasn’t an actor, I’d be a teacher, a history teacher. After all, teaching is very much like performing. A teacher is an actor, in a way. It takes a great deal to get, and hold, a class.”
“There is one solution to all of our problems: teaching our kids clarity of thought. That’s it.”
“When you have a kid, no matter how much success or money you have, you have this love that is beyond the bounds and you would take a bullet for your child.”
“When you Google me, you’ll find a lot of people don’t like Richard Dreyfuss. Because I’m cocky and I present a cocky attitude. But no one has ever disagreed with the notion I represent, that we need more civic education. So far there’s 100% support for that.”
“Civility is not not saying negative or harsh things. It is not the absence of critical analysis. It is the manner in which we are sharing this territorial freedom of political discussion. If our discourse is yelled and screamed and interrupted and patronized, that’s uncivil.”
“We need to get back to reasoning and thinking things through. The future generation is being brought up in greed and without a true understanding of civics. There is no more emphasis on knowledge and time. As a society we need to process ideas and understand what certain principles are based upon.”
“I didn’t retire from being an American, and that’s something I’m not going to retire from. Being an American is as important and valuable as anything can be.”
“You don’t have to act as if you care; you just have to care enough to act.”
“Part of me is still waiting to grow up, to be an adult, and the other part knows there is no such thing.”
“I always knew I was going to be an actor and that was that—no doubts, no uncertainties, no changing my mind. And it never changed. I decided at age nine, but I was reinforced at age 13 when a teacher told me I had talent. I can’t say she really motivated me because I already knew. I knew I had talent. I went to the Jewish community theater and got in plays there. Then I went for the movies.”
“I don’t know what it’s like for most actors, but really clearly for myself acting has always been the fulfillment of personal fantasies. It isn’t just art, it’s about being a person I’ve always wanted to be, or being in a situation, or being a hero.”
“Behind all art is ego and I am an artist and I am unique.”
“It’s fun to see the light in someone’s eyes. It’s fun to give your own eccentric experience and have it land. That’s fun.”
“I’m happy with what I’ve done.”
“The happiest I ever been was when I was a struggling actor. I’ve had big houses and small houses. I always had work available for most of my career. When I actually had to find jobs to make money, that’s when I was happy.”
“I have more fun and more grand and glorious moments of my life than anyone I’ve never known. I know that some people call that manic-depress, and that other people call that being touched by God. I just call myself lucky.”
“I enjoyed the journey to the top.”
“I knew I was a manic depressive when I was 13 or 14, and I loved it. I always told people what I had, and I was always cresting on a manic wave. I used it, willingly and happily, and it was an extraordinary experience. When I got hit with the depressive side… boom! Yes, it was horrible and unendurable, but that’s part of the story.”
“I have surfed my manic depression since I was 11 years old. I enjoyed it and made it work for me and have not known the world without it, so it’s my only known existence.”
“I trembled in fear. It’s like the night before the test and you aren’t really sure about the subject and this balloon of self-loathing starts to swell up fast in anticipation of failure. I lived that feeling everyday, every minute for my entire life.”
“There are just so many feathers you can put on the headdress before it becomes too heavy for anyone to wear.”
“I’m able to be Richard again. Things are great.”
“By telling my own story, I hope to help remove the stigma. It never should be something to hide.”
“I don’t know about other people. I know that I have a companion and that companion is me. And it would be silly not to make friends with that companion, and not to do well by him, and to try to grow up. Growing up is learning to be fair and learning that that thing that you did because you thought you had every right hurt people.”
“I decided to be a better person. And I think that that’s a legitimate goal. And I like that about me. I’m nothing if not honest.”
“I think I’m seriously blessed. I really am. I did something that I loved to do. And I was paid and praised. And I got to do it for 60 years. And the only reason I stopped was to do something that I so passionately loved as much as acting, which is my country.”
“I just call myself lucky.”
“Love in middle age or love towards the end of your life is great. There’s never a wrong time. You’re not going to sit there as the horses go around and around the brass ring and say, ‘No, I’ll wait. I’ll try the next go-around.’ No, no, no, there is no next. There’s only now.”
“Happiness has a bad rap. People say it shouldn’t be your goal in life. Oh, yes it should.”
“Wake up and live. It’s a fast world out there.”
