Robert De Niro quotes:

I mean, the actors that I admired were Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, an actress named Barbara Harris. And Greta Garbo. They were great actors.

I always enjoy coming to Israel. Israelis are warm, they're energetic people. Forthright. Very smart. I always like smart people. They're nice people, you know. Aggressive, and I respect that aggressiveness because you need it in their situation.

If De Niro wants to spend the twilight of his career as the McDonald's of master thespians, we can't stop him.

You learned the two greatest thing in life, never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut.

What's the difference between sex and love?' Hmm. That's a good question. Hey, you interviewed Al Pacino. How'd he answer that?'

I think Hollywood has a class system. The actors are like the inmates, but the truth is they're running the asylum.

Time goes on. So whatever you're going to do, do it. Do it now. Don't wait.

The hardest thing about being famous is that people are always nice to you.

My mother worked for a woman, Maria Ley-Piscator, who with her husband founded the Dramatic Workshop, which was connected to the New School. My mother did proofreading and typing and stuff or her, and as part of her payment, I was able to take acting classes there on Saturdays when I was 10.

Good directors can bring certain things out of you, with their intensity or gentleness or sensitivity or understanding. They can make an actor feel he can do no wrong.

Thank God for the rain to wash the trash off the sidewalk.

I always go back to how people behave. If you watch how people actually behave in a situation, it's very simple and honest and contained. You don't need to use as much expression, as much feeling. Some characters will boil over, and that's another thing, but a lot of times I think you can just do very, very little.

I go to Paris, I go to London, I go to Rome, and I always say, 'There's no place like New York. It's the most exciting city in the world now. That's the way it is. That's it.'

In the casino, the cardinal rule is to keep them playing and to keep them coming back. The longer they play, the more they lose, and in the end, we get it all...

Italy has changed. But Rome is Rome.

I don't like to watch my own movies - I fall asleep in my own movies.

There's nothing more ironic or contradictory than life itself.

Better to be king for a night than a schmuck for a lifetime.

One of the things about acting is it allows you to live other people's lives without having to pay the price.

I always tell actors when they go in for an audition: Don't be afraid to do what your instincts tell you. You may not get the part, but people will take notice.

In acting, I always try to go back to what would actually be the real situation, the real human behavior in life.

When you make a movie, everyone should leave their own personal problems at home. When they start bringing those to set, filming can be very difficult... You don't need any extra drama. Put the drama into the story, in the characters.

The one thing I always talk about in terms of restaurants is consistency. I think that's what we love about the vodka, is that it's consistent. It's consistent in its pureness and that's how I tie it to restaurants. When I think of a good restaurant, it's where the food has been consistent; there's always a consistency.

With 'Silver Linings,' I didn't feel - I was thinking of certain things, but I just said, 'Let me go with it.' You have to know what you're doing, where you're going with the scenes, and I put a lot of work into that. But when you're out there, at the same time you gotta be ready for anything.

If it's the right chair, it doesn't take too long to get comfortable in it.

You talking to me? You talking to me? Then who the hell else are you talking to - you talking to me? Well, I'm the only one here.

I've never been one of those actors who has touted myself as a fascinating human being. I had to decide early on whether I was to be an actor or a personality.

When you make a drama, you spend all day beating a guy to death with a hammer, or what have you. Or, you have to take a bite out of somebody's face. On the other hand, with a comedy, you yell at Billy Crystal for an hour, and you go home.

You have to think about one shot. One shot is what it's all about. A deer's gotta be taken with one shot.

I hurt someone's feelings once.

According to a new survey, women say they feel more comfortable undressing in front of men than they do undressing in front of other women. They say that women are too judgmental, where, of course, men are just grateful.

The saddest thing in life is wasted talent

When I was 15, 16, I studied with Stella Adler at the Conservatory of Acting, then I stopped again and went to the Actors Studio when I was 18.

There is a certain combination of anarchy and discipline in the way I work.

I spent lunchtime in a grave during the filming of 'Bloody Mama.' When you're younger, you feel that's what you need to do to help you stay in character. When you get older, you become more confident and less intense about it - and you can achieve the same effect.

If it's a very emotional scene, you're kind of relieved when you've done it, kind of spent. And there are times when you can be rattled, certain characters if they're hyper, that can carry over, the residue of that. But I try to leave it on the set.

It's important not to indicate. People don't try to show their feelings, they try to hide them.

You never know what you do that could be totally out of left field, which actually might work and give something fresh to the whole scene, to the character, whatever. If you have that with a director who then knows how to shape it, either in the direction, in the moment, or in the editing, then that's good.

Leonardo DiCaprio is a very serious young actor.

I love to find new people. It's not for the sake of their being new; it's because if you find someone who perfectly fits a part, that's such a great thing.

I think it's important to have had at least a few years of obscurity, where people treat you like everybody else.

I'll work with a director if I think I'm going to get into a comfortable situation, and if it's someone I respect and who respects me, even if they're not so well known. Movies are hard to make, and you have to work toward a common ethic and do your best.

I have so much respect for directors. It's a tremendous amount of pressure; you have to keep steadfast and keep what you know is right.

The director respects what they've hired you for and chosen you for: to do the part and respect what you're doing.

I'm lucky that I have whatever I had that makes me have a successful career, if you will.

A lot of young actors have the idea that, "I've got to do this right. There's a right way to do this." But there's no right or wrong. There's only good and bad. And "bad" usually happens when you're trying too hard to do it right. There's a very broad spectrum of things that can inhibit you. The most important thing for actors - and not just actors, but everybody - is to feel loose enough to create what you want to create, and be free to try anything. To have choices.

As a kid I didn't root for the bad guys.

As an actor who's starting out, you can't say, "Hey, I'm too good for this." You gotta do it, because people see you, your name gets around, and it has a cumulative effect.

As an actor, you use the things from yourself that you can apply to the character.

As I get older, I think that things have been pre-determined for me, whether I liked it or wanted it, wished for it, whatever, way before in some way. And with others, you do have a choice that you can change. And that choice that you make is still part of this grand scheme.

Auditions are like a gamble. Most likely you won't get the part, but if you don't go, you'll never know if you could've got it.

Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney. Now do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady?

Certain writers have it very precise and there's not much room to add something.

Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner.

Even I like to go to certain restaurants and places where you have to wear a jacket, a suit and a tie, and I like that sort of old world style. I am sure it will come back in many ways, if it hasn't already. It's kind of nice and it breaks it up.

Everybody's in New York and, hopefully, my younger kids will go to college in New York and find something they want to do so they'll stay in the city

Everyone's always interested in a dark theme, especially when there's humor connected to it. It seems like that helps, if that's an integral and organic part of the whole story.

Feeling a little bit alive is a lot better than just waiting to die.

I always say people can call me anything they want as long as they don't call me late for supper.

I always wanted to direct. Directing is a lot more of a commitment though, a lot more time. I like directors who do very few takes, they know what they want.

I can get around pretty easily. People don't expect to see me walking around.

I certainly know the difference between right and wrong.

I didn't have a problem with rejection, because when you go into an audition, you're rejected already. There are hundreds of other actors. You're behind the eight ball when you go in there.

I don't get into these long-winded heavy discussions about character - do we do this or that or what. At the end of the day, what you gotta do is just go out there and do it.

I don't remember what made me want to be an actor. In fact, I'm always curious.

I got some bad ideas in my head.

I guess the only thing to do now is meet his parents. I'm sure they're decent people. I mean they gotta be if they named their son Gaylord Focker.

I have either a cucumber martini, gin martini, or a vodka martini. That's it. Simple.

I have to be able to trust you with my life. Do you understand?

I never walk into a place I don't know how to walk out of.

I think that's what we love about the vodka, is that it's consistent. It's consistent in its pureness and that's how I tie it to restaurants.

I will not hesitate. Not for a second.

If we do a sequel, I want to beat somebody's ass!

If you don't co-operate you're gonna suffer from fistophobia.

If you don't go, you'll never know.

If you're an actor, always be true to your character. If you are not an actor, have character and always be true to yourself.

In civilized societies, we spend our lifetimes trying to become what is socially acceptable. We're dark and we're light. We all have both sides to us.

It's a very stressful thing, directing a movie. You have the budget, you have the schedule, you are in certain confines, and you have everybody giving you advice about what to do.

Loneliness has been following me my whole life.

Money makes your life easier. If you're lucky to have it, you're lucky.

Movies are hard to make, and you have to work toward a common ethic and do your best. You don't want to work with people who don't care or who are acting out some neurotic, crazy thesis on the set.

Movies are hard work. The public doesn't see that. The critics don't see it. But they're a lot of work. A lot of work.

My definition of a good hotel is a place I'd stay at.

New York is more exciting, I guess, than even Paris or London. New York's the center of something; I don't know what, really - the center of a lot of things. With all its problems and chaos and craziness, it's still a great place to live. I can't see myself living anywhere else.

Ok let me explain, if you were bitten by a mad infected dog, who will you blame? the dog or its owner? Definitely the owner, so, all the blame is on the USA Government's shoulders for adopting and supporting a state like Israel

One regret I have: I didn't get as much of the family history as I could have for the kids.

Passion should always trump common sense.

Reputation, you know "? a lifetime to build, seconds to destroy.

Running a casino is like robbing a bank with no cops around. For guys like me, Las Vegas washes away your sins. It's like a morality car wash.

Some day a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets.

Somebody steals from me, I'm gonna say you stole. Not talk to him for spitting on the sidewalk. Understand?

Sometimes if you have financial restraints, it's a benefit. It forces you to come up with a more creative way.

The bottom line is if the movie does well, everybody is happy and they forget about what they went through. And if it doesn't, it's 'I told you.' There's one director who I won't mention, who said, 'it's all blood under the bridge.'

The hardest thing about being famous is that ... in a conversation everybody's agreeing with what you're saying. ... You need people who can tell you what you don't want to hear.

The mind of a writer can be a truly terrifying thing. Isolated, neurotic, caffeine-addled, crippled by procrastination, consumed by feelings of panic, self-loathing, and soul-crushing inadequacy. And that's on a good day.

The older you get, the more you know about certain things.

The one thing I always talk about in terms of restaurants is consistency.

The talent is in the choices.

There are certain things I am clueless about as far as the new technologies. I see these people in front of these computers all day and I don't know what they are doing - they are doing something, obviously - with Facebook, Instagram and all that. I am aware of it, but basically not in touch.

There is only one way to gain access to the truth and that is to not expect anything.

Things rarely turn out the way we want them to.

'What's the difference between sex and love?' Hmm. That's a good question. Hey, you interviewed Al Pacino. How'd he answer that?'

When I think of a good restaurant, it's where the food has been consistent; there's always a consistency.

When you are working hard, you don't have time for anything other than what you are doing in the scene and what the director wants.

When you feel that you can't fight it, you just go for it. When it comes to the arts, passion should always trump common sense.

When you love someone you gotta trust them, there's no other way. You gotta give them the key to everything that's yours. Otherwise, what's the point?

Whenever there is any doubt, there is no doubt.

Write down everything you want to do with your life and then spend the next 25 years doing them.

You always learn something about movies. Directing or acting, there's always something new. It's the technological thing; there's always something to learn.

You do what you do best, try to stop guys like me

You don'Â?t always have to have the answer to everything.

You don't have to rush to do anything.

You don't just play a part. You've got to earn the right to play it.

You don't need words to express feelings.

You draw on whatever's relevant to the part you're playing. It makes it more personal.

You'll have time to rest when you're dead.