Quotes from Dustin Hoffman


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Myth is supposed to bring us together, but fantasy alienates us.


I did some writing and bought a book, and have been working on that as a film to act and direct in.


I decided to become an actor because I was failing in school and I needed the credits.


Well this is aptly called a junket, for both of us. I have never been to a house of prostitution, but I understand that you get in more than seven minutes.


Well first of all, it's hard to shoot a movie and break for a long time and then come back and do, in a sense, one of the biggest scenes that each character had.


I stopped working a few years ago because I just lost a spark that I'd had before. I thought I'd just try writing, and maybe start directing, but I did it very quietly.


And that's another reason to make this movie: We can put plays on film now, at a relatively small cost, and they will reach an audience they would never have reached otherwise.


Somehow I think it was declared very early on that I was the - if not the black sheep of the family, not a very good student.


I feel cheated never being able to know what it's like to get pregnant, carry a child and breast feed.


So when I told my parents I wanted to go into acting because I was flunking out of my first year of junior college, they were relieved that I had picked something other than joining the army. But I can't imagine how they had high hopes for me.


If you have this enormous talent, it's got you by the balls, it's a demon. You can't be a family man and a husband and a caring person and be that animal. Dickens wasn't that nice a guy.


For me as an American, the most painful aspect of this is that I believe that that administration has taken the events of 9/11 and has manipulated the grief of the country and I think that's reprehensible.


Life stinks, but that doesn't mean you don't enjoy it.


I think the most insulting thing you can do to a director is to challenge when he or she is satisfied with your interpretation.


I did a movie called Marathon Man and it was one of my best memories.


A good review from the critics is just another stay of execution.


I believe - though I may be wrong, because I'm no expert - that this war is about what most wars are about: hegemony, money, power and oil.


If there is no direct threat why are we invading?


One thing about being successful is that I stopped being afraid of dying. Once you're a star you're dead already. You're embalmed.


In my room as a kid... I'd play a fighter and get knocked to the floor and come back to win.