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Jack Nicholson Quotes

Total quotes: 47
“Why can't we work out our differences? Why can't we work things out? Little people, why can't we all just get along?”
— President James Dale / Art Land, Mars Attacks!
Tagged: differences, get along, alien abduction movies
“I don't think relationships are fixed things. People are necessarily complex and confused beings. We don't always do the right thing, say the right thing and behave the way we always want to behave.”
— Jack Nicholson, Jack Nicholson: I am single and lonely and likely to die alone
Tagged: Relationships, Confused
“I still live under the illusion that basically people think of me as an up-and-coming young actor.”
— Jack Nicholson, Interview with Jack Nicholson | Interviews | Roger Ebert
Tagged: Illusion, actor, up and coming
“I used to think that one of the great signs of security was the ability to just walk away. I'd think that I could be in the middle of Africa, and I could always say 'excuse me,' and walk away. The thing is, though, the line of work I'm in now, I can't walk away. Because there is no 'away.' Wherever I walk to, I'll be known. There's alone, but there's not away. Maybe I could retreat into a kind of exterior.”
— Jack Nicholson, Interview with Jack Nicholson | Interviews | Roger Ebert
Tagged: Security, Walking Away, Retreat
“I'm Irish. I think about death all the time. Back in the days when I thought of myself as a serious academic writer, I used to think that the only real theme was a fear of death, and that all the other themes were just that same fear, translated into fear of closeness, fear of loneliness, fear of dissolving values.”
— Jack Nicholson, Interview with Jack Nicholson | Interviews | Roger Ebert
Tagged: Death, irish, Fear, Loneliness, Closeness, Values
“Looking over all of it, the single most obvious thing to me, in all we read and all we write about films, is this: People fear the creative moment. That’s why they talk so long about a given scene. But the creative moment is happening when the camera is turned on, and stops when it’s turned off. First time…this time…only now…never again to be that way again. That’s it.”
— Jack Nicholson, Interview: Jack Nicholson- Film Comment
Tagged: film, creative moment, spontaneity
“A few years from now, if you can still portray a human being, you’ll be quite a valuable commodity. I intend to be there.”
— Jack Nicholson, Interview: Jack Nicholson- Film Comment
Tagged: Acting, Future
“For an actor, style comes last. You first have to implement the whole thing, but your style comes from the subconscious, which is the best part an actor brings to his work. These conscious ideas are only the springboard for what you hope will be the real meat from the unconscious.”
— Jack Nicholson, Interview: Jack Nicholson- Film Comment
Tagged: Acting, style, Subs
“You’ve got to be good at it, number one, and sustain it. There are no accidents. Any kind of sustained ability to go on working is because something is valid in the way you work. The star part is the commercial side of the business—and, frankly, no one knows anything about that.”
— Jack Nicholson, Interview: Jack Nicholson- Film Comment
Tagged: Acting, Film Industry
“The stage has a certain discipline. But the ultimate standard is more exacting in film, because you have to see yourself and you are your own toughest critic. I did not want to be coming off the stage at the mercy of what somebody else told me I did.”
— Jack Nicholson, Interview: Jack Nicholson- Film Comment
Tagged: stage, film, Discipline
“I kind of believed what Nietzsche said, that nothing not written in your blood is worth reading; it’s just more pollution of the airwaves. If you’re going to write, write one poem all your life, let nobody read it, and then burn it.”
— Jack Nicholson, Interview: Jack Nicholson- Film Comment
Tagged: Nietzche, Blood, Reading, Pollution
“I move around a lot, not because I'm looking for anything really, but 'cause I'm getting away from things that get bad if I stay.”
— Robert Eroica Dupea, Five Easy Pieces
Tagged: Drifter
“Catherine: [after hearing Robert play the piano] That was beautiful, Robert, I'm surprised.

Bobby: Thank you.

Catherine: I was really very moved by... What's wrong?

Bobby: Nothing. It's just... I picked the easiest piece that I could think of. I first played it when I was eight years old, and I played it better then.”
— Robert Eroica Dupea, Five Easy Pieces
Tagged: half-hearted, Underachiever
“Rayette: You love me, Bobby?

Bobby: What do you think? [they kiss]”
— Robert Eroica Dupea, Five Easy Pieces
Tagged: Love, half-hearted
“Bobby: Where are you goin'?

Palm Apodaca: Alaska.

Bobby: Alaska. What are you: on vacation?

Terry: She wants to live there 'cause it's cleaner.

Bobby: Cleaner. Cleaner than what?

Palm Apodaca: You don't have to tell everybody about it. Pretty soon they'll all go there and it won't be so clean.”
— Robert Eroica Dupea, Five Easy Pieces
Tagged: Alaska, cleanliness, neat freak
“Bobby: What are you doing screwing around with all this crap?

Catherine: I do not find your language very charming.

Bobby: It isn't. It's direct.

Catherine: I'd like you to leave so that I can take a bath. Is that direct?”
— Robert Eroica Dupea, Five Easy Pieces
Tagged: direct, screwing around, Crap, Direct Action, charming
“It's ridiculous. I'm sittin' here listening to some cracker asshole lives in a trailer park compare his life to mine. Keep on tellin' me about the good life, Elton, because it makes me puke.”
— Robert Eroica Dupea, Five Easy Pieces
Tagged: Cracker, asshole, Anti-White, trailer park, puke
“[out of his car during a traffic jam, yelling at other motorists] Ants! Why don't we all line up like a goddamned bunch of ants! Its the most beautiful part of the day!”
— Robert Eroica Dupea, Five Easy Pieces
Tagged: Ants, Goddamned, Conformity
“[finally talking with his paralyzed father] I don't know if you'd be particularly interested in hearing anything about me. My life, I mean... Most of it doesn't add up to much that I could relate as a way of life that you'd approve of... I'd like to be able to tell you why, but I don't really... I mean, I move around a lot because things tend to get bad when I stay. And I'm looking... for auspicious beginnings, I guess... I'm trying to, you know, imagine your half of this conversation... My feeling is, that if you could talk, we probably wouldn't be talking. That's pretty much how it got to be before... I left... Are you all right? I don't know what to say.”
— Robert Eroica Dupea, Five Easy Pieces
Tagged: Confession, Reconciliation
“Bobby: I'd like a plain omelette, no potatoes, tomatoes instead, a cup of coffee and wheat toast.

Waitress: [points at his menu] No substitutions.

Bobby: What do you mean? You don't have any tomatoes?

Waitress: Only what's on the menu. You can have a number two, a plain omelette, it comes with cottage fries and rolls.

Bobby: Yeah, I know what it comes with, but it's not what I want.

Waitress: Well, I'll come back when you make up your mind.

Bobby: Wait a minute, I have made up my mind. I'd like a plain omelette, no potatoes on the plate, a cup of coffee and a side order of wheat toast.

Waitress: I'm sorry, we don't have any side orders of toast. I'll give you an English muffin or a coffee roll.

Bobby: What do you mean you don't make side orders of toast? You make sandwiches, don't you?

Waitress: Would you like to talk to the manager?

Palm Apodaca: Hey, Mac...

Bobby: Shut up. [to the waitress] You've got bread and a toaster of some kind?

Waitress: I don't make the rules.

Bobby: OK, I'll make it as easy for you as I can. I'd like an omelette, plain, and a chicken salad sandwich on wheat toast, no mayonnaise, no butter, no lettuce, and a cup of coffee.

Waitress: A number two, a chicken salad sand. Hold the butter, the lettuce, and the mayonnaise, and a cup of coffee. Anything else?

Bobby: Yeah, now all you have to do is hold the chicken, bring me the toast, give me a cheque for the chicken salad sandwich, and you haven't broken any rules.

Waitress: You want me to hold the chicken, huh?

Bobby: I want you to hold it between your knees.

[Palm Apodaca sniggers]

Waitress: [points at a sign behind her] You see that sign, sir? Yes, you'll all have to leave! I'm not taking any more of your smartness and sarcasm!

Bobby: You see this sign?

[he sweeps all the glasses off the table onto the floor]”
— Robert Eroica Dupea, Five Easy Pieces
Tagged: Restaurants, Rules, ordering, omelette, Toast
“It's ridiculous. I'm sittin' here listening to some cracker asshole lives in a trailer park compare his life to mine. Keep on tellin' me about the good life, Elton, because it makes me puke.”
— Robert Eroica Dupea, Five Easy Pieces
Tagged: trailer park, Cracker, poor white stereotypes, asshole, puke, The Good Life
“[smashing the door to bits with an axe] Wendy, I'm home.”
— Jack Torrance, The Shining
Tagged: scary, axe
“White Man's Burden, Lloyd, my man! White Man's Burden.”
— Jack Torrance, The Shining
Tagged: white man's burden, rudyard kipling
“Come out, come out, whereever you are.”
— Jack Torrance, The Shining
Tagged: Threat
“Jack Torrance: [laughs] Well, it's certainly got plenty of that.

Stuart Ullman: ...The winters can be fantastically cruel. And the basic idea is to cope with the very costly damage and depreciation which can occur. And this consists mainly of running the boiler, heating different parts of the hotel on a daily, rotating basis, repair damage as it occurs, and doing repairs so that the elements can't get a foothold.

Jack Torrance: Well, that sounds fine to me.

Stuart Ullman: Physically, it's not a very demanding job. The only thing that can get a bit trying up here during the winter is, uh, a tremendous sense of isolation.

Jack Torrance: Well, that just happens to be exactly what I'm looking for. I'm outlining a new writing project and, uh, five months of peace is just what I want.

Stuart Ullman: That's very good Jack, because, uh, for some people, solitude and isolation can, of itself become a problem.

Jack Torrance: Not for me.

Stuart Ullman: How about your wife and son? How do you think they'll take to it?

Jack Torrance: They'll love it.”
— Jack Torrance, The Shining
Tagged: wrinters, cruel, Isolation
“Lloyd: What will you be drinking, sir?

Jack Torrance: Hair of the dog that bit me, Lloyd.”
— Jack Torrance, The Shining
Tagged: Drinking, hair of the dog
“Wendy, listen. Let me out of here and I'll forget the whole damn thing! It'll be just like nothing ever happened. Wendy, baby, I think you hurt my head real bad. I'm dizzy, I need a doctor. Honey, don't leave me here.”
— Jack Torrance, The Shining
Tagged: dizzy, pleading, Begging
“[staring at the drink in his hand] Here's to five miserable months on the wagon, and all the irreparable harm it has caused me.”
— Jack Torrance, The Shining
Tagged: Alcoholism, on the wagon
“[about Wendy]
Delbert Grady: I feel you will have to deal with this matter in the harshest possible way, Mr. Torrance.

Jack Torrance: There's nothing I look forward to with greater pleasure, Mr. Grady.”
— Jack Torrance, The Shining
Tagged: Pleasure, punishment
“Jack Torrance: Well, that is quite a story.

Stuart Ullman: Yeah it is. It's still hard for me to believe it happened here. It did, and I think you can appreciate why I wanted to tell you about it.

Jack Torrance: I certainly can and I also understand why your people in Denver left it for you to tell me.

Stuart Ullman: Well obviously some people can be put off by staying alone in a place where something like that actually happened.

Jack Torrance: Well you can rest assured, Mr. Ullman, that's not going to happen with me.”
— Jack Torrance, The Shining
Tagged: Story, unbelievable
“I like you, Lloyd. I always liked you. You were always the best of them. Best goddamned bartender from Timbuktu to Portland, Maine. Or Portland, Oregon, for that matter.”
— Jack Torrance, The Shining
Tagged: Portland, Maine, Portland, Oregon, Tikmbuktu, Goddamned, Bartender
“Jack Torrance: The most terrible nightmare I ever had. It's the most horrible dream I ever had.

Wendy Torrance: It's OK, it's OK now. Really.

Jack Torrance: I dreamed that I, that I killed you and Danny. But I didn't just kill ya. I cut you up in little pieces. Oh my God. I must be losing my mind.”
— Jack Torrance, The Shining
Tagged: Nightmare, Murder
“God, I'd give anything for a drink. I'd give my goddamned soul for just a glass of beer.”
— Jack Torrance, The Shining
Tagged: Drink, Soul, Beer, Goddamned
“Wendy Torrance: Hey. Wasn't it around here that the Donner Party got snowbound?

Jack Torrance: I think that was farther west in the Sierras.

Wendy Torrance: Oh.

Danny Torrance: What was the Donner Party?

Jack Torrance: They were a party of settlers in covered-wagon times. They got snowbound one winter in the mountains. They had to resort to cannibalism in order to stay alive.

Danny Torrance: You mean they ate each other up?

Jack Torrance: They had to, in order to survive.

Wendy Torrance: Jack...

Danny Torrance: Don't worry, Mom. I know all about cannibalism. I saw it on TV.

Jack Torrance: See, it's OK. He saw it on the television.”
— Jack Torrance, The Shining
Tagged: donner party, Sierras, Mountains, Cannibalism
“Jack Torrance: Mr. Grady, you were the caretaker here. I recognize ya. I saw your picture in the newspapers. You, uh, chopped your wife and daughters up into little bits. And then you blew your brains out.

Delbert Grady: That's strange, sir. I don't have any recollection of that at all.”
— Jack Torrance, The Shining
Tagged: caretaker, Murder, Amnesia
“Danny Torrance: Dad?

Jack Torrance: Yes?

Danny Torrance: Do you like this hotel?

Jack Torrance: Yes, I do. I love it. Don't you?

Danny Torrance: I guess so.

Jack Torrance: Good. I want you to like it here. I wish we could stay here forever... and ever... and ever.”
— Jack Torrance, The Shining
Tagged: hotel, Forever
“Little pigs, little pigs, let me come in. Not by the hair of your chiny-chin-chin? Well then I'll huff and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in. [axes the door]”
— Jack Torrance, The Shining
Tagged: pigs, huff and puff, three little pigs
“Have you ever had a single moment's thought about my responsibilities? Have you ever thought, for a single solitary moment about my responsibilities to my employers? Has it ever occurred to you that I have agreed to look after the Overlook Hotel until May the first. Does it matter to you at all that the owners have placed their complete confidence and 'trust' in me, and that I have signed a letter of agreement, a 'contract,' in which I have accepted that responsibility? Do you have the slightest idea what a 'moral and ethical principal' is? Do you? Has it ever occurred to you what would happen to my future, if I were to fail to live up to my responsibilities? Has it ever occurred to you? Has it?”
— Jack Torrance, The Shining
Tagged: Responsibilities, Trust, Future
“Delbert Grady: Did you know, Mr. Torrance, that your son is attempting to bring an outside party into this situation? Did you know that?

Jack Torrance: No.

Delbert Grady: He is, Mr. Torrance.

Jack Torrance: Who?

Delbert Grady: A nigger.

Jack Torrance: A nigger?

Delbert Grady: A nigger cook.

Jack Torrance: How?

Delbert Grady: Your son has a very great talent. I don't think you are aware how great it is. That he is attempting to use that very talent against your will.

Jack Torrance: He is a very willful boy.

Delbert Grady: Indeed he is, Mr. Torrance. A very willful boy. A rather naughty boy, if I may be so bold, sir.

Jack Torrance: It's his mother. She, uh, interferes.

Delbert Grady: Perhaps they need a good talking to, if you don't mind my saying so. Perhaps a bit more. My girls, sir, they didn't care for the Overlook at first. One of them actually stole a pack of matches, and tried to burn it down. But I 'corrected' them sir. And when my wife tried to prevent me from doing my duty, I 'corrected' her.”
— Jack Torrance, The Shining
Tagged: outside party, nigger, n-word, racism
“Jack Torrance: Wendy, let me explain something to you. Whenever you come in here and interrupt me, you're breaking my concentration. You're distracting me. And it will then take me time to get back to where I was. You understand?

Wendy Torrance: Yeah.

Jack Torrance: Now, we're going to make a new rule. When you come in here and you hear me typing [types] or whether you don't hear me typing, or whatever the fuck you hear me doing; when I'm in here, it means that I am working, that means don't come in. Now, do you think you can handle that?

Wendy Torrance: Yeah.

Jack Torrance: Good. Now why don't you start right now and get the fuck out of here? Hm?”
— Jack Torrance, The Shining
Tagged: typing, Work, interruptions, Fuck
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