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Kirk Douglas Quotes

Total quotes: 16
“What remains are not the cold facts of life, but how we perceive them. That's really who we are.”
— Kirk Douglas, The Ragman's Son
Tagged: Life, Perception, Facts
“I believe much of the divisiveness in the world has been caused by religion, even in the time of Spartacus when they worshipped many gods. What is the purpose of religion? After ninety-five years on this planet, I have come to the conclusion that religion should be based on only one thing: helping your fellow man. If everybody followed that religion—helping his fellow man—armies would vanish overnight.”
— Kirk Douglas, I Am Spartacus!: Making the Film, Breaking the Blacklist
Tagged: Spartacus, Religion, World Peace
“So they became superpatriots. And to prove themselves right-minded, they were more than willing to sacrifice the lives of others, even their fellow Jews. They were like the Vichy government in France, collaborators who held on to their influence and position at the expense of their fellow countrymen.”
— Kirk Douglas, I Am Spartacus!: Making the Film, Breaking the Blacklist
Tagged: Vichy France, patroits, Jews, France, Nazis
“The biggest spur to my interest in art came when I played van Gogh in the biographical film Lust For Life. The role affected me deeply. I was haunted by this talented genius who took his own life, thinking he was a failure. How terrible to paint pictures and feel that no one wants them. How awful it would be to write music that no one wants to hear. Books that no one wants to read. And how would you like to be an actor with no part to play, and no audience to watch you. Poor Vincent—he wrestled with his soul in the wheat field of Auvers-sur-Oise, stacks of his unsold paintings collecting dust in his brother's house. It was all too much for him, and he pulled the trigger and ended it all. My heart ached for van Gogh the afternoon that I played that scene. As I write this, I look up at a poster of his "Irises"—a poster from the Getty Museum. It's a beautiful piece of art with one white iris sticking up among a field of blue ones. They paid a fortune for it, reportedly $53 million. And poor Vincent, in his lifetime, sold only one painting for 400 francs or $80 dollars today. This is what stimulated my interest in buying works of art from living artists. I want them to know while they are alive that I enjoy their paintings hanging on my walls, or their sculptures decorating my garden.”
— Kirk Douglas, Climbing the Mountain: My Search for Meaning
Tagged: Vincent Van Gogh, Lust For Life
“Too often, I have not been what I wanted to be I've succumbed to pressures. Yes, I have. The things I've done that I liked, I've always done against advice. The bad films everybody was high on. The good films, they advised me against.”
— Kirk Douglas, Interview with Kirk Douglas | Interviews | Roger Ebert
Tagged: peer pressure, Advice
“Compared to Thoreau, Saint Francis of Assisi was peanuts.”
— Kirk Douglas, Interview with Kirk Douglas | Interviews | Roger Ebert
Tagged: Henry David Thoreau, Saint Francis of Assissi
“I love champions. A champion has something special about him.”
— Kirk Douglas, Interview with Kirk Douglas | Interviews | Roger Ebert
Tagged: champions
“I know Italians and I like them. A lot of my father's best friends were Italians. I responded to that in making the picture. I put a lot of warmth into that character. Those immigrants were tough, more intensive than people are these days.”
— Kirk Douglas, Interview with Kirk Douglas | Interviews | Roger Ebert
Tagged: Italians, Warmth, Immigrants
“The foreign directors are always fumbling about in obscurity, and the critics are always writing about the juxtaposition of black and white and the existential dilemma and all that shit, to disguise the fact that they don't understand the first damn thing about it, either.”
— Kirk Douglas, Interview with Kirk Douglas | Interviews | Roger Ebert
Tagged: Filmmaking, Existential, Black and White, Shit
“Don't crucify me because of what your idea of a movie star is. I didn't start out to be a movie star. I started out to be an actor.”
— Kirk Douglas, Interview with Kirk Douglas | Interviews | Roger Ebert
Tagged: movie star, Acting
“Hollywood is make-believe, and that’s confusing.”
— Kirk Douglas, Kirk Douglas: ‘I never thought I’d live to 100. That’s shocked me’
Tagged: Hollywood, make-believe, Fantasy
“I was not a tough guy. I just acted like one.”
— Kirk Douglas, Kirk Douglas: ‘I never thought I’d live to 100. That’s shocked me’
Tagged: Acting, Tough Guy
“When you play a weak character, find a moment when he’s strong, and when you play a strong character, find a moment when he’s weak.”
— Kirk Douglas, Kirk Douglas: ‘I never thought I’d live to 100. That’s shocked me’
Tagged: Acting
“I miss Burt Lancaster—we fought a lot, and I miss him a lot. And John Wayne, even though he was a Republican and I was a Democrat.”
— Kirk Douglas, Kirk Douglas: ‘I never thought I’d live to 100. That’s shocked me’
Tagged: Burt Lancaster, John Wayne, Republicans, Democrats
“I never, ever thought I would live to be 100. That’s shocked me, really. And it’s sad, too.”
— Kirk Douglas, Kirk Douglas: ‘I never thought I’d live to 100. That’s shocked me’
Tagged: centenarians
“Gentlemen of the court, there are times that I'm ashamed to be a member of the human race and this is one such occasion.”
— Col. Dax, Paths of Glory
Tagged: Best Military Movies, Shame, human race
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