Alan Arkin Quotes, Serious Quotes, Comedy Quotes

My favorite kind of film is serious comedy. Comedy with serious underpinning.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alan Arkin Quotes , Serious Quotes , Comedy Quotes

I gotta keep busy. I'm not happy unless I'm working on two, three things.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alan Arkin Quotes , Two Quotes , Three Quotes

There's a familiarity that sometimes shocks and annoys the hell out of me. People want a relationship with you that they haven't earned.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alan Arkin Quotes , People Quotes , Want Quotes

Two-thirds of American movies are extensions of commercials -- they tell you how to feel and they tell you how to think -- rather than letting you figure it out on your own.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alan Arkin Quotes , Thinking Quotes , Two Quotes

All I can say is if the part doesn't delight me in some way, or I can't feel any compassion for it, I just can't do it.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alan Arkin Quotes , Compassion Quotes , Delight Quotes

You know what Andy Warhol's sole contribution to this country has been? He made Campbell's Soup a household word.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alan Arkin Quotes , Country Quotes , Soup Quotes

That's what we're all doing, all the time, whether we know it or not. Whether we like it or not. Creating something on the spur of the moment with the materials at hand. We might just as well let the rest of it go, join the party, and dance our hearts out.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alan Arkin Quotes , Party Quotes , Heart Quotes

But one of the things I learned from improvising is that all of life is an improvisation, whether you like it or not. Some of the greatest scientific discoveries of the 20th century came out of people dropping things.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alan Arkin Quotes , Discovery Quotes , People Quotes

I read somewhere that some people believe that the entire universe is a matrix of living thought. And I said, "Man, if that's not a definition of God, I don't know what is.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alan Arkin Quotes , Believe Quotes , Men Quotes

A product is most easily sold when it has an identity. So they wrap you all up and put a label on you. And then that's what you have to be. But what I'm looking for is the opportunity to explore what I can do, probing the limits, learning.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alan Arkin Quotes , Opportunity Quotes , Identity Quotes

Hollywood is a strange place. The class structure here is more rigid than almost anyplace I've ever experienced. It's made more difficult by the fact that it's constantly changing. You never know what class you belong to unless you're one of the two or three people that have been in the same echelon for a long, long time.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alan Arkin Quotes , Strange Places Quotes , Class Quotes

For many years my acting came from a place of surmounting some enormous obstacle, confronting some stern and faceless judge who would condemn me to a pit of hell if I didn't achieve the "zone," if even for a moment. Not a particularly happy place to work from.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alan Arkin Quotes , Years Quotes , Judging Quotes

I'm an actor. My life as an actor depends on who sends me what. I'm just taking the best stuff that I can find that's sent my way, regardless of how big or little the paycheck is. I don't want to work for scale anymore. I'm at a point now where, no matter how good something is, I'm not going to kill myself and end up in the hole.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alan Arkin Quotes , Actors Quotes , Want Quotes

No matter how much time you spend reading books or following your intuition, you're gonna screw it up. Fifty times. You can't do parenting right.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alan Arkin Quotes , Book Quotes , Reading Quotes

Creativity means learning where the rules exist, and then breaking them! Saying, "It's better this way." But you have to know the rules in order to break them with any grace.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alan Arkin Quotes , Mean Quotes , Creativity Quotes

If I'm doing a fake movie, it's gonna be a fake hit.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alan Arkin Quotes , Fake Quotes

I had a hard time treating my field as if it’s horse racing, putting actors in competition against each other. I see how the industry and the studios feel it’s important, but I don’t really have a feeling for being in competition. I want to feel sympathetic and close to others, not opposed to them.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alan Arkin Quotes , Horse Quotes , Hard Times Quotes

Truth is always unfolding. It's not an absolute.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alan Arkin Quotes , Truth Quotes , Unfolding Quotes

I don't think it does the audience any good to know what I do to prepare. It keeps it more of a surprise. I don't feel like it has to be a mystery.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alan Arkin Quotes , Thinking Quotes , Doe Quotes

What I've learned about teaching is to refer back to the root of that word, which is educo, which means "to pull from." Education does not mean jamming information into somebody's head. Rather, it's that ancient idea that all knowledge is within us; to teach is to help somebody pull it out of themselves.

6 years ago

Message Copied

Tags : Alan Arkin Quotes , Teaching Quotes , Mean Quotes