Top 255 Quotes & Sayings by Anthony Hopkins
Explore popular quotes and sayings by a Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins.
Last updated on September 17, 2024.
I am not very good with relationships. With anyone. I can't be locked up with anyone for too long.
If I spent all my time criticising myself, I wouldn't be able to function. There are actors who theorise till the cows come home. I haven't the patience for them. It's maybe shallow, but that's why I'll never be part of the acting set.
Relish everything that's inside of you, the imperfections, the darkness, the richness and light and everything. And that makes for a full life.
I hope I would not be so arrogant as to doubt anyone's religion or belief.
Years ago I met Richard Burton in Port Talbot, my home town, and afterwards he passed in his car with his wife, and I thought, 'I want to get out and become like him'. Not because of Wales, because I love Wales, but because I was so limited as a child at school and so bereft and lonely, and I thought becoming an actor would do that.
I think the healthy way to live is to make friends with the beast inside oneself, and that means not the beast but the shadow. The dark side of one's nature. Have fun with it and you know, is to accept everything about ourselves.
I don't believe in nepotism. I don't much like the idea of parents who interfere.
I'm a pretty tough guy, you know. I'm a pretty hard man. I've got a lot of compassion, but I don't waste time with people.
I'm always cast in these strange men... that's not me, really.
My life turned out to be beyond my greatest dreams.
I tend to get bored quickly, which means I must be boring.
My weak spot is laziness. Oh, I have a lot of weak spots: cookies, croissants.
If you do things, whether it's acting or music or painting, do it without fear - that's my philosophy. Because nobody can arrest you and put you in jail if you paint badly, so there's nothing to lose.
I'm interested in the dream and subconscious mind, the peculiar dream-like quality of our lives, sometime nightmare quality of our lives.
I worked at the Steel Company Of Wales when I was 17. My job was to supply tools to the guys working the blast furnaces.
I have a punishing workout regimen. Every day I do 3 minutes on a treadmill, then I lie down, drink a glass of vodka and smoke a cigarette.
I remember coming to New York in 1974 to do a play here called 'Equis.' And I remember the first morning getting up and walking around the streets, and I thought, 'I'm home.' I felt really at peace here.
I don't have a vast longing for the stage.
I have no interest in Shakespeare and all that British nonsense... I just wanted to get famous and all the rest is hogwash.
We're all caught up in circumstances, and we're all good and evil. When you're really hungry, for instance, you'll do anything to survive. I think the most evil thing - well, maybe that's too strong - but certainly a very evil thing is judgment, the sin of ignorance.
I think the first British actor who really worked well in cinema was Albert Finney. He was a back-street Marlon Brando. He brought a great wittiness and power to the screen. The best actor we've had.
I was bullied as a boy - lots of kids are, but hopefully most of us get on with our lives and grow up.
Acting is just a process of relaxation, actually. Knowing the text so well and trusting that the instinct and the subconscious mind, whatever you want to call it, is going to take over.
Our existence is beyond our explanation, whether we believe in God or we have religion or we're atheist. Our existence is beyond our understanding. No one has an answer.
Beware the tyranny of the weak. They just suck you dry.
We are dying from overthinking. We are slowly killing ourselves by thinking about everything. Think. Think. Think. You can never trust the human mind anyway. It's a death trap.
I always had a knack for improvisation. I can write down the notes I play, but never really had a proper academic musical background. I suppose I'm blessed and cursed by the fact I have that freedom.
I would like to go back to Wales. I'm obsessed with my childhood and at least three times a week dream I am back there.
The art of acting is not to act. Once you show them more, what you show them, in fact is bad acting.
I think all those actors from that generation, like Bogart - they were wonderful actors. They didn't act. They just came on and they did it, and the characters were wonderful.
I am a bit of a solitude person - a solitary personality. I like being on my own. I don't have any major friendships or relationships with people.
I've had no contact with my daughter for years. That's her choice. Anyway, you move on. If people don't want to bother with me, fine. You know, God bless them, and move on.
I worked with Steven Spielberg on Amistad... he seemed so very secure in himself that he let me do things.
My philosophy is: It's none of my business what people say of me and think of me.
I am able to play monsters well. I understand monsters. I understand madmen.
I know that the arts are important. I'm not denying that, but I can't associate myself with all the claptrap that goes on around it.
For me, time is the greatest mystery of all. The fact is that we're dreaming all the time. That's what really gets me. We have a fathomless lake of unconsciousness just beneath our skulls.
Actors I admire? Ed Harris, or course, I think he's terrific; because I know he always had to fight being what he looked like a lot, but I think he's a terrific actor.
I don't have many friends; I'm very much a loner. As a child I was very isolated, and I've never been really close to anyone.
Why love if losing hurts so much? I have no answers anymore; only the life I have lived. The pain now is part of the happiness then.
I spent two years in the military service, then I trudged around in repertory for quite a while. I somehow wound up at the National Theatre, though, and then I was definitely on my way.
Every time I try to retire, or even think of retiring from acting, my agent comes up with a script.
I don't know what acting is, but I enjoy it.
I love life because what more is there?
Life's too short to deal with other people's insecurities.
I'm married. My wife, Stella - a beautiful woman. She's brought a lot of peace to my life, a lot of wisdom.
I learn poetry, learn text, and that really keeps you alive.
I've felt like an outsider all my life. It comes from my mother, who always felt like an outsider in my father's family. She was a powerful woman, and she motivated my father.
People ask, 'Should I call you Sir Hopkins?' But I say, 'No. Call me Tony,' because it's too much of a lift-up.
I like the good life too much, I'm not good at going on stage night after night and on wet Wednesday afternoons.
I don't like freeloaders; I don't like people who are negative.
I've been composing music all my life and if I'd been clever enough at school I would like to have gone to music college.
My father was grounded, a very meat-and-potatoes man. He was a baker.
Richard Burton came from the same town as me, so I thought I'd follow my nose, and follow my luck. I think I've been very lucky.
Once you begin to fall off the track and believe you breathe different air to everyone else, you're doomed; you're finished.
My philosophy is it's none of my business what people say of me and think of me. I am what I am, and I do what I do. I expect nothing and accept everything. And it makes life so much easier.
I have dual citizenship; it just so happens I live in America. I would like to go back to Wales. I'm obsessed with my childhood, and at least three times a week dream I am back there.
I'm devious, cruel, cunning and addictive.
We all dream. We dream vividly, depending on our nature. Our existence is beyond our explanation, whether we believe in God or we have religion or we're atheist.
I was called 'Dumbo,' like the elephant, as a child because I couldn't understand things at school.
Related Authors
Arnold Schwarzenegger Quotes
Austrian
Actor
Benedict Cumberbatch Quotes
English
Actor
Bruce Lee Quotes
American
Actor
Clint Eastwood Quotes
American
Actor
Daniel Radcliffe Quotes
British
Actor
Dwayne Johnson Quotes
American
Actor
Jeff Bridges Quotes
American
Actor
Johnny Depp Quotes
American
Actor
Kevin Hart Quotes
American
Actor
Kevin Spacey Quotes
American
Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio Quotes
American
Actor
Rob Lowe Quotes
American
Actor
Robert Pattinson Quotes
English
Actor
Sylvester Stallone Quotes
American
Actor
Will Rogers Quotes
American
Actor
Zach Braff Quotes
American
Actor