Top 83 Quotes & Sayings by Ben Stiller

I don't have a burning desire to be taken seriously as an actor. I don't have a master plan in that way.

I don't think the public is dying to see me necessarily be funny all the time.

There's always an element of fear that you need to work a lot until people get sick and tired of you or finally figure out that you're a fraud after all!

I would like to do more dramas when I find a good role that will allow me to politely upset people's expectations of me as a comic actor.

My own parents were touchy-feely.

I don't devalue comedy as compared to drama. Not one bit.

I've had a very good career and I'm grateful that the public has had some level of acceptance and appreciation of my work.

Maybe forced retirement isn't necessary after all.

It was a mixed blessing to have famous parents. It was tough to go to auditions and be bad, since I couldn't be anonymous.

Sometimes I wondered whether I hadn't let my career get confined to one direction, but lately I've decided to accept the fact that I have this opportunity to be successful doing comedies.

If you look at my eyes when I'm dancing, you'll see that glazed look.

Very quickly after meeting Dustin, the whole image I had of him was shattered.

I enjoy the work I do in comedies. It's a valid test of your creative abilities.

Whatever talent I had, I'm sure it helped that my parents were in the business and that I grew up around actors, comedians and directors.

Jim Carrey, a comic genius, has a harder time overcoming the public's desire for him to be funny simply because he's so good at it.

The cliches are that it's the most generic Starsky and Hutch plot you can find.

I grew up wanting to make movies, and along the way I suddenly found that I had a career doing comedy.

I have a lot of nervous energy. Work is my best way of channelling that into something productive unless I want to wind up assaulting the postman or gardener.

Fashion is so over the top.

I don't think know if anything's going to translate anywhere. You're making a movie, you hope it's going to be funny, you can't think about how it's going to go over.

I just watched Paul Michael Glaser. He was the reason I wanted to do the movie because as a kid I was such a big fan of his. I watched all the episodes and tried to get a feeling for what he was doing.

There's an old saying in Hollywood: It's not the length of your film, it's how you use it.

My parents used to throw great New Year's Eve parties. They invited such an eclectic mix of showbiz people. All those cool people were always hanging out at our apartment.

I'm always willing to endure humiliation on behalf of my characters.

Even when I'm not directing, that doesn't stop Owen from having ideas for what I should be doing.

I love New York. I was sad, depressed and incredibly moved by our fellow countrymen and what they've done. I wanted to give people a chance to see something funny, have a distraction.

Zoolander was more of my own sensibility.

I'm not an expert on the Malaysian sense of humor.

I think people will be curious to see what I can do as a dramatic actor.

The failure of The Cable Guy impacted my career. I had to start writing and acting again.

I think most politicians could take a dodgeball in the face.

Paul is Starsky, and I met him before shooting. He was very kind and encouraged us to go with what we wanted to do. It was very sweet to see them back with the car after 25 years.

You're freaked out that you're going to be having a child, and once you're looking after your daughter, it's the most beautiful thing in the world.

A eugoogoolizer...one who speaks at funerals...Or did you think I was too stupid to know what a eugoogooly was?

I know that I'm better as an actor when I'm working with a good actor. I think anytime you're working with a better actor, it makes you a better actor.

Stiller was able to reach speeds of around 35 miles per hour, no small task for someone who had never longboarded before.

Oh, dear God, thank you, you are such a good God to us. A kind and gentle and accommodating God, and we thank You oh sweet, sweet Lord of hosts for the smörgåsbord You have so aptly laid at our table this day, and each day, by day, day by day, by day oh dear Lord three things we pray to love Thee more dearly, to see Thee more clearly, to follow Thee more nearly, day, by day, by day. Amen.

It's what I wanted to do with my life. Not necessarily just direct Jim Carrey movies, but to direct and act and write and create and along the way discover what it is that I'm about.

I actually started working on Madagascar before my daughter was born.

I'm Jewish, but my mom's Catholic, so the guilt area is covered. I have the highest expectations, along with the lowest. I tried to put as much of myself as possible in Reality Bites, but in terms of my humor, I'm still trying to figure out what my sensibility is. It's a process, really. I don't feel like I have a very clear idea of what I'm supposed to be, or even of how people perceive me, except that I got put into this Generation X file.

I was a bad student. I liked archaeology actually, I was interested in maybe becoming an archaeologist but I was such a bad student and had such bad grades that I wasn't going to get into any really good college so I fell back on acting.

People like to define you through what they've seen you do. There are aspects of my personality, I guess, that come through on-screen, but I don't sit around thinking, 'I've been a bumbling suitor all my life.'

I love history. I'm very interested by it and I think it's great to have a movie that brings it alive in a way. It's sort of that romanticized version of it.

It's important that we came here, just to touch base here in this great country... When I was about 16 I came with my dad for a couple of weeks and had a great time and I've wanted to come back, it's been way too long. So, I'm very happy to be here and I want to come back longer with the rest of my family.

When we were visiting New York City, I took my kids to the same playground where I went growing up. It was fun to feel that connection of having gone there as a kid and being there as a parent.

I was staying on [writer/director/actor] Eric Schaeffer's couch in New York, and he said, "I've got this movie [If Lucy Fell]. Can you do five days on it?" And I was like, "Yeah, anything. Twenty-four hours times five is 120 hours. Oh, great, I'll fill 120 hours of my life with something." So I did that and it was fun, and then I did Flirting with Disaster.

Success doesn't necessarily mean happiness.

Moisture is the essence of wetness, and wetness is the essence of beauty.

When I didn't have a family, I was much more of a workaholic. I still like to work, but I also want to be home with them. As you get older, you realize you need balance. If it's not fun, what's the point?

It's weird that people expect me to be funny. I find it a real burden when I'm expected to be humorous on talk shows.

It's hard to maintain a sense of dignity in an audition. I have done so many auditions where I've put it out there and have been met with that kind of blank stare - "Great! Thanks! OK! Great work! Thanks for coming in!" At the door I'm thinking, 'What the hell am I doing with my life?'

I studied Tom Cruise running in all the Mission Impossibles. I think he's one of the best screen runners.

I'm pretty sure there's a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking. And I plan on finding out what that is.

I'm just not a naturally cheery person. I'm naturally moody. I know that from people who spend a lot of time with me. People who spend a lot of time with me may not wish to spend a lot more time with me.

I think you never want to have to go into the scene having to improvise; you want to make sure its working on the page. But I do like to have the ability to try stuff just in the moment, to give it some sort of spontaneity.

I don't need a compass to tell me which way the wind shines !

You have to stay in character in between takes.

Words can only hurt you if you try to read them. Don't play their game!

I don't know what that weid fantasy is that makes people go, "Oh, you must have had a great childhood."

God was showing off when he made you.