Top quotes by John Malkovich

If I had spent as much time in the weight room as I did designing football uniforms, I probably would have had a free college education. Votes: 17

Failure's a natural part of life. Votes: 16

I like design, I like details, to me it is just another form of self-expression. Votes: 13

I was a very good baseball and football player, but my father always told me I was much more interested in how I looked playing baseball or football than in actually playing. There's great truth in that. Votes: 11

I lost seventy pounds eating nothing but Jello for 4 months. But of course there is great variety in the colors! I think, if I remember correctly, it's 230 calories for a whole bowl. Maybe 270? In the 5th month, I added fruit. Votes: 10

I just start with a pencil and paper. I don't want something too trendy, too fashion-forward. I don't want to make something I consider a regular person couldn't wear with blue jeans. But I don't want to make something that other people make, either - like a skinny black suit in a shiny material that you can buy anywhere. Votes: 10

Well, I like to have fun at work. Votes: 10

People get up, they go to work, they have their lives, but you'll never see the headlines say, 'Six billion people got along rather well today.' You'll have the headline about the 30 people who shot each other. Votes: 10

I'll never be the biggest kind of star; I'll be like Bob Duvall, respected as an actor but a lot of people can't identify the face. I don't have the personality of a big star, or the looks of a Mel Gibson or a Paul Newman, or the style of a George C. Scott. Votes: 9

You know, I'm really not interested in someone telling me that something's good or bad. Votes: 9

I like to direct movies, but I don't like to goof around for eight years talking about it. Votes: 9

You can be a mason and build 50 buildings, but it doesn't mean you can design one. Votes: 8

Most of the women that I like have a haunted quality - they're sort of like women who live in a haunted house all by themselves. Votes: 8

I am inspired by the appearance of a bohemian of the new millennium. Votes: 8

I only have two rules for my newly born daughter: she will dress well and never have sex. Votes: 7

Well, I design costumes because I started with the theater in Chicago, but somehow a few lines just sort of fell to me to do it. And I studied it in school and I always liked it. Votes: 6

I love Chicago, but in a lot of ways it's a disappointment. You can work there for years and years, and because you're in Chicago, you don't get the recognition. It has some of the best theater in the country, but when they shoot a movie there, they bring in all their actors. Votes: 6

I grew up in the Midwest, quite far from any ocean or any beach, a million miles. I think for kids who grew up where I did, the idea of California, surfing and beach life was so exotic and glamorous. Votes: 6

Secretariat' was such a magnificent animal, unbelievably beautiful and powerful. It's always nice to see something that close to perfection, a reason to celebrate. Votes: 6

I think 1973 was the nadir of fashion. When you watch the coverage from that era, you're struck by the astonishing ugliness of the clothes. Votes: 6

I'm a little bit of a fabric lunatic. Votes: 6

We have a tendency to think everyone's idiotic and everyone's only doing something idiotic, and the world is controlled by a not-so-secret group of morons. There's great truth in that, I suppose, but then it's also not true. Votes: 6

Sigmund Freud said we act out our own dreams, but if you are only an actor you are not acting out your own dream. You are simply participating in someone else's dream. Votes: 5

I'm supposed to be a pretty good theater actor. Votes: 5

I can have incredible self-discipline. But see, I think it's obviously a form of stupidity. Votes: 2

Where women are concerned, the rule is never to go out with anyone better dressed than you. Votes: 2

I prefer to conduct my life based on how I treat people. Votes: 2

We're all animals. Votes: 2

When you think of how history is revealed, we know certain things to be facts at certain periods of time, which turn out not to be so factual as time marches on. Votes: 1

I'd hate to see any film I'm involved in fail, especially artistically but also business-wise. Votes: 1

Every country has their problems. Votes: 0

I don't understand how somebody wouldn't have a sense of humor about themselves. Votes: 0

I don't mind what I play, really. Votes: 0

If you're too smart it can limit you because you spend so much time thinking that you don't do anything. Votes: 0

I don't care what other people think. I don't think it matters. Votes: 0

The world is ruled by violence, or at least the imminent threat of violence. It always has been. Votes: 0

I don't lose my temper very often now, and if I do, it's well deserved. Votes: 0

Anybody doing something brings something to it. Votes: 0

I am inspired by the appearance of a bohemian of the new millennium. I thought it was necessary to update the figure of the bohemian, but not in the traditional way. Votes: 0

For a while I wanted to be a professional baseball pitcher, and then I wanted to be a musician and then sometimes I think I'd like to start a store for gift-wrapping Christmas presents...But I feel I could do most things I set my mind to, except mechanical things, I'm not very good at that. Votes: 0

Imagine how asleep or utterly unperceptive and clueless you would have to be not to see yourself as absurd for the most part. Votes: 0

It's not a gift of mine, but one given to me, to be able to criticise myself and not be crushed, by myself or by others. Votes: 0

As an actor there are no drawbacks. Votes: 0

And may the best of you - for it will only be the best of you, and even then only in the rarest and briefest moments - succeed in framing that most basic of questions, 'how do we live?' Votes: 0

The ghosts you chase you never catch. Votes: 0

I was a very good baseball player and football player as a kid. Votes: 0

It seems whenever I've had a method or what I perceived to be an intellectual groundwork of some sort - a kind of game plan - it's always been the most morbid failure. Votes: 0

I probably have more female friends than any man I've ever met. What I like about them is that almost always they're generally mentally tougher, and they're better listeners, and they're more capable of surviving things. And most of the women that I like have a haunted quality - they're sort of like women who live in a haunted house all by themselves. Votes: 0

Most of the women that I like have a haunted quality - they're sort of like women who live in a haunted house by themselves. Votes: 0

Scary monsters are like Hula Hoops. They come in and out of fashion. Votes: 0

I'm more likely to lose my temper on a film set than almost anywhere. Often the level of idiocy is so exalted that it's impossible to comprehend. Votes: 0

If you don't interfere with me, I'll always do something really good. Votes: 0

I wouldn't describe myself as lacking in confidence, but I would just say that - the ghosts you chase you never catch. Votes: 0

It's not a field, I think, for people who need to have success every day: if you can't live with a nightly sort of disaster, you should get out. I wouldn't describe myself as lacking in confidence, but I would just say that the ghosts you chase you never catch. Votes: 0

I'm very much a typical midwesterner, and I don't think the condition is curable. Votes: 0

I don't need to be liked. Votes: 0

In New York in the Forties or Fifties, everybody's in a suit, an overcoat and a hat. Votes: 0

I was never a fanatical movie person. There are many popular films I absolutely love like anyone else. Having said that, I don't have time to go to the movies very much. I work a lot of different things, I'm always busy. But I'm always happy to see a popular movie. Votes: 0

Some directors expect you to do everything; write, be producer, psychiatrist. Some just want you to die in a tragic accident during the shooting so they can get the insurance. Votes: 0

I'm not a psychiatrist. I'm not treating patients. Votes: 0

A dog that has rabies probably will do things it wouldn't do if it didn't have rabies. But that doesn't change the fact that it has rabies. Votes: 0

I can see how, given a certain degree of sensitivities, proclivities and rage, I could have ended up differently. Votes: 0

I've permitted myself to learn and to fail with some regularity. And that is probably the one thing I was given, and that I'm still grateful for. Votes: 0

I don't have a saviour or a royal family. Votes: 0

Utopia means elsewhere. Votes: 0

Unlike my grandfather or my brother, I've actually been able to make some money at a racetrack. Votes: 0

I know for a fact that a lot of actors are desperate and unhappy if their careers are not progressing at what they think is the correct rate. They just go crazy if they're not working. I don't feel I'd be that way. You can always get a few people together and put on a play. Maybe not in New York or L.A., but in a lot of other towns, you can. Votes: 0

The one natural gift I have is easy access. That's the only natural I gift I have at all. You have to have that, the third eye. Votes: 0

Nothing you do particularly matters. But I'm not sure that's a great excuse for doing it poorly. Votes: 0

Quite often - a lot of the work I had done had been extensively with women. Most especially in the theater, but also quite often in the movies. That has its own delights, and maybe pitfalls too. Votes: 0

I'm a little bit phobic about stains on my clothes, so I never travel without a little packet of organic stain remover. Votes: 0

I don't like things too overstated in the cut or too perfect. Votes: 0

Art is not disposable. If you want it, you have to hold it and smell it and touch it and read the credits and enjoy it and put it on your wall. Votes: 0

Fashion is chaotic, and it can be an aggravation, too, but it is at its best when it allows you to express yourself. Votes: 0

I love to watch good actors who surprise and amuse me. Votes: 0

I'm not a Method actor. I don't believe acting should be psychodrama. I look within myself and see what I can find to play the role with. If I'm playing a blind man, I don't go around blindfolded for days. A lot of good actors would, but I don't go in for that very much. I like to just make it up as I go along. Votes: 0

I have driven school buses, sold egg rolls and painted houses, and I have often wondered what my life would have been like if I hadn't gone into acting. Mind you, it's a great life, going around pretending you're other people and getting paid ridiculous sums of money for it. Votes: 0

It's tough to figure out how do we compete in Europe and North America, when obviously a living wage for us is very different than a living wage in Indonesia. Votes: 0

People always say life is short. I've never been convinced of that - mine seems to have a tendency to go on and on. Votes: 0

I probably have more female friends than any man I've ever met. What I like about them is that almost always they're generally mentally tougher, and they're better listeners, and they're more capable of surviving things. Votes: 0

When you do a really good play, the audience and the performers are looking into the same looking glass, the same microscope. And the specimen they are looking at is human life and that's why I do it, that's why I like it. Votes: 0

I brought my first fall/winter line to New York, and it was confiscated by U.S. Customs. They asked, 'What is the value of this?' I said, 'I'm not so good with existential questions.' Votes: 0

Most filmmakers' entire body of knowledge is of other movies. When they describe things, they describe them in relation to other movies. That's why we have so many cyclical movies that look like other movies. But I'm not cynical. I even go to some of those movies. Votes: 0

Theater is so ephemeral, and I love that. Votes: 0

The most evocative thing to me is probably when a writer and a group of performers can collectively put together something compelling that asks the really simple question: 'How do we live?' Votes: 0

I was never a fanatical movie person. Votes: 0

I have at times spoken with my peers and the head of the actors' union about why we're not paid when we appear in, say, a 'TMZ' production, but there seems to be no real interest in combatting it. Votes: 0

I admire sensible, kind people. They're not often famous. Votes: 0

Even if you do succeed most people wouldn't notice anyway. Votes: 0

My father was an exceptionally strong influence on me. Votes: 0

My life before children I don't really remember. I've heard references to it, but I really don't remember. Votes: 0

I go around the world, working with all kinds of people who I love. Votes: 0

I wasn't really raised to be the type of person to have doubts. Votes: 0

Along with the good qualities, if someone isn't vulnerable I can't be around them to a certain extent. And I don't mean vulnerable to me or vulnerable to me in a sexual way. I just mean vulnerable, period. Votes: 0

It's funny - people think analysis or psychiatry is mad, and THEY go to CHURCH... Votes: 0

I know I have a fairly strong feminine side. I find myself really distanced from male behavior. Votes: 0

The media can make anything true or untrue. So if you do 80 films and you play a bad guy ten times, then you're a bad guy, and then the media repeats that. Votes: 0

To a certain extent in Hollywood you're a product, and your product is whatever sells the most, and whatever sells the most is whatever the public likes to see you do - if anything. Votes: 0

I don't really have a comprehension of being a public figure. Votes: 0

I'm more boring and more conservative. Votes: 0

The theater is so disappointing, really, that it's hard to go again and again. It's just too heartbreaking. I'd rather watch football or play a game or read. Votes: 0

I'm not a control maniac. Votes: 0

I haven't physically attacked anyone in a couple of years. Votes: 0

I don't wake up drenched in sweat because I haven't been on stage in years. Votes: 0

All you have is the writer's imagination. You have a very limited time to take this imaginary person and bring the details of their life, as you perceive them, to life. You attempt to do to that as fully and as vibrantly as you can. It's depressing to read how much you've failed. And it's not even particularly instructive or necessary to read how you succeeded because in the end don't you have to judge that? Votes: 0

You can't work in the movies. Movies are all about lighting. Very few filmmakers will concentrate on the story. You get very little rehearsal time, so anything you do onscreen is a kind of speed painting. Votes: 0

Reviews are destructive by their very nature. Votes: 0

You have to play your characters, not like them. Votes: 0

It's a little bit hard to have personal things subject to public scrutiny, and it's a pressure that other people aren't under, but then they're under a lot of pressures that we're not under. Votes: 0

I never wanted to be with someone who just hung around the house. Votes: 0

There are many, many benefits to being known for whatever it is you do. To deny that would be sort of asinine and vulgar. Votes: 0

One doesn't know if one had a happy childhood or not. I don't really know what it means. Votes: 0

There will be people who hate everything you do. And some people will really love it. But that's not really different from the people who really hate it. Votes: 0

Politics is not really my thing. Votes: 0

... I grew tired of religion some time not long after birth. I believe in people, I believe in humans, I believe in a car, but I don't believe something I can't have absolutely no evidence of for millenniums. And it's funny, people think analysis or psychiatry is mad, and they go to church... Votes: 0

I've always been an avid reader. Everyone in my family read a lot. Considering we were from a little town, we were pretty literate. Votes: 0

The projects I look for to produce or direct would not be ones in which I would want to act. Votes: 0

And if you say a word about this over the radio, the next wings you see will belong to the flies buzzing over your rotting corpse. Votes: 0

Some people die before their time so that others can live. It's a cornerstone of civilization. Votes: 0

I think I was born at a time when an American male had so many advantages and opportunities that weren't available to men before or after, just a very brief period. Votes: 0

Most films, it doesn't matter if you see them or not. Votes: 0

Things are so much global and Americanised. Votes: 0

I think probably when I was little, after my brother turned on me, I just had to play by myself or with myself. I've always done that. I think either it's some kind of weirdly competitive streak or it takes my mind off whatever's bothering me. Votes: 0

You have to do things people see or you don't get to do anything. Votes: 0

Anybody doing something brings something to it. It's not for me to say if it's "growth". Just by the nature of everyone has a different take on the material. Some people would. Votes: 0

I don't think my parents know what I do. Votes: 0

I don't have a great intellect, and I can't compete with people who do. I feel certain things. And all I know, and all I can do, is what I feel. Votes: 0

I wouldn't say anything I ever did in film would be something I'd use the word proud about. I've done better work in the theater. Votes: 0

With acting it's your neck up there in the end. And if you think the director can't help you it's one thing. But if you feel they're reining you in when they need to be giving you some rope, or vice versa, then I just don't tolerate that. Votes: 0

I don't throw things or yell. Votes: 0

There's no worse feeling in the world than realizing the play you've directed doesn't work. Votes: 0

I think with actors, if you just don't set about trying to crush their confidence immediately, you're usually OK. Votes: 0

I think people seem to sort of associate me with danger. And I don't see that at all. Votes: 0

I don't want to be boring. But that's not always easy. Votes: 0

I mean, a lot of time rehearsals are taken up with other things other than preparing a character. Votes: 0

When I have failed as an actor I've always thought it was my fault. But when I direct something, I wouldn't want the actors to think it was their fault. Votes: 0

Of course it's trivial, but then most things are. Votes: 0

I always wanted to be fashionable. Votes: 0

I'm not a very skeptical person. Votes: 0

You can't take a play someone has directed and do whatever you want with it. Votes: 0

Actors generally get to do things you probably shouldn't do in real life - well, at least as much as one might like to or be tempted to. Though I suppose a lot of actors just go ahead and do it, don't they? Votes: 0

There's a reason screens are only this thick. Votes: 0

I have probably four or five male friends who have a real strong masculine side but some degree of a feminine side, too. They're pretty rare, whereas I think women with a masculine side are much less rare. Votes: 0

It never occurred to me to be an actor. Votes: 0

I've done quite a few big American films. Votes: 0

I find it hard to pre-plan every element of everything I do. It's not my thing. Votes: 0

I don't want a trillion-dollar empire to run. Votes: 0

My father could be very distancing. My clearest memory is of him squatting, watering plants for hours and hours at a time, completely silent. He was very self-contained; my mother was more outgoing and chatty and social. I'm certainly more like her. Votes: 0

My father was a very contradictory man. Votes: 0

I still have a temper, I suppose. Votes: 0

I wasn`t really raised to be the type of person to have doubts. Votes: 0

I'm more comfortable with whatever's wrong with me than my father was whenever he felt he failed or didn't measure up to the standard he set. Votes: 0

I don't mind tracksuits. At the track. Votes: 0

I never really did a western western. Votes: 0

I mean, anything that money can be made off will never be a problem to make, no matter what it is. Votes: 0

I like very much to do movies. Votes: 0

I don't remember my life before I had children. Votes: 0

I don't really go through a process, it goes through me. Votes: 0