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" I didn't want to be a comedian. I wanted to be an actor - maybe a comic actor, but a real actor - by real, I mean not a comedian. I wanted to be an actor. "

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" My mother was suffering every day of her life, and what right did I have to be happy if she was suffering? So whenever I got happy about something, I felt the need to cut it off, and the only way to cut it off was to pray. 'Forgive me Lord.' For what, I didn't know. "

" I never thought of it as God. I didn't know what to call it. I don't believe in devils, but demons I do because everyone at one time or another has some kind of a demon, even if you call it by another name, that drives them. "

" What do actors really want? To be great actors? Yes, but you can't buy talent, so it's best to leave the word 'great' out of it. I think to be believed, onstage or onscreen, is the one hope that all actors share. "

" My wife and I water color, paint water colors. "

" I'm an actor, not a clown. "

" My favorite author is Anton Chekhov, not so much for the plays but for his short stories, and I think he was really my tutor. "

" I'm funny on camera sometimes. In life, once in a while. Once in a while. "

" What I learned from Mel Brooks was audacity - in performance as in life. Maybe you go too far, but try it. "

" Whatever simplicity I've achieved in writing, I think I owe most of it to Jean Renoir and Hemingway: simple, declarative sentences. I've read some very good writers, but the sentences were so long that I've forgotten what the point was. "

" A lot of comic actors derive their main force from childish behavior. Most great comics are doing such silly things; you'd say, 'That's what a child would do.' "

" The world is not based on fairness. Human beings can rise to fairness, can administer something that makes it fair or just. But that's not God. "

" I'm going to tell you what my religion is. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Period. Terminato. Finito. "

" I love the art of acting, and I love film, because you always have another chance if you want it. You know, if we - if this isn't going well, you can't say - well, you could say - let's stop. Let's start over again, Gene, because you were too nervous. "

" I love acting, especially if it's a fantasy of some kind, where it's not just realistic, it's not naturalism. "

" When I'm not working on something, I seem to go through periods of depression. It helps to keep busy. "

" I write funny. If I can make my wife laugh, I know I'm on the right track. But yes, I don't like to get Maudlin. And I have a tendency towards it. "

" If my mother hadn't laughed at the funny things I did, I probably wouldn't be a comic actor. After she had her first heart attack, the doctor said, 'Try to make her laugh.' And that was the first time I tried to make anyone laugh. "

" When your mother gives you confidence about anything that you do, you carry that confidence with you. "

" I've become pretty philosophical about a lot of things, including death. It doesn't get to me. "

" I've had a very good life and a very good career. I have no regrets. "

" I never used to believe in fate. I used to think you make your own life, and then you call it fate. "

" I trust if your life is right, the right things will happen at the right time. If the chords are in harmony inside, I think other things will happen in the same way. That sounded highfalutin' to me once, but I believe it now. "

" Success is a terrible thing and a wonderful thing. If you can enjoy it, it's wonderful. If it starts eating away at you, and they're waiting for more from me, or what can I do to top this, then you're in trouble. Just do what you love. That's all I want to do. "

Do What You Love