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" When you reach 95, after you get over your surprise, you start looking back. "
Kirk Douglas
Looking Back
Looking
Start
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" Virtue is not photogenic, so I liked playing bad guys. But, whenever I played a bad guy, I tried to find something good in him, and that kept my contact with the audience. "
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Him
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" My mother, we were a very poor family. When I was a kid, we would be in our little room, and there would be a knock on the door almost every night with a hobo begging for food. Even though we didn't even have enough to eat, my mother always found something to give them. "
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Door
Family
Food
" In order to achieve anything you must be brave enough to fail. "
Kirk Douglas
Enough
Fail
Order
" I didn't think I was so tough until I did 'Champion'; then I was a tough guy. "
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Think
Champion
Tough
" Too often, I have not been what I wanted to be; I've succumbed to pressures. Yes, I have. The things I've done that I liked, I've always done against advice. "
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Always
Yes
Done
" I was living in a terrible time when people were being accused of being communists, and they attacked the movie industry, especially the writers. People couldn't work if they were on the blacklist. The studios banned them. It was the most onerous period in movie history. I don't think we have ever had a period so dark as that. "
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Think
Time
Dark
" I don't need a critic to tell me I'm an actor. I make my own way. Nobody's my boss. Nobody's ever been my boss. "
Kirk Douglas
Nobody
Boss
Me
" I have been an actor for most of my life. When I started out, I didn't think about anything except what was good for me. Like many movie stars, I became all wrapped up in myself. "
Kirk Douglas
Myself
Me
Good
" You know, sometimes an interviewer will look at me and say - you're bright! They're actually surprised I might be bright. "
Kirk Douglas
Look
Me
Say
" Acting is a youthful profession. "
Kirk Douglas
Profession
Acting
Youthful
" Cancer does give you a new rejuvenation. I know what it's like to be down. I lost a couple of good friends - Larry Hagman and Nick Ashford - who had the same type of cancer that I did, and that makes you think. "
Kirk Douglas
Friends
Good
Know
" My first job was on Broadway. Then I went into the Navy. When I came out of the Navy, I went back to Broadway and a friend of mine, Lauren Bacall, was in Hollywood filming with Humphrey Bogart. She told one of her producers I was great in my play, and he saw it and cast me in 'The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'. "
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Me
Love
Great
" If I thought a man had never committed a sin in his life, I don't think I'd want to talk with him. A man with flaws is more interesting. "
Kirk Douglas
Man
Think
Thought
" Listen - pacemaker, crash, stroke. What does it mean? God doesn't want me now. That's all. "
Kirk Douglas
Now
Want
God
" Sometimes, the thing that ties you down sets you free. "
Kirk Douglas
You
Thing
Sometimes
" Sometimes an interviewer will look at me and say, 'You're bright!' They're actually surprised I might be bright. "
Kirk Douglas
You
Say
Bright
" Fame is as much about luck as it is about talent, perhaps more. "
Kirk Douglas
Fame
Luck
Talent
" I came from abject poverty. There was nowhere to go but up. "
Kirk Douglas
Came
Nowhere
I Came
" Acting is make-believe. I never believe I'm the character; I want you to believe. "
Kirk Douglas
You
Acting
Character
" Virtue is not photogenic. What is it to be a nice guy? To be nothing, that's what. A big fat zero with a smile for everybody. "
Kirk Douglas
Fat
Virtue
Big
" No matter how bad things are, they can always be worse. So what if my stroke left me with a speech impediment? Moses had one, and he did all right. "
Kirk Douglas
Me
Matter
Bad
" Fear is a terrible thing. It makes you do awful things. "
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Fear
You
Things
" I was not a very good Jew. I never practised what Judaism tells you to do, to teach your kids all about Judaism. "
Kirk Douglas
Judaism
You
Teach
" I was conscious of my father's fame from the time I was 6. "
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Time
Father
Fame
" What would my parents think about America if they arrived here today? Would they even want to come? I wonder. "
Kirk Douglas
Today
Parents
Wonder
" You know, you have to have some inner philosophy to deal with adversity. "
Kirk Douglas
Adversity
Deal
Philosophy
" If I have to speak in public, I am terrified. "
Kirk Douglas
Public
Terrified
Am
" My four sons all knew I was a Jew, but they were allowed to be whatever they wanted to be. The only thing important to me was that they be good people who help other people, because all religion should try to make you a better person and a more caring person. Whenever religion does that for you, it's a good religion. "
Kirk Douglas
Help
Religion
Caring
" When I first came to Hollywood, the blacklist was just starting, and they were having hearings in Washington. What most people don't know is the judge of these hearings himself was later convicted of misappropriation. 'Spartacus' helped break the blacklist, because Spartacus was a real character. "
Kirk Douglas
Character
Judge
People
" God bless Dad, he came to every one of my shows. I was bad, and I had horrible stage fright. My dad was so relieved - he'd say, 'You were terrible; this kid is not going to be an actor.' Finally, I did a play and he said, 'Son - you were really good.' "
Kirk Douglas
Play
You
Bad