Quotes by Alan Arkin

About Alan Arkin:

Alan Wolf Arkin is an American actor, director, comedian, musician and singer. With a film career spanning nearly 60 years, Arkin is known for his performances in Wait Until Dark, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Catch-22, The In-Laws, Edward Scissorhands, Glengarry Glen Ross, Thirteen Conversations About One Thing, Little Miss Sunshine, and Argo.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

You have to think of your career the way you look at the ocean, deciding which wave you're gonna take and which waves you're not gonna take. Some of the waves are going to be big, some are gonna be small, sometimes the sea is going to be calm. Your c...

Alan Arkin

I wrote my epitaph: He started out a particle and ended up a wave.

Alan Arkin

I would like to have a movie under my own control sometime, and see what could be done with it. Who knows? Maybe Hollywood will make an improvisational movie someday.

Alan Arkin

I'm used to changing a lot of the dialogue. But if I feel like the script is working, I don't want to mess with it.

Alan Arkin

A director without a vision is a catastrophe.

Alan Arkin

I'm as old as I am, and I don't try to hide it. It's not a big deal.

Alan Arkin

What I look for these days is that I don't have long speeches, the characters gets to sit down a lot, I don't have to learn any foreign languages, and it doesn't shoot in Minneapolis in February. That's mainly what I look for.

Alan Arkin

I gotta keep busy. I'm not happy unless I'm working on two, three things.

Alan Arkin

I don't know what I'm proudest of. The fact that my kids still talk to me.

Alan Arkin

I don't mind watching plays once in a while, but as long as I don't have to be in them.

Alan Arkin

I never had a better role than I had in 'Little Miss Sunshine.' That was one of my favorite roles ever.

Alan Arkin

I used to have a lot of philosophies of acting; they all fell apart over the years.

Alan Arkin

I can't even pretend to play golf.

Alan Arkin

All I can say is if the part doesn't delight me in some way, or I can't feel any compassion for it, I just can't do it.

Alan Arkin

I wanted to make it in New York. I thought if I went out to the Midwest, I'd be burying myself. But I was wrong.

Alan Arkin

I've always been an improviser. I was one before I knew even what the word was... And acting, that I've been doing since I was 5.

Alan Arkin

I don't believe in competitions between artists. This is insane. Who has the authority to say someone is better?

Alan Arkin

Everybody's career has ups and downs. I like to take chances; I don't like to stand still. And I don't give a damn what the market is interested in; I want to try things.

Alan Arkin

I would rather die than do a play - 10 years in solitary instead.

Alan Arkin

It's not that there is a terrible morality in Hollywood. I think there isn't any. There isn't any, by and large.

Alan Arkin

Unless you're doing Shakespeare or Chekhov... the written word is not sacrosanct.

Alan Arkin

Author Bio

  • NameAlan Arkin
  • DescriptionAmerican actor, director, musician and singer
  • BornMarch 26, 1934
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionActor; Film Director; Musician; Writer
  • AwardsAcademy Award For Best Supporting Actor