Anthony Hopkins Quotes

A conductor can't be too arrogant with an orchestra and try to impose himself too much.

- Anthony Hopkins

Himself, Arrogant, Too, Impose

People ask, 'Should I call you Sir Hopkins?' But I say, 'No. Call me Tony,' because it's too much of a lift-up.

- Anthony Hopkins

People, Too Much, Say, Hopkins

If you do things, whether it's acting or music or painting, do it without fear - that's my philosophy. Because nobody can arrest you and put you in jail if you paint badly, so there's nothing to lose.

- Anthony Hopkins

Lose, Nothing, Badly, Arrest

And I love a scary movie. It makes your toes curl and it's not you going through it.

- Anthony Hopkins

Love, Through, Movie, Curl

The magical, supernatural force that is with us every second is time. We can't even comprehend it. It's such an illusion, it's such a strange thing.

- Anthony Hopkins

Supernatural, Comprehend, Strange Thing

If I spent all my time criticising myself, I wouldn't be able to function. There are actors who theorise till the cows come home. I haven't the patience for them. It's maybe shallow, but that's why I'll never be part of the acting set.

- Anthony Hopkins

Maybe, Part, Till, All My Time

I'm most suspicious of scripts that have a lot of stage direction at the top of the page... sunrise over the desert and masses of... a whole essay before you get to the dialogue.

- Anthony Hopkins

Sunrise, Over, Before, Suspicious

I worked with Steven Spielberg on Amistad... he seemed so very secure in himself that he let me do things.

- Anthony Hopkins

Very, Spielberg, Seemed, Steven

I have dual citizenship; it just so happens I live in America. I would like to go back to Wales. I'm obsessed with my childhood, and at least three times a week dream I am back there.

- Anthony Hopkins

Week, I Am Back, Least, Dual

I have dual citizenship, it just so happens I live in America.

- Anthony Hopkins

Citizenship, Just, Happens, Dual

I would like to go back to Wales. I'm obsessed with my childhood and at least three times a week dream I am back there.

- Anthony Hopkins

Childhood, Week, Obsessed, I Am Back

What I do is just go over and over and over my lines and learn the script so well that I can just be easy and relaxed. That's the way I always work.

- Anthony Hopkins

Learn, Always, Over, Relaxed

I wouldn't use the word 'scared' for my role as Hitchcock, but it was my most insecure. Taking on such a formidable, giant personality such as Hitchcock; he was one of the great geniuses of world cinema. Sheer genius.

- Anthony Hopkins

Role, Use, Formidable, Insecure

We are dying from overthinking. We are slowly killing ourselves by thinking about everything. Think. Think. Think. You can never trust the human mind anyway. It's a death trap.

- Anthony Hopkins

Trust, Mind, Think, Slowly

My father was grounded, a very meat-and-potatoes man. He was a baker.

- Anthony Hopkins

Father, Very, Dad, Baker

Jonathan Demme is a very sharp editor of his movies.

- Anthony Hopkins

Movies, Very, Editor, Sharp

I'm one of the slowest drivers on the road. I mosey along. If you're doing anything too fast, including living life too fast, that creates sudden death. If I have to be somewhere on time, I make sure I leave early enough.

- Anthony Hopkins

Death, Doing, Somewhere, Early

Every time I try to retire, or even think of retiring from acting, my agent comes up with a script.

- Anthony Hopkins

Think, Script, Agent, Retire

The knighthood was a tremendous honour, I don't dismiss it. But I feel embarrassed by the flowery, theatrical stuff that goes with being an actor.

- Anthony Hopkins

Honour, Theatrical, Flowery

I don't have people following me around, like bodyguards. I don't know how people live like that. Maybe the young movie stars have to live like that, I don't know. But it seems a little crazy to me. I don't think you need all that stuff.

- Anthony Hopkins

Think, Movie, Like, Bodyguards

I tried acting, liked it, and stuck with it. I saw it as the way I would keep that promise to myself of getting back at those who had made my school life a misery.

- Anthony Hopkins

Myself, Made, Saw, Stuck

I just wanted to be a composer; I became an actor by default, really. I got a scholarship to a college of music and drama, hoping to take a scholarship in music. But I ended up as an acting student, so I've stuck with that for the last 50-odd years.

- Anthony Hopkins

College, Student, Became, Stuck

Relish everything that's inside of you, the imperfections, the darkness, the richness and light and everything. And that makes for a full life.

- Anthony Hopkins

Imperfections, Richness, Full Life

I am not very good with relationships. With anyone. I can't be locked up with anyone for too long.

- Anthony Hopkins

Good, Very, Am, Locked

My weak spot is laziness. Oh, I have a lot of weak spots: cookies, croissants.

- Anthony Hopkins

Oh, Spot, Lot, Spots

I think the first British actor who really worked well in cinema was Albert Finney. He was a back-street Marlon Brando. He brought a great wittiness and power to the screen. The best actor we've had.

- Anthony Hopkins

I Think, Screen, Brought, Brando

My philosophy is it's none of my business what people say of me and think of me. I am what I am, and I do what I do. I expect nothing and accept everything. And it makes life so much easier.

- Anthony Hopkins

Business, Think, Nothing, I Am What I Am

I was lousy in school. Real screwed-up. A moron. I was antisocial and didn't bother with the other kids. A really bad student. I didn't have any brains. I didn't know what I was doing there. That's why I became an actor.

- Anthony Hopkins

Doing, Other, Became, Moron

For me, time is the greatest mystery of all. The fact is that we're dreaming all the time. That's what really gets me. We have a fathomless lake of unconsciousness just beneath our skulls.

- Anthony Hopkins

Fact, Dreaming, Beneath, Lake

I worked with Lawrence Olivier some years ago. He was a great mentor.

- Anthony Hopkins

Mentor, Some, Worked, Lawrence

People forget that Mozart wrote for commissions. There's a thing in psychology where they think if it's popular, it can't be serious.

- Anthony Hopkins

People, Think, Wrote, Mozart

I like the good life too much, I'm not good at going on stage night after night and on wet Wednesday afternoons.

- Anthony Hopkins

Night, Like, Going, Wednesday

I do admire Judi Dench and Sir Ian McKellen, but I'm a philistine. I like the good life too much; I'm not good at going on stage night after night and on wet Wednesday afternoons.

- Anthony Hopkins

Good, Admire, Dench, Wednesday

I'm interested in the dream and subconscious mind, the peculiar dream-like quality of our lives, sometime nightmare quality of our lives.

- Anthony Hopkins

Mind, Sometime, Lives, Peculiar

We're all caught up in circumstances, and we're all good and evil. When you're really hungry, for instance, you'll do anything to survive. I think the most evil thing - well, maybe that's too strong - but certainly a very evil thing is judgment, the sin of ignorance.

- Anthony Hopkins

Strong, Caught, Very, To Survive

We're always looking over our shoulders, 'what they will think, what the press will think, what will this one - am I making the right career move?' When you're young you have to do all that to survive, I suppose.

- Anthony Hopkins

Shoulders, Always, Over, To Survive

I have a punishing workout regimen. Every day I do 3 minutes on a treadmill, then I lie down, drink a glass of vodka and smoke a cigarette.

- Anthony Hopkins

Glass, Minutes, Cigarette, Vodka

I spent two years in the military service, then I trudged around in repertory for quite a while. I somehow wound up at the National Theatre, though, and then I was definitely on my way.

- Anthony Hopkins

Though, Spent, Then, Repertory

Once you begin to fall off the track and believe you breathe different air to everyone else, you're doomed; you're finished.

- Anthony Hopkins

Everyone, Everyone Else, Doomed

I'm devious, cruel, cunning and addictive.

- Anthony Hopkins

Cruel, Cunning, Devious, Addictive

This industry has been really good to me. It's been a great life. I'm not through yet. I'm ready when you are, Mr. DeMille.

- Anthony Hopkins

Through, Been, Mr, Great Life

I don't know why they gave me a knighthood - though it's very nice of them - but I only ever use the title in the U.S. The Americans insist on it and get offended if I don't.

- Anthony Hopkins

Offended, Very, Though, Knighthood

I don't believe in nepotism. I don't much like the idea of parents who interfere.

- Anthony Hopkins

Like, Idea, Nepotism, Interfere

I love roller coasters. I don't get a chance often, but I've gone to Magic Mountain and gone on the rides. I love roller coasters.

- Anthony Hopkins

Love, Chance, Magic, Roller

I worked at the Steel Company Of Wales when I was 17. My job was to supply tools to the guys working the blast furnaces.

- Anthony Hopkins

Steel, Wales, Supply, Blast

Acting is just a process of relaxation, actually. Knowing the text so well and trusting that the instinct and the subconscious mind, whatever you want to call it, is going to take over.

- Anthony Hopkins

Mind, Process, Over, Subconscious Mind

I was bullied as a boy - lots of kids are, but hopefully most of us get on with our lives and grow up.

- Anthony Hopkins

Grow, Boy, Lives, Bullied

I am a bit of a solitude person - a solitary personality. I like being on my own. I don't have any major friendships or relationships with people.

- Anthony Hopkins

Own, My Own, Like, Solitude

I tend to get bored quickly, which means I must be boring.

- Anthony Hopkins

Which, Tend, Means, Bored

It was a challenge, to work with Oliver Stone.

- Anthony Hopkins

Work, Challenge, Oliver

I couldn't say I ever dreamt of becoming a composer, a pianist, or anything else for that matter. I have the kind of brain where nothing is set in stone.

- Anthony Hopkins

Becoming, Set, Composer, Stone

The Welsh people have a talent for acting that one does not find in the English. The English lack heart.

- Anthony Hopkins

Talent, Find, Does, Welsh

I've felt like an outsider all my life. It comes from my mother, who always felt like an outsider in my father's family. She was a powerful woman, and she motivated my father.

- Anthony Hopkins

Woman, My Life, Always, Outsider

I love life because what more is there?

- Anthony Hopkins

Love, Life, I Love, Love Life

The art of acting is not to act. Once you show them more, what you show them, in fact is bad acting.

- Anthony Hopkins

Art, Fact, Act, Bad Acting

I've had no contact with my daughter for years. That's her choice. Anyway, you move on. If people don't want to bother with me, fine. You know, God bless them, and move on.

- Anthony Hopkins

Years, Had, Anyway, God Bless

Oh yes. I'm an actor, so I just learn my lines, and show up and do it. I gave it a little bit of thought.

- Anthony Hopkins

Thought, Learn, Yes, Lines

I never make conscious decisions.

- Anthony Hopkins

Never, Conscious, Make, Decisions

I've been composing music all my life and if I'd been clever enough at school I would like to have gone to music college.

- Anthony Hopkins

College, My Life, Been, Composing

Beware the tyranny of the weak. They just suck you dry.

- Anthony Hopkins

Tyranny, Dry, Beware, Suck

I always had a knack for improvisation. I can write down the notes I play, but never really had a proper academic musical background. I suppose I'm blessed and cursed by the fact I have that freedom.

- Anthony Hopkins

Play, Always, Notes, Improvisation

I was called 'Dumbo,' like the elephant, as a child because I couldn't understand things at school.

- Anthony Hopkins

School, Understand, Like, Elephant

I have no interest in Shakespeare and all that British nonsense... I just wanted to get famous and all the rest is hogwash.

- Anthony Hopkins

Rest, Famous, No Interest, Hogwash

Our existence is beyond our explanation, whether we believe in God or we have religion or we're atheist. Our existence is beyond our understanding. No one has an answer.

- Anthony Hopkins

Believe, Existence, Our, Atheist

We all dream. We dream vividly, depending on our nature. Our existence is beyond our explanation, whether we believe in God or we have religion or we're atheist.

- Anthony Hopkins

Nature, Believe, Existence, Atheist

Years ago I met Richard Burton in Port Talbot, my home town, and afterwards he passed in his car with his wife, and I thought, 'I want to get out and become like him'. Not because of Wales, because I love Wales, but because I was so limited as a child at school and so bereft and lonely, and I thought becoming an actor would do that.

- Anthony Hopkins

Love, Thought, Becoming, Bereft

I don't have a vast longing for the stage.

- Anthony Hopkins

Stage, Vast, Longing

I've got no need to prove to myself that I can do Shakespeare. I've done it.

- Anthony Hopkins

Myself, Need, Prove, Shakespeare

In the theatre, people talk. Talk, talk until the cows come home about journeys of discovery and about what Hazlitt thought of a line of Shakespeare. I can't stand it.

- Anthony Hopkins

Thought, Cows, Journeys, Shakespeare

I don't have many friends; I'm very much a loner. As a child I was very isolated, and I've never been really close to anyone.

- Anthony Hopkins

Been, Very, Isolated, Close

I'm married. My wife, Stella - a beautiful woman. She's brought a lot of peace to my life, a lot of wisdom.

- Anthony Hopkins

Woman, My Life, Brought, Stella

I come from - I came from Wales, and it's a strong, butch society. We were in the war and all that. People didn't waste time feeling sorry for themselves. You had to get on with it. So my credo is get on with it. I don't waste time being soft. I'm not cold, but I don't like being, wasting my time with - life's too short.

- Anthony Hopkins

Strong, Waste Time, Wasting, Soft

I think a certain amount of stress in life is good. The stress of just working, which takes effort - I think it keeps you going.

- Anthony Hopkins

Stress, Think, Which, Keeps

I learn poetry, learn text, and that really keeps you alive.

- Anthony Hopkins

Learn, Alive, Text, Keeps

We have a Boesendorfer piano that I play every day. It keeps my brain and my fingers active.

- Anthony Hopkins

Play, Every Day, Piano, Keeps

I think the healthy way to live is to make friends with the beast inside oneself, and that means not the beast but the shadow. The dark side of one's nature. Have fun with it and you know, is to accept everything about ourselves.

- Anthony Hopkins

Health, Shadow, I Think, Fun

My philosophy is: It's none of my business what people say of me and think of me.

- Anthony Hopkins

Business, Me, Think, Philosophy

My father wasn't a cruel man. And I loved him. But he was a pretty tough character. His own father was even tougher - one of those Victorians, hard as iron - but my dad was tough enough.

- Anthony Hopkins

Cruel, Pretty, Dad, Iron

I know that the arts are important. I'm not denying that, but I can't associate myself with all the claptrap that goes on around it.

- Anthony Hopkins

Myself, Goes, Around, Associate

It's such a pleasant surprise when you come on set and you find someone in charge like Ken Branagh or James Ivory. You know that you're going to do a day's work and at the end of it, it's going to be good.

- Anthony Hopkins

Surprise, Charge, Set, Ivory

I came here in 1974 to do a play, and then I went to L.A. I really like living in America. I feel more at home here than anywhere else.

- Anthony Hopkins

Play, Living, Here, I Came

I'm not a health freak. I just work out every day.

- Anthony Hopkins

Work, Every Day, Freak, Work Out

I can't stand directors who try to micro-manage everything. When it happens these days I just walk off set, saying if they don't like the way I'm doing it they can get someone else.

- Anthony Hopkins

Doing, Directors, Else, Happens

I'm a pretty tough guy, you know. I'm a pretty hard man. I've got a lot of compassion, but I don't waste time with people.

- Anthony Hopkins

Waste Time, Waste, Pretty, Tough Guy

Richard Burton came from the same town as me, so I thought I'd follow my nose, and follow my luck. I think I've been very lucky.

- Anthony Hopkins

Lucky, Nose, Richard, Came

I'm the slowest driver in the world.

- Anthony Hopkins

World, Driver

Actors I admire? Ed Harris, or course, I think he's terrific; because I know he always had to fight being what he looked like a lot, but I think he's a terrific actor.

- Anthony Hopkins

Think, Always, I Think, Terrific

I am able to play monsters well. I understand monsters. I understand madmen.

- Anthony Hopkins

I Am, Play, Madmen, Monsters

I remember coming to New York in 1974 to do a play here called 'Equis.' And I remember the first morning getting up and walking around the streets, and I thought, 'I'm home.' I felt really at peace here.

- Anthony Hopkins

Play, I Remember, Here, York

Well, everyone likes movies when they're a little kid.

- Anthony Hopkins

Movies, Everyone, Little Kid, Likes

Life's too short to deal with other people's insecurities.

- Anthony Hopkins

Deal, Other, Too, Insecurities

Why love if losing hurts so much? I have no answers anymore; only the life I have lived. The pain now is part of the happiness then.

- Anthony Hopkins

Love, Pain, Part, Anymore

I've got a great sense of humor.

- Anthony Hopkins

Humor, Sense Of Humor, Sense, Great Sense

I don't know what acting is, but I enjoy it.

- Anthony Hopkins

Enjoy, Know, Acting

I know that some actors and directors like to have intensity on set. I don't, particularly. Certainly, if they want that, that's fine, but I can't work like that.

- Anthony Hopkins

Some, Set, Certainly, Intensity

I don't like freeloaders; I don't like people who are negative.

- Anthony Hopkins

People, Like, Who, Negative

I'm always cast in these strange men... that's not me, really.

- Anthony Hopkins

Men, Always, Cast, Strange

I think all those actors from that generation, like Bogart - they were wonderful actors. They didn't act. They just came on and they did it, and the characters were wonderful.

- Anthony Hopkins

Generation, Think, I Think, Characters

I hope I would not be so arrogant as to doubt anyone's religion or belief.

- Anthony Hopkins

Doubt, Would, Anyone, Arrogant

I'm fascinated by the fact that we can't grasp anything about time.

- Anthony Hopkins

Fact, Grasp, About, Fascinated

My life turned out to be beyond my greatest dreams.

- Anthony Hopkins

Dreams, My Life, Beyond, Turned

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