Daniel Day-Lewis Quotes

Powerful Daniel Day-Lewis for Daily Growth

About Daniel Day-Lewis

Daniel Day-Lewis, OBE, born on April 29, 1957, in London, England, is an acclaimed British actor renowned for his transformative acting abilities and method approach to his craft. The son of Cecil Day-Lewis, a Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, and Jill Balcon, a documentary filmmaker, Day-Lewis was raised amidst artistic influences that would later shape his career. Day-Lewis began his acting journey on stage in the 1980s, with notable performances in West End productions like 'Another Country' and 'A Chorus of Disapproval.' His screen debut came in 1985 with the British drama 'The Ballet Shoes.' However, it was his portrayal of Christy Brown in 'My Left Foot' (1989) that first brought him international acclaim. Known for immersing himself completely in his roles, Day-Lewis often disappears into character, living as the role demands during filming. This method acting has resulted in iconic performances such as the titular characters in 'Gangs of New York' (2002) and 'The Last of the Mohicans' (1992). Day-Lewis won three Academy Awards for Best Actor, making history as the only actor to win three times while playing three different nationalities (Irish in 'My Left Foot', English in 'There Will Be Blood,' and American in 'Lincoln'). His last film role was in 'Phantom Thread' (2017), a performance that further solidified his status as one of the greatest actors of all time. Retiring from acting in 2018, Day-Lewis leaves behind an indelible legacy marked by complex characters and unparalleled dedication to his art. His influence continues to inspire a new generation of actors and filmmakers around the world.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"I can't imagine anything more exciting than going into a new world and creating it."

This quote by Daniel Day-Lewis expresses his profound enthusiasm for immersing himself in new experiences, especially when it comes to creative pursuits. He finds the prospect of entering uncharted territories, where he can create an entirely new world, incredibly exhilarating. This suggests a deep passion and curiosity that drives him to explore and transform ideas into reality. It also indicates his ability to find joy and inspiration in the process of creation itself, rather than just the end result.

"If you don't risk anything, you risk even more."

This quote by Daniel Day-Lewis underscores the idea that inaction or avoiding risk can lead to greater loss. It encourages people to take calculated risks, as the alternative - not taking any action - could potentially result in even bigger setbacks. The implication is that growth and progress often require stepping out of one's comfort zone and facing uncertainty, for it is through such experiences that we learn, evolve, and ultimately achieve greater rewards.

"Acting requires you to be for the moment. Presence is a very active state. It takes attention, discipline and concentration."

This quote by Daniel Day-Lewis emphasizes that acting is not just about portraying a character, but being the character in the moment. He highlights that presence, which is often perceived as passive, is actually an active state. It requires attention, discipline, and concentration to maintain immersion in a role. This mindset ensures authenticity and believability in the performance.

"I try not to act at all, I only behave as I would in real life, which is, after all, the basis of everything we do."

This quote by Daniel Day-Lewis signifies his commitment to method acting, a style where actors immerse themselves fully into their roles, aiming for authenticity. He believes that acting should be an extension of one's real-life behavior rather than a conscious performance. In other words, he strives to embody the character as genuinely as he would in everyday life, lending his performances a profound sense of reality and emotional depth.

"There's always room for hope. No matter how things have gone in the past, there's always a new day."

The quote by Daniel Day-Lewis emphasizes the enduring nature of hope, even amidst challenging circumstances or less-than-ideal past experiences. It suggests that each new day offers a fresh start and an opportunity to rekindle hope, implying resilience, optimism, and the human capacity for redemption and renewal. This quote encourages us not to be discouraged by our past, but to find courage in each new moment and to maintain faith in the possibilities that lie ahead.

I live in a landscape, which every single day of my life is enriching.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Life, My Life, Which, Enriching

For about a year, I just didn't know what to do. I did laboring jobs, working in the docks, construction sites.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Year, Jobs, About, About A Year

For as long as I can remember, the thing that gave me a sense of wonderment and renewal... has always been the work of other actors.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Always, Other, Been, Renewal

Ireland was a place for the renewal of hope and I still see it like that.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

See, Like, Still, Renewal

England is obsessed with where you came from, and they are determined to keep you in that place, be it in a drawing room or in the gutter.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

England, Room, Obsessed, Gutter

There must've been some part of me that wanted to make my mark. But there was never a defining moment.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Some, Been, Part, Defining

The West has always been the epicentre of possibility. One of the ways we forge against mortality is to head west. It's to do with catching the sun before it slips behind the horizon.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Behind, Always, Catching, Slips

I didn't like the idea of being foolish, but I learned pretty soon that it was essential to fail and be foolish.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Pretty, Fail, Like, Foolish

Perhaps I'm particularly serious, because I'm not unaware of the potential absurdity of what I'm doing.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Doing, Perhaps, Particularly, Unaware

I have always been intrigued by these lives I have never experienced.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Never, Always, Been, Intrigued

I made the film in spite of Harvey, not because of Harvey.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Film, Made, Spite, Harvey

At a certain age it just became apparent to me that this was probably the work that I would have to do.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Became, Certain Age, Would, Apparent

Films exhaust me, they do, and I often want nothing more to do with them, but I'm continually surprised at the resurgence of the impulse to come back and do it all over again.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Over, Resurgence, Films, Impulse

If you remain unsettled by a piece of writing, it means you are not watching the story from the outside; you've already taken a step towards it.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Means, Remain, Towards, Unsettled

To people who don't know me I'm defined by a number of things that people know about me that are entirely untrue.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

People, About, Untrue, Defined

I have a strange relationship with time. I'm not aware of it passing.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Time, Relationship, Aware, Passing

I think I have a strange relationship with time. I'm not really aware of that time passing. I don't feel that I'm wasteful with time. But I'm not aware of it passing.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Think, Feel, I Think, Passing

I find it difficult to be in rooms now for long periods of time. I can usually take it for about an hour. Then I stride out.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

About, Rooms, Long Periods, Stride

In all fields of creativity you see the result of work that has become habit. Where the creative impulse has become flaccid or has died out altogether, and yet because it is our work and our life we continue to do it.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Work, Died, Our, Impulse

I come from not just a household but a country where the finesse of language, well-balanced sentence, structure, syntax, these things are driven into us, and my parents, bless them, are great custodians of the English language.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Language, Country, Things, Custodian

It didn't occur to me that it was possible to breathe life into Abraham Lincoln.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Me, Lincoln, Occur, None

If you have a certain wildness of spirit, a cabinet maker's workshop is not the place to express it.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Spirit, Workshop, Maker, Cabinet

You can never fully put your finger on the reason why you're suddenly, inexplicably compelled to explore one life as opposed to another.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Reason, Finger, Opposed, Fully

I think some actors thrive on working at a much greater pace than I do.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Think, Some, I Think, Thrive

I was a savage for so many years of my life. There was some seed of determination in me that I was not conscious of. I was mostly consciously getting into trouble and drunk.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

My Life, Some, Mostly, Savage

I see a lot of movies. I love films as a spectator, and that's never obscured by the part of me that does the work myself. I just love going to the movies.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Love, Going, Films, Spectator

I suppose I have a highly developed capacity for self-delusion, so it's no problem for me to believe that I'm somebody else!

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Believe, Suppose, Developed, Highly

I suppose it's a very highly developed form of denial, but some part of me completely denies that I'm a performer.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Denial, Some, Very, Highly

The one thing that I appear to have been given, bearing in mind that I am capable of being very, very scatty and extremely lazy, is the ability to concentrate on something I choose to give my time to.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Lazy, Been, Very, Concentrate

I never retreat from films, as it were, I simply indulge in other interests, that's all.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Never, Retreat, Films, Indulge

I had a very vivid, almost hallucinatory moment in which I was engaged in a dialogue with my father.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Engaged, Very, Which, Vivid

I can't honestly account for the very personal response that I have to one story and not another, a sense of an orbit, the orbit of a world that draws me as my own life recedes.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

My Own, Very, Honestly, Draws

If people take an interest in you and they think there's half a chance, they might hang on. It's dreadful.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Think, Hang, Half, Dreadful

My main memories of my father are of his illness.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Father, Memories, His, Illness

My preference is that, that day when someone sticks a tripod in front of you with a camera on the top, it is not day one.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Preference, Day One, Sticks, Camera

It's a source of great sadness to me that my father died without having seen me do anything worthwhile. He was constantly having to make excuses for me.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Father, Sad, Having, Excuses

Quite honestly, if I were doing work related to a living being or historical being where there was visual or audio recordings available, I would find that extremely difficult because I don't know how you would avoid the process of mimicry. And mimicry, to me at any rate, is a very dull prospect.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Doing, Very, Available, Audio

I just knew at an early time in my life how important privacy was.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

My Life, Important, How, Early

Where I come from, it was a heresy to say you wanted to be in movies, leave alone American movies.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Say, Come, Heresy, American Movies

It is awesome to feel you are carrying on the family name.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Name, Awesome, Feel, Carrying

One of the great privileges of having grown up in a middle-class literary English household, but having gone to school in the front lines in Southeast London, was that I became half-street-urchin and half-good-boy at home. I knew that dichotomy was possible.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

London, Privileges, Became, Front Lines

There are always practical decisions to be made about any character you're playing.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Character, Always, Practical, Decisions

When I was younger, I made some decisions that I shouldn't have. And, in hindsight, I've almost always been wrong when I haven't listened to myself.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Some, Always, Been, Decisions

My curiosity sustains me for the period of the shoot.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Curiosity, Me, Period, Shoot

Germans don't speak in a German accent, they just speak German.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Speak, Germans, German, Accent

I like to cook things very slowly.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Cook, Like, Very, Slowly

I like things that make you grit your teeth. I like tucking my chin in and sort of leading into the storm. I like that feeling. I like it a lot.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Storm, Grit, Like, Chin

How people are around a director, it really does affect everything, every detail of the life of the movie.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Director, Movie, Affect, Detail

As a member of the audience I don't like it that I can't see what's going on in the eyes and in the face and in the most subtle responses of a performer when I'm more than a few rows back. I find it very frustrating.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Eyes, Back, Very, Frustrating

There's nothing worse than finding yourself in a situation, a very demanding piece of work, and knowing that you're not a true ally to the person who's in charge of all that.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Work, Charge, Very, Situation

Shoes are strange things. If you take your shoes off in a situation in which you're vulnerable, you'll feel 10 times more vulnerable.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

More, Feel, Which, Situation

I feel less often compelled to do the work than I was in the past.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Work, Past, In The Past, Compelled

When I do work, I feel the same sort of urgency as I ever did. If I didn't feel that, I don't think I would wish to be doing it. I wouldn't really see the point.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Work, Doing, Think, Urgency

I find it easier to work when it's quiet.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Work, Quiet, Find, Easier

How can you be a recluse in a house full of children, even if you had the inclination to be, which I don't?

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Had, Inclination, Which, Recluse

When I've gone back to work, it's always with that sense of inevitability. That may be a complete delusion, but it's the one that I need to get out of bed and go about my business. That sense that I can't avoid this thing. I better just get on with it.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Delusion, Bed, About, Complete

I suppose the place where I live is fairly remote, it would seem remote to some people.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Some, Would, Fairly, Some People

The whole thing of weight, I guess it's because there is a wider fascination we all have with weight.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Weight, Wider, Guess, Fascination

Being at the centre of a film is a burden one takes on with innocence the first time. Thereafter, you take it on with trepidation.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Innocence, Centre, Thereafter

Many years ago, I really didn't know where the next work was coming from.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Work, Next, Many, Years Ago

I don't torture myself.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Myself, Torture

I'm not keen on history being tampered with... to any extent.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

History, Extent, Keen, Tampered

I still relate to my father very much. I mean, I talk to him in a certain way, as we do talk to the dead.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Certain Way, Very, Still, Certain

Periodically over the years I've always taken periods of time away from acting.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Always, Over, Away, Periods

I avoid talking about the way I work. But in avoiding it I seem only to have encouraged people to focus their fantasies about me in an ever more fantastical way.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Work, More, Fantasies, Avoid

A lot of guys in jail tattoo their hands.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Hands, Guys, Lot, Tattoo

I'm not really a storyteller myself - I tend to get all tangled up when I try and tell stories.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Myself, Tell, Stories, Tangled

I can't re-examine work I did in the past with pride.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Work, Past, In The Past, Re-Examine

As actors, we're all encouraged to feel that each job is the last job. They plant some little electrode in your head at an early stage and you think, 'Be grateful, be grateful, be grateful.'

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Grateful, Think, Some, Plant

I'm a little bit perverse, and I just hate doing the thing that's the most obvious.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Doing, Little Bit, Bit, Obvious

I'd always felt very strongly in the power of vocation.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Always, Very, Strongly, Vocation

I'm very often still very much alive for that other being and that other world long after the film is finished.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Other, Very, Still, Finished

Making a film, setting it up and getting it cast and getting it together, is not an easy thing.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Making, Getting, Cast, Easy Thing

The last time I was on a small set would've been probably My Left Foot.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Small, Been, Set, Foot

I became conflicted in my late teens.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Late, Became, Teens, Late Teens

It must be hard interviewing actors.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Hard, Must, Interviewing

Well, we all have murderous thoughts throughout the day, if not the week.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Thoughts, Week, Well, Throughout

Actors should never give interviews.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Never, Give, Should, Interviews

Very often there's this misapprehension about actors being people that need to display themselves, to reveal themselves in public.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Need, Reveal, Very, Display

I'm not picky, quite honestly.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Picky, Honestly, Quite

We all live under some repression; we have to, it's part of the deal.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Some, Deal, Part, Repression

I don't deal at all well with the relative amount of stuff I have to face already.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Face, Deal, Amount, Relative

At some point in your life, if you're lucky, you get to design the way in which things evolve.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Chance, Lucky, Which, Evolve

I would wish for any one of my colleagues to have the experience of working with Martin Scorsese once in their lifetime.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Lifetime, Scorsese, Any, Martin

I don't know what impression you might have of the way I live. I live in a quiet place. I do not live as a hermit, though other people would prefer it if I did.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Other, Though, Prefer, Impression

I broke things to get attention.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Attention, Get, Things, Broke

I'm a warrior when it comes to pursuing roles.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Warrior, Pursuing, Roles

A voice is such a deep, personal reflection of character.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Character, Deep, Voice, Reflection

I hate the domestic life.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Life, Hate, Domestic Life, Domestic

I don't feel my son should pay the price for what I do.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Son, Feel, Should, Price

I'm not sure you learn anything on film sets.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Learn, Film, Sure, Sets

I hate wasting people's time.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Time, Hate, People, Wasting

When I did make the decision to focus on acting, I think my mother was just relieved for me that I had finally started to focus.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Decision, Think, I Think, Focus

Everybody has to know for themselves what they're capable of.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Know, Themselves, Everybody, Capable

I've been very lucky.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Been, Very, Lucky

I depleted myself to the point where I had nothing left.

- Daniel Day-Lewis

Myself, Nothing, Left, Depleted

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