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Jack Nicholson Quotes

Powerful Jack Nicholson for Daily Growth

I never had a policy about marriage. I got married very young in life and I always think in all relationships, I've always thought that it's counterproductive to have a theory on that.

- Jack Nicholson

Think, Always, Very, Counterproductive

I'm a New Wave baby, so I got very stimulated by foreign film.

- Jack Nicholson

Baby, New, Very, Stimulated

In this industry, there are only two ways up the ladder. Rung by rung or claw your way to the top. It's sure been tough on my nails.

- Jack Nicholson

Nails, Been, Sure, Rung

With my sunglasses on, I'm Jack Nicholson. Without them, I'm fat and 60.

- Jack Nicholson

Sunglasses, Fat, Them, Nicholson

In other words, I wouldn't like to be an actor if I could only be real. I like to get wild, behaviorally wild, and it's crazy to think of any form where it's just one way.

- Jack Nicholson

Other, Just One, One Way, In Other Words

There were points in my life where I felt oddly irresistible to women. I'm not in that state now and that makes me sad.

- Jack Nicholson

My Life, Makes, Felt, Oddly

The average celebrity meets, in one year, ten times the amount of people that the average person meets in his entire life.

- Jack Nicholson

Celebrity, Average, Amount, Ten Times

Played tennis for years. But you can't improve at tennis after you're 50. You get to be in your 40s, and suddenly you're a doubles player.

- Jack Nicholson

Played, Your, Suddenly, Doubles

Because you know, down deep in my heart, when all is said and done, I still live under the illusion that basically people think of me as an up-and-coming young actor.

- Jack Nicholson

Deep, Think, Still, Young Actor

I'm a good friend.

- Jack Nicholson

Good, Friend, Good Friend

I would never complain about my life, even though I really would like to have a mate.

- Jack Nicholson

My Life, Like, Though, Never Complain

If you get an impulse in a scene, no matter how wrong it seems, follow the impulse. It might be something and if it ain't - take two!

- Jack Nicholson

Follow, Matter, Might, Impulse

I think that's what distinguishes Schmidt, really. In the movies now, so much of what is appealing to an audience is the dramatic or has to do with science fiction, and Schmidt is simply human. There's no melodrama; there's no device, It's just about a human being.

- Jack Nicholson

Fiction, I Think, About, Science Fiction

If I go into a restaurant there's a very good chance that I'm going to spend my time being the mayor. If I want to have a good time, I'm happier having dinner here.

- Jack Nicholson

Chance, Here, Very, Good Chance

I just like art. I get pure pleasure from it. I have a lot of wonderful paintings, and every time I look at them I see something different.

- Jack Nicholson

Art, Pleasure, Like, Every Time

Financially, I've lost money and made money, but I know my way around financially.

- Jack Nicholson

Money, Lost, Made, Financially

I'm an actor who they said was wrinkled and balding and everything else when I was in my early 30's. Most of the people who wrote that who thought they were younger than me are now bald and wrinkled.

- Jack Nicholson

Thought, Than, Else, Everything Else

My whole career strategy has been to build a base so that I could take the roles I want to play. I'd hate to think that a shorter part might not be available because I was worried about my billing.

- Jack Nicholson

Play, Career, Been, Base

Once you've been really bad in a movie, there's a certain kind of fearlessness you develop.

- Jack Nicholson

Bad, Movie, Been, Fearlessness

I don't have any fear of intimacy, but rather thrive on it, which is rare in a public person.

- Jack Nicholson

Intimacy, Public, Which, Thrive

I worry from the moment I take a job. I worry about how I'm going to do it, if I can do it... Then I walk on set and the director says, 'Roll', and all of a sudden, all of it disappears and it's all happening, and I relax, and I'm doing what I do, and I'm not even thinking about it.

- Jack Nicholson

Doing, Roll, About, Disappears

I sort of understood that when I first started: that you shouldn't repeat a success. Very often you're going to, and maybe the first time you do, it works. And you love it. But then you're trapped.

- Jack Nicholson

Love, Very, Works, Understood

Well, I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I haven't been a rogue most of my life.

- Jack Nicholson

My Life, Here, Rogue, Sit

I've been too many places. I'm like the bad penny.

- Jack Nicholson

Places, Bad, Been, Penny

When I come up against a director who has a concept that I don't agree with, or maybe I just haven't thought of it or whatever, I'd be more prone to go with them than my own because I want to be out of control as an actor, I want them to have the control, otherwise it's going to become predictably my work, and that's not fun.

- Jack Nicholson

Thought, Against, Maybe, Prone

When I am cast in a movie where I feel that the woman's part is more interesting, I usually start thinking about Spencer Tracy and Fred Astaire. They seem to be the most clear actors when working with women.

- Jack Nicholson

Woman, Movie, Spencer Tracy, Astaire

The camera photographs what's there.

- Jack Nicholson

Photographs, Camera

There's a period just before you start a movie when you start thinking, I don't know what in the world I'm going to do. It's free-floating anxiety. In my case, though, this is over by lunch the first day of shooting.

- Jack Nicholson

Lunch, Movie, Before, Case

The minute that you're not learning I believe you're dead.

- Jack Nicholson

Learning, Believe, Dead, I Believe

I'm content with the fact that I made a decent effort. That's what I've always worried about: that I wouldn't try hard enough.

- Jack Nicholson

Fact, Always, Made, Worried

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