Michael Caine Quotes

Great acting is about listening to what they are saying ....not waiting to deliver your lines.

I come from the slums; I come from a hard background; I come from a poor family; and I was a soldier.

The best research for playing a drunk is being a British actor for 20 years.

My father was a fish market porter. So I grew up on fish, because he used to steal one a day, I grew up on the very best fish that money could buy, 'cause he only stole the good stuff.

I never bring a role home with me. The moment they say, 'It's a wrap,' it's gone completely. I'm a totally ruthless professional, and life is my family, not my work.

The first thing I'll do if I want to look really crappy is, I don't wear any makeup at all.

I am a great admirer of other actors, but I never compete with other actors. I always compete with what I did last, and I'm my own most vicious critic. So I'm always trying to do it better.

I've never been out with a married woman, never. I respect others' properties.

I'm not in the Lifetime Achievement area yet-I'm still battling it out in the trenches.

English is clipped in speech. Texas is exactly the opposite.

Funny things happen to you in movies for silly reasons.

Obsession is a young man’s game.

Not only is acting more than a part-time job, it's more than a full-time job. It's a full-time obsession.

I'll always be there because I'm a skilled professional actor. Whether or not I've any talent is beside the point.

The three actors I admire the most are all dead. Humphrey Bogart, Spencer Tracy and the French actor, Jean Gabin. They're all very natural, sort of masculine without being overly macho.

I'm always slightly envious of people who become extremely rich without anyone knowing who the hell they are, like financiers.

When I was 6 my father went to fight in the war, so he was my big hero. I thought he was the greatest thing.

I admired Marlon Brando as I grew up. I though he was one of the finest screen actors around.

If you're an actor and you don't act for a long time you sort of think, I wonder if I can still do it.

Alfie was the first time I was above the title; the first time I became a star in America.

I'm the audience's representative on earth.

About Superman and Batman: the former is how America views itself, the latter, darker character is how the rest of the world views America.

I read books like mad, but I am careful to to let anything I read influence me.

I prefer to remake flops. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was a remake of a flop, and The Quiet American is a remake of a flop.

My understanding of women goes only as far as the pleasures.

A lot of people said, Who do you think you are? I told them I know exactly who I am and I'll tell you exactly where I'm going.

I love the start of autumn when the trees in my garden change the colour of their leaves in one last dazzling display.

Comedy is underrepresented in every actor's life, because it's so bloody difficult to write.

You start pretending to have fun, you might have a little by accident.

There is no point in competing with young talent...I just concentrate on getting better each day.

Hey, I always say: if you want a quiet life, become a monk.

My view is that you should always remake failures because then you've got nowhere to go but up.

To be a movie star, you have to invent yourself.

I have been rich and I have been poor. I know which one I prefer.

Do I believe in God? Yes I do. When you've had a life like mine, you have to.

Just because I have made a point of never losing my accent it doesn't mean I'm an eel-and-pie yob.

My most useful acting tip came from my pal John Wayne. Talk low, talk slow, and don't say too much.

For Cider House Rules, I was doing a New England accent.

If you're blond, as I am, and you have blond lashes, you have to wear mascara, otherwise you're invisible on stage.

Hollywood is a cross between a health farm, a recreation center and an insane asylum. It's a company town, and I happen to like the company!

When it comes to politics, I believe you have to cut the cake so that everybody gets a piece, but at the same time, you have to keep in mind that somebody has to make the cake.

I did everything. I ran my life exactly as I wanted to, all the time. I never listened to anybody. I'm pig-headed.

I wear a baseball cap all the time, which I would never normally wear, and I walk very fast.

I feel that I helped the working class by just saying there are no barriers, which I consider to be true.

I've had such a great time, I'd like to come back as me - and do it all over again.

I've made the transition from star to character actor and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

If someone is very upper-class, you have a stereotype of him which is probably true. If someone has a working-class accent, you have no idea who you're talking to.

I don't work very much, and I just sit here waiting for a script that I can't refuse - and I'm not talking about money.

To me, growing old is great. It's the very best thing - considering the alternative.

I don't see myself as anything. I just wander around getting on with my life.