Having the critics praise you is like having the hangman say you've got a pretty neck.

Well, I go to the theater today, and its curtain - there is no curtain in this play; the lights go down and go up - and we start. And I live this character for two hours. There are only two of us in the play. And It's a complete experience.

And then the first was The Misfits, which I enjoyed very much, with Marilyn and Gable.

I met my wife and, for the next ten years, we did no films at all. She did the first movie and then I did several after. My first movie was written by Tennessee Williams and directed by Kazan and was called Baby Doll.

Well, I've maybe gotten 200 requests for interviews about Marilyn, and I just decided I'm gonna do my own.

Well, I was getting a lot of money then, and I wasn't getting any Hollywood films, so I just did those. I'd always do a play in between. Whenever I ran low on funds, I'd always rush off to do a movie somewhere.

And that movie was underrated - Nuts - because it deals with a terrible subject, but It's very well done.

What is it in my makeup that makes me grab any offer and fly around the world? Will I ever be satisfied? Can't I ever just rest?

My first Western was called The Magnificent Seven.

Yes, I won the Bafta. I thought the British were very intelligent.

This country has a complex about age. It's unbelievable. If you're over thirty, you've had it in this country.

I'd come out of the army after five years as a medic. I was a medical administrator and we ran hospitals, and I was a Captain in the army at the end, in 1945.

I was an original member of the Actors' Studio.

I always wanted to tell stories and act.

Having the critics praise you is like having the hangman say you've got a pretty neck.

Everyone thinks acting is easy. It's far from easy, but it's the most gratifying thing I do.

John Huston was a superb master. He knew how to make good films. I did three things with him. One is called Independence. It plays in Philadelphia, for free. It's been playing there for 25 years.

The trouble with that movie is that you had to see Chinatown the day before you saw The Two Jakes.

But Clint I love, because Clint was my mentor. I knew nothing about making an Italian movie.

My wife says that stage acting is like being on a tightrope with no net, and being in the movies, there is a net - because you stop and go over it again. It's very technical and mechanical. On stage you're on your own.

I've learned that life is very tricky business: Each person needs to find what they want to do in life and not be dissuaded when people question them.

One thing changes every evening: It's the audience, and I'm working my magic. I'm always learning from it.

I've never lost my appetite for acting; it's innovative and challenging.

So I wanted to show what I did with the money. So I got red silk shirts, beautiful hats, wonderful saddles, a great horse, and two gold teeth. So that was the way I did it.

When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk.

The big secret in acting is listening to people.

But I went to the University of Texas in the 30s, and while there I learned to ride. Mostly polo ponies.

I love to tell stories and this is my way of getting them down on paper.

I've worked with wonderful actors like Marlon Brando and Henry Fonda.

All of these stories bounced around in my mind for a long time.

I never dreamed I would do Westerns.

When I saw the movie, I said, I wish I had heard the music. I would have ridden the horse differently.

I never lost my appetite for acting.

Even if I don't want to slow down, I'm slowing down.

I always end up being the evil one, and I wouldn't hurt a fly.

And I did Batman, too. I did Mr. Freeze. I get more mail for him than anything I've ever done.

Praise, like gold and diamonds, owes its value only to its scarcity.

Poets lose half the praise they should have got, Could it be known what they discreetly blot.

Books that have become classics - books that have had their day and now get more praise than perusal - always remind me of retired colonels and majors and captains who, having reached the age limit, find themselves retired on half pay.

Happiness is within. It has nothing to do with how much applause you get or how many people praise you. Happiness comes when you believe that you have done something truly meaningful.

I love criticism just so long as it's unqualified praise.

To praise it would amount to praising myself. For the entire content of the work... coincides almost exactly with my own meditations which have occupied my mind for the past thirty or thirty-five years.

The sacrifices made by veterans and their willingness to fight in defense of our nation merit our deep respect and praise - and to the best in benefits and medical care.

There is no belittling worse than to over praise a man.

It was not the part of His kindly love that he who was to praise God's divine generosity in regard to others should be compelled to condemn it in regard to himself.

Few people have the wisdom to prefer the criticism that would do them good, to the praise that deceives them.

There is no friend like an old friend who has shared our morning days, no greeting like his welcome, no homage like his praise.

I praise the Lord here today. I know that all my talent and all my ability comes from him, and without him I'm nothing and I thank him for his great blessing.

I find war detestable but those who praise it without participating in it even more so.