414 Quotes by Jack Nicholson

I’ve never been able to say I’ve been influenced by a list of artists I like because I like thousands and thousands and I’ve been influenced in some way by all of them.

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.

Women – a mistake, or did He do it to us on purpose?

You are more thoughtful because you don’t act as quickly anymore. When I turned 70 it was the first time I felt young for my age. Fifty dropped on me like a ton of bricks – there is something about that number – but when 70 came along I felt good about it.

You can’t say, “I’m gonna make a hit movie.” You’re as dead as you could be.

I don’t believe that relationships are fixed things. People are necessarily complex and confused beings. We don’t always do the right thing, say the right, and behave the same way or the way we always want to behave.

As an actor, I want to give in to the collaboration with the director because I don’t want my work to be all the same. The more this can be done with comfort, the more variety my work has had.

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

And this, incidentally, is my thumbnail sketch of American marriage: A woman sees a man; she likes him. Now she jumps on this thing and rides it to some kind of standstill. Then she changes it and trains it, and to the exact degree that she’s able to do this, she disrespects him.