Quote

I wanted to find my limitations so I decided to do Shylock. And if I fail? I've never been afraid of that. I have other fears - doing bad work knowingly is the worst fear.

Dustin Hoffman

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Dustin Hoffman
Age: 87
Born: 1937
Born: August 8
Actor
Character Actor
Film Actor
Film Director
Film Producer
Stage Actor
Television Actor
Theatrical Producer
Voice Actor
LA
California
Dustin Lee Hoffman
Work
Decided
Never
Failing
Afraid
Shylock
Worst
Knowingly
Acting
Limitations
Fear
Limitation
Find
Fears
Wanted
Fail

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A good review from the critics is just another stay of execution.
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Someone once said to me, 'Some of us choose to live with a lifeboat just a little bit out of our reach.' I'd like to reach a point where I no longer bullshit myself. I think that's the natural human condition - to lie to yourself. Because the truth is painful.
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The better you are as a parent, the richer the nest you've built, the more difficult it is for your kids to leave. So they have to invent things to dislike about you. And they're brilliant at it.
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I feel cheated never being able to know what it's like to get pregnant, carry a child and breast-feed.
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37 seconds, well used, is a lifetime.
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Well, 45-odd years of doing it, so we all pile up the things we like about directors and the things we don't like about directors. And sometimes they're very similar.
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I believe - though I may be wrong, because I'm no expert - that this war is about what most wars are about: hegemony, money, power and oil.
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Life stinks, but that doesn't mean you don't enjoy it.
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There is something unnatural about marriage. These two people are not going to be the same people in a few years. The trick is to live your own life while sharing the same space.
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Acting didn't solve much! If it did, I would have ended up much less crazy than I am today, but I'm not. At least for me, acting is a relief - a relief to be able to admit certain things about myself and disguise in my work, in my characters.
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Look at the studio filled with glamorous merchandise. Fabulous and exciting bonus prizes. Thousands of dollars in cash. Over $150,000 just waiting to be won as we present our big bonanza of cash on Wheel Of Fortune.
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I hope to God I don't win an Oscar tomorrow night. It would really depress me if I did. I really don't deserve it. It wasn't that important a part anyhow.
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I did some writing and bought a book, and have been working on that as a film to act and direct in.
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If you can get out there and say I'm going to...I'm willing to fail at what I feel is right, that's it.
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I like to mimic my grandkids. I'm trying to understand the intensity of fixation on a leaf. Kids don't need anything else in their life.
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Somehow I think it was declared very early on that I was the - if not the black sheep of the family, not a very good student.
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One thing about being successful is that I stopped being afraid of dying. Once you're a star you're dead already. You're embalmed.
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So, they had this 40-odd year friendship with each other and with Mr Harwood. So, when I came on it Albert, Tom and Maggie were in the cast. But then Albert wasn't up for it, so he had to withdraw.
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So when I told my parents I wanted to go into acting because I was flunking out of my first year of junior college, they were relieved that I had picked something other than joining the army. But I can't imagine how they had high hopes for me.
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