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For me, acting is torturous, and it's torturous because you know it's a beautiful thing. I was young once, and I said, that's beautiful and I want that. Wanting it is easy, but trying to be great - well, that's absolutely torturous.

Philip Seymour Hoffman

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Philip Seymour Hoffman
Age: 46 †
Born: 1967
Born: July 23
Died: 2014
Died: February 2
Actor
Character Actor
Film Actor
Film Director
Film Producer
Stage Actor
Television Actor
Theatrical Director
Voice Actor
Fairport
New York
Philip Hoffman
Phil Hoffman
Thing
Absolutely
Trying
Acting
Easy
Beautiful
Young
Wells
Well
Torturous
Great
Wanting

More quotes by Philip Seymour Hoffman

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Creating anything is hard.
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When you have a child, as anyone knows who has them, that's basically all you want to talk about.
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The foibles of my body are pretty much out there in the work I do.
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Sometimes I take a temperature of things just because everyone else does. Especially when I'm doing a play. I want to know what people are thinking, positive or negative.
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I think you gotta have an honesty and a humility about human nature and that it's not about you at the end of the day.
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If I was a little bit younger I would worry more. I'd want to do one thing at a time but now I try to do a bunch of different things at a time if I can.
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Why you do something is always kind of a mystery to me.
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I was probably finding my feet more than anybody. I really have to say I was more obsessed with myself faltering than anybody else.
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The weight comes off, you know? If you stop with the bread and the pie, it really does. It really works.
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I think I would have drank myself to death, literally, if I didn't just stop, once and for all when I did. I am not ever going to preach to anyone about drugs or drinking. But, for me, when they were around, I had no self control.
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I know some really great actors who are pretty judgmental people, pretty critical people. But they're great actors. When they're acting, that's the craft.
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In order for something to be born, something has to die.That's not always, but there is something about that that I find to be true. That is, it's a natural thing.
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You have all the influence you choose to have.
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The strange thing is I never thought I'd do films.
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I've worked with a lot of characters that are unhinged. I've played characters that are unhinged. That's, like, my job.
Philip Seymour Hoffman
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I try to live my life in such a way that I don't have any regrets. That's probably why I work so much. I don't want to feel I missed something important.
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Creating something is all about problem-solving.
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To act well isn't an easy thing.
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I always knew where I needed to go but I sometimes had a problem getting there, so I had to work harder at it. Once in a while I'd wanna take off the blouse and heels because I'd get that I just wanna be a guy feeling I had when growing up.
Philip Seymour Hoffman
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I didn't have any idea that I would be able to have a career in film.
Philip Seymour Hoffman