John Malkovich Quotes

Failure's a natural part of life.

I probably have more female friends than any man I've ever met. What I like about them is that almost always they're generally mentally tougher, and they're better listeners, and they're more capable of surviving things. And most of the women that I like have a haunted quality - they're sort of like women who live in a haunted house all by themselves.

I've permitted myself to learn and to fail with some regularity. And that is probably the one thing I was given, and that I'm still grateful for.

And may the best of you - for it will only be the best of you, and even then only in the rarest and briefest moments - succeed in framing that most basic of questions, 'how do we live?'

Nothing you do particularly matters. But I'm not sure that's a great excuse for doing it poorly.

I don't have a saviour or a royal family.

Imagine how asleep or utterly unperceptive and clueless you would have to be not to see yourself as absurd for the most part.

It's not a gift of mine, but one given to me, to be able to criticise myself and not be crushed, by myself or by others.

Art is not disposable. If you want it, you have to hold it and smell it and touch it and read the credits and enjoy it and put it on your wall.

I'd hate to see any film I'm involved in fail, especially artistically but also business-wise.

I think 1973 was the nadir of fashion. When you watch the coverage from that era, you're struck by the astonishing ugliness of the clothes.

I'm more boring and more conservative.

I don't understand how somebody wouldn't have a sense of humor about themselves.

Along with the good qualities, if someone isn't vulnerable I can't be around them to a certain extent. And I don't mean vulnerable to me or vulnerable to me in a sexual way. I just mean vulnerable, period.

Scary monsters are like Hula Hoops. They come in and out of fashion.

I'm a little bit of a fabric lunatic.

I'm not a control maniac.

I was never a fanatical movie person.

You can't work in the movies. Movies are all about lighting. Very few filmmakers will concentrate on the story. You get very little rehearsal time, so anything you do onscreen is a kind of speed painting.

It's not a field, I think, for people who need to have success every day: if you can't live with a nightly sort of disaster, you should get out. I wouldn't describe myself as lacking in confidence, but I would just say that the ghosts you chase you never catch.

It's funny - people think analysis or psychiatry is mad, and THEY go to CHURCH.

A dog that has rabies probably will do things it wouldn't do if it didn't have rabies. But that doesn't change the fact that it has rabies.

I don't really have a comprehension of being a public figure.

With acting it's your neck up there in the end. And if you think the director can't help you it's one thing. But if you feel they're reining you in when they need to be giving you some rope, or vice versa, then I just don't tolerate that.

I haven't physically attacked anyone in a couple of years.

The one natural gift I have is easy access. That's the only natural I gift I have at all. You have to have that, the third eye.

People always say life is short. I've never been convinced of that - mine seems to have a tendency to go on and on.

I don't wake up drenched in sweat because I haven't been on stage in years.

I am inspired by the appearance of a bohemian of the new millennium.

You have to play your characters, not like them.

I mean, anything that money can be made off will never be a problem to make, no matter what it is.

Some directors expect you to do everything; write, be producer, psychiatrist. Some just want you to die in a tragic accident during the shooting so they can get the insurance.

Theater is so ephemeral, and I love that.

Every country has their problems.

I wouldn't describe myself as lacking in confidence, but I would just say that - the ghosts you chase you never catch.

The ghosts you chase you never catch.

I can have incredible self-discipline. But see, I think it's obviously a form of stupidity.

I don't want to be boring. But that's not always easy.

The world is ruled by violence, or at least the imminent threat of violence. It always has been.

Unlike my grandfather or my brother, I've actually been able to make some money at a racetrack.

I don't lose my temper very often now, and if I do, it's well deserved.

Where women are concerned, the rule is never to go out with anyone better dressed than you.

Even if you do succeed most people wouldn't notice anyway.

I don't mind tracksuits. At the track.

I only have two rules for my newly born daughter: she will dress well and never have sex.

I was a very good baseball and football player, but my father always told me I was much more interested in how I looked playing baseball or football than in actually playing. There's great truth in that.

Chicago my favourite American city. I'm very much a typical midwesterner, and I don't think the condition is curable.

I'm not a psychiatrist. I'm not treating patients.

My father was an exceptionally strong influence on me.

All you have is the writer's imagination. You have a very limited time to take this imaginary person and bring the details of their life, as you perceive them, to life. You attempt to do to that as fully and as vibrantly as you can. It's depressing to read how much you've failed. And it's not even particularly instructive or necessary to read how you succeeded because in the end don't you have to judge that?