Paul Giamatti Quotes

You are absolutely free to describe me as a turtle or something.

Academia is a rarified culture, especially an Ivy League academic background.

I was the youngest child and got a lot more freedom than my brother and sister. I used to wander, doing my own thing under the radar, but I didn't get in bad, bad trouble.

I think that deep down all I have been looking for is to be accepted and liked by as many people as possible.

I like playing weird, kind of shady people.

I learned how to fire a sniper rifle, which I'm sure will be useful at some point.

I get tired of myself pretty fast. So I can't imagine other people don't get tired of me.

I wouldn't say that I'm aggressive in going out to find work and stuff like that. I just sort of, if something comes along, and it's something I like, and they want to hire me, I'll do it. I won't just do anything.

I think I have a tendency to overwork things. I have a hard time finding that sweet spot that most actors seem to be able to hit where they're doing the exact right amount of work, not overthinking, not underdoing it. I seem to either overdo it or underdo it.

Well, you know, when people say stuff about you, it's always really flattering. But does it mean anything to me? It's not really real to me; there's no reality to it.

I suppose there must be some way in which I'm compelled to show some side of myself - or of people - that's paranoid and fraught and beleaguered and downtrodden, just as Tom Cruise wants to show that he's terrifyingly upbeat and terrifyingly heroic all the time.

I don't consider myself a very interesting person. I have the mentality of a supporting actor.

I get tired of myself pretty fast.

I have a son who's been raised Jewish because his mom is Jewish. I have a whole different set of holidays to celebrate. Everybody is thrown together with their family in such an intense way, opening all of that stuff again. You're cooped up with everybody and forced to exist with them, and you're forced to try to relate to them in this way that's more open. I guess that just doesn't work for a lot of people.

I'm not a big wine guy. And bars, I never go to bars anymore. It's such a drag, man.

I still want to be the guy who can get on the subway and check out the freak on the subway.

I definitely had a top-notch education.

I get a fair amount of time between projects, which is great. It takes me awhile to start getting nervous about getting another job again. I don't mind having a lot of down time. I'm pretty lazy. So I really don't mind it. But I'm lucky; I work fairly steadily. I'm lucky that I've managed to do that.

I just don't want to be bored. That's the only criteria I have when I choose a role to play. I like it if the script is good and the director seems like he's gonna be good. But if I can find a variety of things to do, which I feel like I manage to do, as far as the actual performing goes and the character, that's huge for me. To be able to feel like I can do a fairly diverse array of things. I've been lucky in that way. I don't mind being stereotyped in some way and playing certain kinds of guys, but if I can find something to occasionally get a break from that, that would be nice.

I always would be happy to make a character even more unlikable, but you know, there's a limit and if you go there, you get into a very different kind of movie, man.

Come on, man.... Hemingway, Sexton, Plath, Woolf. You can't kill yourself before you're even published.

As an actor, to have achieved financial stability is amazing. But I always have this weird fear that I'm not going to get any more work; it's about not having enough money.

Maybe it's because I have too much pride or self-respect, but I thought, `Why does a guy who has thinning hair and who is overweight have to be a loser or a joke?'

The broad comedy thing is really hard to do on film.

I feel like in a lot of ways I've gotten kind of soft as an actor, not doing stage stuff. In terms of being a better actor, it's really important.

I mean, I'm not going to play the hero of something.

Acting can be a really silly thing. It's like playing dress-up.

My definition of likeable may be different from other people's. That's not traditional likeable. Sympathy is a different thing [to define it].

I like to work - I probably work too much.

Lead roles are fun, but I'm especially happy other, more colorful supporting stuff has come along.

It is because my dad died suddenly that I became an actor. I thought, I'm going to make money doing this thing I enjoy.

I've very critical of myself, and film has been an adjustment for me.

I felt like I did lots of crappy work in the past. I can't even tell.

I'm clearly not Brad Pitt, and I'm never going to be Brad Pitt.

I don't think I gave a good enough performance to be nominated for it. I thought I gave a fine performance, but those things are supposed to be about giving an extraordinary performance.

I'd like to have permanent time off, really. The goal is financial security and permanent time off, basically.

I definitely have a tendency to only see the blemishes of things, and see lots of things about my acting that I don't like. I think I've gotten a little easier on myself, or at least a little more usefully critical of myself. I think before, I just couldn't take looking at myself at all.

I've got to be the geekiest guy in the world in a lot of ways. I'm like a zeta male.

I don't mind being stereotyped in some way and playing certain kinds of guys, but if I can find something to occasionally get a break from that, that would be nice. And I feel like I manage to.

I never thought I would have any particular career in movies at all.

And I asked my mother 'can I touch the lady in the water? And she said yes I could, but I had to touch Mommy first. And then I asked, 'Mom, can I date the lady in the water?' and she said smiling 'sure, but you gotta date me first.' And yesterday I said 'Mom, may I marry the lady in the water?' and she said o.k., but you'll have to marry me first.

I married a Jewish lady, and we're raising our son Jewish, and since I'm not Jewish the whole thing is just a mystery to me. I leave it to her, actually, because it's just a great mystery.

I definitely have a tendency to only see the blemishes of things, and see lots of things about my acting that I don't like.

I don't mind talking about acting. I don't have anything interesting to say about it, but it's interesting talking about it.

I don't think film actors need training, really.