I have an awful memory, and I have a great memory. Meaning that, if I'm trying to remember something, I can't remember it. But my recall is fantastic. Philip Seymour Hoffman More Quotes by Philip Seymour Hoffman More Quotes From Philip Seymour Hoffman My mother's a staunch feminist, so I grew up with very strong feminist messages. As a result, I battled her in my teenage years because my image of being a man was a deformed one. Philip Seymour Hoffman teenage strong men I don't get nervous when I'm directing a play. It's not like acting. Philip Seymour Hoffman nervous acting play Film's hard when you don't have any relationship with the director at all and you just show up. Then you really are just a gun for hire. Philip Seymour Hoffman film gun directors Ultimately, I think writing is a mixture of craft, inspiration, and being incredibly, courageously explorative with yourself - and being brutally honest, too. Philip Seymour Hoffman inspiration writing thinking Vanity is something that will only get in the way of doing your best work, and ultimately if you're truly vain you care more about your work than how you look in your work. I actually consider myself a pretty vain guy when it comes to that. Philip Seymour Hoffman vanity guy looks 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. Philip Seymour Hoffman regret important fun My mum's name is Marilyn O'Connor. She's here tonight and I would like if you see her for you to congratulate her because she brought up four kids alone and she deserves congratulations for that. Philip Seymour Hoffman congratulations names kids To act well isn't an easy thing. Philip Seymour Hoffman easy-things wells easy I know that obviously, that if you want to get the story, if you want to get close to somebody, if you want to find out what is really the truth or what's really interesting, you have to create a trust between these two things, between the journalist and the subject. Philip Seymour Hoffman stories two interesting My favorite thing about acting is being alone and going through the scripts and working on it and getting ideas and asking myself questions, looking outside myself for them and researching and getting to the bottom of something and being creative with it as an actor and how to express it in a creative fashion. That's my favorite part. And, the actual acting of it. Philip Seymour Hoffman fashion creative ideas Learning how to die is therefore learning how to live. Philip Seymour Hoffman dies 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 growing-up guy hard-work My love for the theater has always been a priority. That hasn't changed. I got into acting that way. The film work that came up was really a surprise. Philip Seymour Hoffman priorities acting way Acting's difficult for me because I think you have to be passionately involved in what you're doing. Philip Seymour Hoffman difficult acting thinking The strange thing is I never thought I'd do films. Philip Seymour Hoffman strange-things film strange I've seen a lot of friends who have a lot of great projects, whether it's a script or a play or whatever, and it is a great project and they have great people involved, and they can't make it. Philip Seymour Hoffman scripts play people No one wants to be pretentious about what they do or take it seriously, because that is just weird. Philip Seymour Hoffman pretentious want My mum is incredibly intelligent. Philip Seymour Hoffman mum intelligent Great talent admits shortcomings. Philip Seymour Hoffman great-talent shortcomings talent Sometimes I'm uncomfortable with the level of fame I've got! It all depends on the day and what's going on. I don't desire any more fame. I don't need it. Philip Seymour Hoffman levels desire needs