I resist all established beliefs. My religion basically is to be immediate, to live in the now. Jack Nicholson More Quotes by Jack Nicholson More Quotes From Jack Nicholson The most difficult thing about being well known? Getting out of a hotel room at 4am. Jack Nicholson hotel well-known rooms If you're going to write, write one poem all your life, let nobody read it, and then burn it. This is very young thinking, I confess, but it is the seminal part of my life. Jack Nicholson young writing thinking It always bothered me when people came off stage and were told how great they were. They weren't, really, in my opinion. It was then I started thinking that, contrary to conventional wisdom, film was the artful medium for the actor, not the stage. Jack Nicholson actors people thinking The less people know about me, the easier my job is. Jack Nicholson easier jobs people I did not want to be coming off the stage at the mercy of what somebody else told me I did. Jack Nicholson stage mercy want I never thought in terms of typing myself, because I wasn't that successful. After an actor has done a few pieces of work, his naïveté is the part of the craft he has to nurture most. Jack Nicholson actors done successful As a means of supporting experiential element in film, once I begin to work on a particular movie I consider myself to be the tool of the director. Jack Nicholson elements mean directors I thought of myself as part of the general filmmaking effort. And as my scope broadened, I began to think about directing. I wanted to be the guy who got to say whether the dress is red or blue. Jack Nicholson effort blue thinking As an actor, I want to give in to the collaboration with the director because I don't want my work to be all the same. The more this can be done with comfort, the more variety my work has had. Jack Nicholson collaboration giving directors I just know that sameness, repetition, and conceptualizing are the acting craft's adversaries, and it seems more intelligent to start off within a framework where those things are, to some degree, taken out of your hands. Jack Nicholson intelligent taken hands In the real world there's an after-effect of disappointment if you lose an argument. But if, to begin with, you're set up not to have this particular autonomy, then you're not disappointed. Jack Nicholson real disappointment world I have mainly been interested in acting. I think it's a great job, a fine way to live your life. Jack Nicholson live-your-life jobs thinking I goddamn near lost my nose. And I like it. I like breathing through it. Jack Nicholson hiding-something breathing noses He [Castro] is a genius. We spoke about everything. Jack Nicholson castro spokes genius I am in an age group where it is rude to discuss money, and now it is all anyone cares about. Jack Nicholson groups rude age I'm a New Wave baby, so I got very stimulated by foreign film. Jack Nicholson wave film baby There is no way you can get people to believe you on screen if they know who you really are through television. Jack Nicholson believe people television Played tennis for years. But you can't improve at tennis after you're 50. You get to be in your 40s, and suddenly you're a doubles player. Jack Nicholson tennis player years I am a person who is trained to look other people in the eye. Jack Nicholson eye people looks I want a big 25-foot pink statue that holds my grave. Or I also might like the way the Indians did it. They hang you up on the top of a tree and the birds eat you. No, really I would probably choose cremating. Jack Nicholson feet tree bird