I think 'retirement' goes hand in hand with people who make a living by having a 'job.' I don't think we-the .00001 percent of the population who are so fortunate to love passionately what we do-consider it a 'job. Dustin Hoffman More Quotes by Dustin Hoffman More Quotes From Dustin Hoffman Stories? We all spend our lives telling them, about this, about that, about people … But some? Some stories are so good we wish they’d never end. They’re so gripping that we’ll go without sleep just to see a little bit more. Some stories bring us laughter and sometimes they bring us tears … but isn’t that what a great story does? Makes you feel? Stories that are so powerful … they really are with us forever. Dustin Hoffman laughter powerful sleep God knows I've done enough crap in my life to grow a few flowers. Dustin Hoffman flower done writing I believe - though I may be wrong, because I'm no expert - that this war is about what most wars are about: hegemony, money, power and oil. Dustin Hoffman oil war believe I don't believe in hell. I believe in unemployment, but not hell. Dustin Hoffman unemployment money believe Look at the studio filled with glamorous merchandise. Fabulous and exciting bonus prizes. Thousands of dollars in cash. Over $150,000 just waiting to be won as we present our big bonanza of cash on Wheel Of Fortune. Dustin Hoffman money waiting looks Myth is supposed to bring us together, but fantasy alienates us. Dustin Hoffman myth fantasy together If you have this enormous talent, it's got you by the balls, it's a demon. You can't be a family man and a husband and a caring person and be that animal. Dickens wasn't that nice a guy. Dustin Hoffman nice husband caring Somehow I think it was declared very early on that I was the - if not the black sheep of the family, not a very good student. Dustin Hoffman black sheep thinking I wanted to find my limitations so I decided to do Shylock. And if I fail? I've never been afraid of that. I have other fears - doing bad work knowingly is the worst fear. Dustin Hoffman shylock failing acting For me as an American, the most painful aspect of this is that I believe that administration has taken the events of 9/11 and has manipulated the grief of the country and I think that's reprehensible. Dustin Hoffman grief believe country I think right now television is the best that it’s ever been, and I think that it’s the worst that film has ever been. Dustin Hoffman film television thinking So when I told my parents I wanted to go into acting because I was flunking out of my first year of junior college, they were relieved that I had picked something other than joining the army. But I can't imagine how they had high hopes for me. Dustin Hoffman army college years Well first of all, it's hard to shoot a movie and break for a long time and then come back and do, in a sense, one of the biggest scenes that each character had. Dustin Hoffman character long firsts There's nothing that I love more than predawn. I'm with the dogs, I make coffee, and there's no one up. Dustin Hoffman coffee dog morning Well, 45-odd years of doing it, so we all pile up the things we like about directors and the things we don't like about directors. And sometimes they're very similar. Dustin Hoffman sometimes directors years So, they had this 40-odd year friendship with each other and with Mr Harwood. So, when I came on it Albert, Tom and Maggie were in the cast. But then Albert wasn't up for it, so he had to withdraw. Dustin Hoffman maggie odd years I came in on this movie after there had been a director and I came in after Tom Courtenay had talked to Ron Harwood about making a movie. So, you know Tom and Albert Finney had been friends since the beginning of their career as they became stars around the same time - Tom always reminds me that Albert was first with Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and then Tom with The Long Distance Runner. Dustin Hoffman distance stars morning There were a few things that went into it. When you're doing something you're trying to be your audience at the same time, so if somebody tells me that this is a movie about retired opera singers, you think 'maybe I'll wait for it to come to DVD'. You're not rushing off to see it. Dustin Hoffman rushing dvds thinking I knew that we had an obligation and that was to keep an energy in it and try to keep the audience interested. In fact, I asked some of the actors to take a look at His Girl Friday, a Howard Hawks film with Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant, because they talk over each other and there's a great energy. Dustin Hoffman friday girl trying I think we all felt it on this movie - crew and cast. You never know when you're making a movie... no one is saying in the middle of Casablanca that this is going to be a classic. The lead actors had turned it down and I think they wound up with B-list actors at the time. Dustin Hoffman down-and actors thinking