In this industry, there are only two ways up the ladder. Rung by rung or claw your way to the top. It's sure been tough on my nails.

Jack Nicholson

Categorized in : Two Nails Ladders

I'm very fortunate in the sense that outside of cohabitating relationships and so forth, I've always got on just as well with women.

fortunate wells

Through all permutations and youthful poetry, I came to believe that the film actor was the great "literateur" of his time.

film actors believe

If I were an Arab-American, I would insist on being profiled. This is not the time for civil rights. There are larger issues for Americans.

civil-rights issues rights

I believe in making all movies at their most reasonable. That I get a lot of money as an actor is because nobody else will get it if I don't.

reasonable actors believe

I've spent more time playing golf than anything else the last 18 years. Just wanted to be an 80s-shooter. Got there, too.

lasts golf years

Just let the wardrobe do the acting. by Jack Nicholson

Just let the wardrobe do the acting.

wardrobe acting

[on the birth of his son after having had two daughters] I finall... by Jack Nicholson

[on the birth of his son after having had two daughters] I finally got it right.

daughter mother son

I take responsibility for my successes as well as my failures. But when I look at my professional mistakes, I'm always left with the feeling that maybe I should have done more.

responsibility should-have mistake

I'm such a perfectionist. I always feel overpraised or whatever. In the abstract, I know I'm a good person, a good professional. But it's nice to be noticed a little bit, ain't it?

good-person nice littles

There are major influences on us that people are not aware of. There are big lies that nobody's willing to discuss.

influence lying people

I don't play golf competitively. I tell everybody that I cheat so they won't gamble with me. That's why you can't watch football. Everybody's gambling. They don't want to watch the game; they watch the spread.

gambling golf football

Liberalism is the right to question without being called a heretic. That's what America did for the world.

liberalism america world

Because of the way the business is structured, I have sometimes turned down scripts that I might otherwise have accepted had I known who was directing them.

scripts might way

Children give your life a resonance that it can't have without th... by Jack Nicholson

Children give your life a resonance that it can't have without them.

resonance giving children

For an actor, style comes last. You first have to implement the whole thing, but your style comes from the subconscious, which is the best part an actor brings to his work.

style lasts actors

I wasn't a babe in the woods. I'd watched a lot of stars, from James Dean to Brando, and I'd seen everybody alive work at MGM. I had a certain old-timer's quality, even though I was young and new, and drew on what I believed before I made it.

quality alive stars

There's a tacit agreement today that the white male is the only legitimate target for any and all satire, criticism, and so forth. And we pretty much just accept it.

criticism agreement white

The way I reacted to 9/11 was I decided I didn't want to do any movies that are sad or critical. I decided I didn't want to make my living depressing people or making them go home sick, so I just decided I wanted to do comedy for a while and study it for a while. It doesn't mean everybody should do that, but that was my reaction.

depressing home mean

OK, the director makes the movie. But some movies can't get made... by Jack Nicholson

OK, the director makes the movie. But some movies can't get made without someone like me in them.

like-me made directors

A man needs a private life. With no ability to have a private life, one thing leads to another, and before you know it we have Bill and Monica. We need to get real about things. Humans are humans. Why should we expect more?