You know the circus performer who spins the plates in the air you know, and he'll spin six or seven plates in the air? Acting sometimes is kind of that guy spinning all those plates in the air but in your head and in your body. Philip Seymour Hoffman More Quotes by Philip Seymour Hoffman More Quotes From Philip Seymour Hoffman In film, you have to let go sometimes. Philip Seymour Hoffman film letting-go sometimes I think therapy is a helpful thing. I think everyone knows it. You do it for your life, you do it for yourself, because you want to explore some things, and get at the bottom of some things. It's about your life, the quality of your life. Philip Seymour Hoffman quality want thinking Being unemployed is not good for an actor. No, it isn't, no matter how unsuccessful you are. Because you always remember getting fired from all the restaurants. You remember that stuff very, very strongly. Philip Seymour Hoffman actors matter stuff I got sober when I was 22 years old. Philip Seymour Hoffman sober years Creating anything is hard. Philip Seymour Hoffman hard creating I always thought I'd be a New York theater actor, riding my bicycle to rehearsal. That was all I ever wanted. Philip Seymour Hoffman riding actors new-york Life's pretty funny when you're objectively on the outside looking at it. Philip Seymour Hoffman funny You have all the influence you choose to have. Philip Seymour Hoffman you-choose destiny influence 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 awful trying memories I think you ultimately have to love who you're playing. You have to have that kind of feeling. You have to have passion for the person. Philip Seymour Hoffman passion feelings thinking For me, acting is torturous, and it's torturous because you know it's a beautiful thing. I was young once, and I said, that's beautiful and I want that. Wanting it is easy, but trying to be great - well, that's absolutely torturous. Philip Seymour Hoffman acting trying beautiful Good work is the only thing that would make me feel jealous or envious. Philip Seymour Hoffman envious jealous good-work It's important to say that actors can't act alone, it's impossible. What we have to do is support each other. Philip Seymour Hoffman being-alone support important A lot of people describe me as chubby, which seems so easy, so first-choice. Or stocky. Fair-skinned. Tow-headed. There are so many other choices. How about dense? I mean, I'm a thick kind of guy. But I'm never described in attractive ways. I'm waiting for somebody to say I'm at least cute. But nobody has. Philip Seymour Hoffman cute mean people I know I wasn't as handsome as some other guys, but I was OK with that. Philip Seymour Hoffman handsome other-guys guy Success isn't what makes you happy. It really isn't. Success is doing what makes you happy and doing good work and hopefully having a fruitful life. If I've felt like I've done good work, that makes me happy. The success part of it is all gravy. Philip Seymour Hoffman doing-good good-work done People actually live with their id exposed. They're not good at concealing what's going on inside. Philip Seymour Hoffman exposed concealing people I've been reading a bunch of stuff lately - like Joseph Campbell - that has made me realize that people in our cultural, especially in the liberal community, often go in search of a foe. It's like we always need a hill to climb up or something to push against, or we feel as if we're not working constructively in the world. Philip Seymour Hoffman community reading people Ultimately what I'll do next is up in the air for me. Philip Seymour Hoffman up-in-the-air next air I know some really great actors who are pretty judgmental people, pretty critical people. But they're great actors. When they're acting, that's the craft. Philip Seymour Hoffman actors acting people
