A biography for Anthony Hopkinshasn’t been written yet.
“I can't stand directors who try to micro-manage everything. When it happens these days I just walk off set, saying if they don't like the way I'm doing it they can get someone else.”
“I was bullied as a boy - lots of kids are, but hopefully most of us get on with our lives and grow up.”
“We are dying from overthinking. We are slowly killing ourselves by thinking about everything. Think. Think. Think. You can never trust the human mind anyway. It's a death trap.”
“Jonathan Demme is a very sharp editor of his movies.”
“I like the good life too much, I'm not good at going on stage night after night and on wet Wednesday afternoons.”
“I worked with Steven Spielberg on Amistad... he seemed so very secure in himself that he let me do things.”
“I don't have many friends; I'm very much a loner. As a child I was very isolated, and I've never been really close to anyone.”
“I'm devious, cruel, cunning and addictive.”
“Acting is just a process of relaxation, actually. Knowing the text so well and trusting that the instinct and the subconscious mind, whatever you want to call it, is going to take over.”
“My philosophy is it's none of my business what people say of me and think of me. I am what I am, and I do what I do. I expect nothing and accept everything. And it makes life so much easier.”
“I think all those actors from that generation, like Bogart - they were wonderful actors. They didn't act. They just came on and they did it, and the characters were wonderful.”
“I just wanted to be a composer; I became an actor by default, really. I got a scholarship to a college of music and drama, hoping to take a scholarship in music. But I ended up as an acting student, so I've stuck with that for the last 50-odd years.”
“Richard Burton came from the same town as me, so I thought I'd follow my nose, and follow my luck. I think I've been very lucky.”
“I like to take it easy.”
“I was lousy in school. Real screwed-up. A moron. I was antisocial and didn't bother with the other kids. A really bad student. I didn't have any brains. I didn't know what I was doing there. That's why I became an actor.”
“I love life because what more is there?”
“And I love a scary movie. It makes your toes curl and it's not you going through it.”
“I am able to play monsters well. I understand monsters. I understand madmen.”
“Once you begin to fall off the track and believe you breathe different air to everyone else, you're doomed; you're finished.”
“I am a bit of a solitude person - a solitary personality. I like being on my own. I don't have any major friendships or relationships with people.”