F. Murray Abraham

“I'm not going to just say nice things about everybody unless I mean it.”

“My family is blue-collar - coal miners and steelworkers. My father was an automobile mechanic, and us boys were brought up to work. I used to pump gasoline at 11 cents a gallon. I thought I would like to be a first-rate mechanic; a respected, hard-working man.”

“I'm just having a wonderful time. It's an interesting thing that I'm very comfortable with this material and I don't know why. Maybe it's because I did MacBeth.”

“I have two brothers buried in the military cemetery in Texas. I don't want to see any more of that.”

“There are real tricks to getting a job that I just don't like or understand - it feels too close to pandering. I've tried it, but it doesn't work.”

“People desire power. I don't know why they want it so. It seems to me it implies a hugely superior intellect which separates them from most of the populace.”

“The idea that you can make love and not war really is pretty neat. That thing in Korea, the thing in Israel - that's all over the world. There must be a new way of thinking.”

“The only reason I signed on for a speech and drama course was because I thought it would be easy, but as soon as I stepped on the stage, I thought, 'This is exactly where I belong.'”

“I don't want to talk in terms of miracles. I think this is a very serious situation. But I do want to talk in terms of Bush becoming a man of the hour, and I think this is way to do it.”

“There is one confrontation scene toward the end of the picture. In the middle of the scene, I thought, That's Sean Connery! I don't know how else to describe Sean Connery. I still feel that way.”

“I cannot imagine not working. I don't understand the word 'retirement.'”

“Marlon Brando was the major influence in my life, though I never met him. And my father - we didn't get along, but he was an influence in terms of honesty and work ethic. That's the greatest compliment I could pay him.”

“I'm a comedian at heart, and I really can make people laugh, but ever since 'Amadeus,' all I seem to do is play dramatic roles and villains.”

“There are certain men and women who, from the minute they step in front of a camera, that's exactly where they belong. Connery's one.”

“Woody Allen sets are very quiet. Extraordinary sense of power from a man who doesn't do anything except just stand there.”

“With Connery, he does act. He is in complete command. He completely trusts the person first, then the instrument. I've worked with his son also, on a picture in Russia.”

“I'd like President Bush to get a gun in his hands. I'll go with him. I can't think of anything better than to die in place 's just beginning their lives.”

“Once I looked into a mirror at my face I felt like it was completely convincing. I was Salieri.”

“I just throw it out and see what happens. If it sounds and feels right, then I continue.”

“I love parties. I love a good time.”