Portrait of Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando

Actor

Modern influential 152 sayings

Sayings by Marlon Brando

We don't go anywhere. Going somewhere is for squares. We just go!

1953 — Movie quote from 'The Wild One' (1953)
General Unverifiable

If there is someone who is convinced that Jack Nicholson and I are lovers, may they continue to do so. I find it amusing.

Unknown — Attributed quote, responding to rumors
Relationships Unverifiable

I put on an act sometimes, and people think I'm insensitive. Really, it's like a kind of armor because I'm too sensitive. If there are two hundred people in a room and one of them doesn't like me, I've got to get out.

Unknown — Attributed quote
General Unverifiable

Acting is the expression of a neurotic impulse. It's a bum's life. Quitting acting, that's the sign of maturity.

Unknown — Attributed quote
General Unverifiable

The principal benefit acting has afforded me is the money to pay for my psychoanalysis.

Unknown — Attributed quote
Work & Money Unverifiable

If you're successful, acting is about as soft a job as anybody could ever wish for. But if you're unsuccessful it's worse than having a skin disease.

Unknown — Attributed quote
Work & Money Unverifiable

We couldn't survive a second if we weren't able to act. Acting is a survival mechanism, and it's a social lubricant. And we act to save our lives, actually, every day. People lie constantly every day by not saying something that they think, or saying something that they don't think, or showing something that they don't feel.

1970s — Interview on 'The Dick Cavett Show'
General Unverifiable

Tim is the greatest actor ever. He pretends he loves me when he wants something to eat.

Unknown — Response to a reporter asking if he realized he was the greatest actor ever, referring to his dog Ti…
Relationships Unverifiable

I'm going to be a plumber. I don't want to be an actor. I don't want to be a movie star. I don't want to be anything. I just want to be myself.

1957 — Interview with Truman Capote for The New Yorker
Self-Deprecating Unverifiable

If I'm not a god, I'm a goddamn good actor.

1960s — Reported by numerous biographers, often attributed to conversations with friends.
General Unverifiable

I don't mind being an icon, but I'd rather be a person.

1994 — Interview with Larry King
Self-Deprecating Unverifiable

I don't think I'm a particularly good actor, I'm a character actor.

1994 — Interview with Connie Chung
Self-Deprecating Unverifiable

My father was a very, very funny man. He was also a very cruel man.

1994 — Interview with Connie Chung
General Unverifiable

I never wanted to be a movie star. I wanted to be a good actor.

1994 — Interview with Connie Chung
General Unverifiable

I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I just do it.

1994 — Reported in 'Brando: Songs My Mother Taught Me' (autobiography)
Self-Deprecating Unverifiable

I've always been accused of being a rebel. But I'm not. I'm just an individual.

1970s — Interview
General Unverifiable

Most of the world is like a mental institution, a big insane asylum.

1994 (approx) — Reported in 'Brando: The Biography' by Peter Manso
General Unverifiable

If you're going to be a movie star, you'd better be a good one.

1960s — Reported in various biographies.
General Unverifiable

I just wanted to get out of Nebraska.

1940s — Often quoted as his motivation for leaving home.
General Unverifiable

Privacy is not something that I'm afforded.

1970s — Interview
General Unverifiable
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