I'm an actor; I have made my living by acting, and I almost think I owe it to the public to express my feelings and not as a character on a screen but as myself.
Kirk DouglasRead
My four sons all knew I was a Jew, but they were allowed to be whatever they wanted to be. The only thing important to me was that they be good people who help other people, because all religion should try to make you a better person and a more caring person. Whenever religion does that for you, it's a good religion.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The essence of religion is to foster goodness and caring in individuals.
Kirk Douglas emphasizes the importance of moral character over religious affiliation. He believes that the core purpose of any religion should be to cultivate virtues that promote kindness and assistance to others, suggesting that a religion's value is measured by its ability to inspire goodness in people, irrespective of the specific faith they follow.
Themes
ReligionGoodnessKindnessCharacterPeople
In practice
Example use cases
During a community event, when discussing the importance of compassion, I shared this quote to illustrate the essence of goodness.
More from Kirk Douglas
All quotes →Cancer does give you a new rejuvenation. I know what it's like to be down. I lost a couple of good friends - Larry Hagman and Nick Ashford - who had the same type of cancer that I did, and that makes you think.
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Too often, I have not been what I wanted to be; I've succumbed to pressures. Yes, I have. The things I've done that I liked, I've always done against advice.
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I didn't start out to be a movie star. I started out to be an actor.
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People are composed of many things, and in my work, what influences me is the complexity of people - the chiaroscuro of dark and light. When I play a strong guy, I try to find, where is he weak? And, conversely, when I play a weak guy, where is he strong?
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When you have a stroke, you must talk slowly to be understood, and I've discovered that when I talk slowly, people listen. They think I'm going to say something important!
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