You need some insecurity if you're an actor. It keeps the pot boiling. I haven't yet started to think about retiring. I was shocked when I heard about Paul Newman retiring at age 82. Most actors just fade away like old soldiers.
Interpretation
Insecurity can drive creativity in acting and keep an actor engaged in their craft.
Al Pacino's quote reflects on the role of insecurity in the life of an actor, suggesting that it fuels their passion and creativity. He contrasts this with the idea of retirement, expressing his disbelief and discontent at the thought of fading away from the profession, akin to 'old soldiers' who no longer actively engage in their duties.
In practice
In a motivational speech about pursuing a career in the arts, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of embracing insecurity.
I don’t understand the hatred and fear of gays and bisexuals and lesbians… it’s a concept I honestly cannot grasp. To me, it’s not who you love… a man, a woman, what have you… it’s the fact that you love. That is all that truly matters.
We start to realize that there are anodynes in life that help us through the day. I don't care if it's a walk in the park, a look out the window, a good bubble bath - whatever. Even a meal you like, or a friend you want to call. That helps us solve all this stuff in our head.
I'm an actor, not a star. Stars are people who live in Hollywood and have heart-shaped swimming pools.
On any given Sunday you're gonna win or you're gonna lose. The point is -- can you win or lose like a man?
There are many things my father taught me here in this room. He taught me: keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.
I always tell the truth. Even when I lie.
When we paint, whether it is on our bodies for ceremony or on bark or canvas for the market, we're not just painting for fun or profit, we're painting as we always have done to demonstrate our continuing link with our country and the rights and responsibilities we have to it.
Marijuana is a useful catalyst for specific optical and aural aesthetic perceptions. I apprehended the structure of certain pieces of jazz and classical music in a new manner under the influence of marijuana, and these apprehensions have remained valid in years of normal consciousness.
I could imagine at a certain age, when I have no vocal cords left, that I would find a young man who could sing my parts for me. But I don't see why I would stop.
I developed a passion for the Middle Ages the same way some people develop a passion for coconuts.
I have a vocabulary in clothing. It's like a whole language.
Stories,' the green-eyed Sigrid said, unperturbed, 'are like prayers. It does not matter when you begin, or when you end, only that you bend a knee and say the words.
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