Philip Seymour Hoffman Quotes & Sayings

If all people are encouraged to actually see who they're coexisting with, or even if they're not coexisting with other people.It's like to look at the world you're in. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

The strange thing is I never thought I'd do films, — Philip Seymour Hoffman

When you have a child, as anyone knows who has them, that's basically all you want to talk about. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

When you become a parent, you look at your parents differently. You look at being a child differently. It's an awakening, a revelation that you have. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

People used to be funny about approaching me, but now they seem to think I'm as sane as anyone who's done what I've done in movies can be. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

There is no pleasure that I haven't made myself sick on. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Was I happy? Or was I just not aware? — Philip Seymour Hoffman

In film, you have to let go sometimes. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

The film is made in the editing room ... — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Sometimes being an actor is like being some kind of detective where you're on the search for a secret that will unlock the character. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

When you're playing someone who really lived, you carry a burden, a burden to be accurate. But it's one that you have to let go of ultimately. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

To have that concentration to act well is like lugging things up staircases in your brain. I think that's a thing people don't understand. It is that exhausting. If you're doing it well, if you're concentrating the way you need to, if your will and your concentration and emotional and imagination and emotional life are all in tune, concentrated and working together in that role, that is just like lugging weights upstairs with your head ... And I don't think that should get any easier. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

My mum's name is Marilyn O'Connor. She's here tonight and I would like if you see her for you to congratulate her because she brought up four kids alone and she deserves congratulations for that. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

My image of Jesus is someone who is exciting ... Were he alive today, he would be causing havoc! — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I know some really great actors who are pretty judgmental people, pretty critical people. But they're great actors. When they're acting, that's the craft. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

For me, acting is torturous, and it's torturous because you know it's a beautiful thing. I was young once, and I said, that's beautiful and I want that. Wanting it is easy, but trying to be great - well, that's absolutely torturous. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

When you're acting, you're subjective; when you're a director, you're more objective.You're kind of watching from the outside and helping others, and therefore I learn my mistakes through others, and also my assets through others. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I think good art, if I could be pretentious enough to say, I think good art deals with the micro to explain the macro. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Well, I think everyone struggles with self-love. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I think I'm less anonymous than I was. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I'm probably more personal when I'm acting than at any other time. More open, more direct. Because it allows me to be something that I can't always feel comfortable with when I'm living my own life, you know? Because it's make- believe. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I think you should be serious about what you do because this is it. This is the only life you've got. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Acting is so difficult for me that, unless the work is of a certain stature in my mind, unless I reach the expectations I have of myself, I'm unhappy. Then it's a miserable existence. I'm putting a piece of myself out there. If it doesn't do anything, I feel so ashamed. I'm afraid I'll be the kind of actor who thought he would make a difference and didn't. Right now, though, I feel like I made a little bit of difference. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I don't want to repeat myself. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I do feel like all the people I meet, all the people I'm in discussions with, if I'm working with somebody, I sense the same energy that everybody is suffering from the same predicament. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

There is no pleasure that I haven't actually made myself sick on. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I do understand what it is to not want to commit to someone, knowing that might bring pain or commit to a life that has to do with being responsible to people other than myself. These things, I think, are normal things. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Vanity is something that will only get in the way of doing your best work, and ultimately if you're truly vain you care more about your work than how you look in your work. I actually consider myself a pretty vain guy when it comes to that. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I had insecurities and fears like everybody does, and I got over it. But I was interested in the parts of me that struggled with those things. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Bob Glaudini, the writer, he's a wonderfully talented man and all his plays and his screenplays, they all have sense of something bigger, even though you're looking at something very simple. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Directing is a really kind of amazing thing, because you're helping others and, in the middle of that, you have to worry about yourself. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Being unemployed is not good for an actor. No, it isn't, no matter how unsuccessful you are. Because you always remember getting fired from all the restaurants. You remember that stuff very, very strongly. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Plays never feel like the right thing to do at the time. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I have a fine level of recognition in the business and among the acting community now, so I consider myself one of the lucky ones. If I didn't think that, there would be something wrong with me. I'm grateful and thankful for what I've got. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I didn't go out looking for negative characters; I went out looking for people who have a struggle and a fight to tackle. That's what interests me. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I know that obviously, that if you want to get the story, if you want to get close to somebody, if you want to find out what is really the truth or what's really interesting, you have to create a trust between these two things, between the journalist and the subject. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I always thought I'd be a New York theater actor, riding my bicycle to rehearsal. That was all I ever wanted. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

My love for the theater has always been a priority. That hasn't changed. I got into acting that way. The film work that came up was really a surprise. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

A self-awareness moment. All of a sudden everything he has done comes flashing into his mind, a self-criticism that is unbearable. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I would never not work on the part without it playing. That's what being an actor is. You use everything that's influenced you to help you get out of yourself or be more creative. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

In life, do you ever really know if you're missing an opportunity? No, you really don't. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

One person's religion is another person's cult. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Good work is the only thing that would make me feel jealous or envious. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I think you ultimately have to love who you're playing. You have to have that kind of feeling. You have to have passion for the person. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I've seen a lot of friends who have a lot of great projects, whether it's a script or a play or whatever, and it is a great project and they have great people involved, and they can't make it. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

My ideal weight is 205, actually. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I think part of being an actor is staying private. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Acting's difficult for me because I think you have to be passionately involved in what you're doing. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I've never been on a cruise. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I think you gotta have an honesty and a humility about human nature and that it's not about you at the end of the day. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I got sober when I was 22 years old. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

All over the world, young men and young women will always dream dreams. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I work constantly but I work at a lot of different things. You know, I run a theater company in New York, I direct plays, act in plays, in movies, so I try to keep it eclectic. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

It's really hard to watch things and then not think about anything afterwards. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

People aren't going to throw the kind of money at certain people that they used to. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Film's hard when you don't have any relationship with the director at all and you just show up. Then you really are just a gun for hire. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

In order for something to be born, something has to die.That's not always, but there is something about that that I find to be true. That is, it's a natural thing. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I try not to plan that too much. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I didn't really buy LPs or go to concerts. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

With "Good Night, and Good Luck," I think it's kind of obvious what [Truman Capote]'s getting at there, and the importance of how it's playing out today, that is journalism doing, are the journalists doing their job, are they being the other checks and balances in our country that the way that obviously Edward R. Murrow was back then. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I don't have a specific thing I want anyone to get out of anything I do. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I think I would have drank myself to death, literally, if I didn't just stop, once and for all when I did. I am not ever going to preach to anyone about drugs or drinking. But, for me, when they were around, I had no self control. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

In a film there a lot of people scheduling, you know. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I like to come to the set with very strong ideas and strong opinions about how to do things. And I like also dealing with somebody who's like that. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

If I was a little bit younger I would worry more. I'd want to do one thing at a time but now I try to do a bunch of different things at a time if I can. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Success isn't what makes you happy. It really isn't. Success is doing what makes you happy and doing good work and hopefully having a fruitful life. If I've felt like I've done good work, that makes me happy. The success part of it is all gravy. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I had a father who was a traveling salesman. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Sometimes I have a great day of filming and sometimes the theater strikes me better. It just depends. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

It's important to say that actors can't act alone, it's impossible. What we have to do is support each other. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

If I'm directing actors, I learn about acting that way. If I'm acting, I learn about directing that way. Producing is just something that's come about because there's projects I find interesting that I would like to help get done. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Creating something is all about problem-solving. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I feel like the need to want to create and make something is stronger than the difficulties are going through. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I've worked with a lot of characters that are unhinged. I've played characters that are unhinged. That's, like, my job. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I think therapy is a helpful thing. I think everyone knows it. You do it for your life, you do it for yourself, because you want to explore some things, and get at the bottom of some things. It's about your life, the quality of your life. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Actors are investigators. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I didn't have any idea that I would be able to have a career in film. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Films are always a fiction, not documentary. Even a documentary is a kind of fiction. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

People actually live with their id exposed. They're not good at concealing what's going on inside. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

To be fair to my dad, he is one of the brightest men I've ever met. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I have three children and I think I'm happy when I'm with them and they're okay. When I see them enjoying each other in front of me, and then they let me enjoy them in turn. That brings a feeling which I would say is happiness. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Being with a kid always takes you to being a kid somehow, and they really are showing me a childhood I might not have had in some way. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

The drama nerd comes out in me when I'm in a theater. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

My favorite thing about acting is being alone and going through the scripts and working on it and getting ideas and asking myself questions, looking outside myself for them and researching and getting to the bottom of something and being creative with it as an actor and how to express it in a creative fashion. That's my favorite part. And, the actual acting of it. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Why you do something is always kind of a mystery to me. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

The size of my head though is pretty abnormal. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Ultimately what I'll do next is up in the air for me. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Life is short. Time is short. As we get older, time does quicken. It's long, and it's long pertaining to that thought, that the past is not done with you because you can't rid of it. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Study, find all the good teachers and study with them, get involved in acting to act, not to be famous or for the money. Do plays. It's not worth it if you are just in it for the money. You have to love it. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I don't get nervous when I'm directing a play. It's not like acting. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

You can look at anything as a cult. Churches are cults in their own way. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I got into plays in high school then I ended up going to college for it. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

Sometimes it's hard to say no. Ultimately, if you stick to your guns, you have the career that you want. Don't get me wrong. I love a good payday and I'll do films for fun. But ultimately my main goal is to do good work. If it doesn't pay well, so be it. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

If I don't feel like I'm doing the job well, and I don't know how to get there, or I'm too scared, or whatever, I'm not a happy guy and I'm not pleasant. I'm not pleasant to be around. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I have an awful memory, and I have a great memory. Meaning that, if I'm trying to remember something, I can't remember it. But my recall is fantastic. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

You have to have a personal connection. You have to really want to do it, because if you don't, investing yourself personally, your thoughts, your emotions, yourself into a part, is something you're not going to want to do as much. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

There are a lot of things going on with my life right now that don't just have to do with career. So I have a hard time making decisions about work. That's really a luxury problem. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

The film is made in the editing room. The shooting of the film is about shopping, almost. It's like going to get all the ingredients together, and you've got to make sure before you leave the store that you got all the ingredients. And then you take those ingredients and you can make a good cake - or not. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

I've had to make the transition from sweeping in for 15 minutes, doing my stuff and clearing out, to carrying a movie for the duration - in a dress. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

We really enjoy that, having a relationship with writers, developing material and getting a director, actors, that we have kind of that family kind of as a group we're going to do it together mentality in a project. Then the tough part is - so what actually goes has very little to do with us sometimes. — Philip Seymour Hoffman

My mum is incredibly intelligent. — Philip Seymour Hoffman