Vin Diesel Quotes & Sayings

Most of my confidence came from being with ladies, because I certainly wasn't getting any acting jobs. — Vin Diesel

I'm not disciplined enough to be a writer consistently. I write when I have to. — Vin Diesel

I haven't had that many weird encounters with fans, thank God. — Vin Diesel

Of course, I don't act in an extreme fashion in my day to day life. I don't think any of us live do. I think we all have that reserve somewhere and we pull upon it when we need it. — Vin Diesel

I was walking around with the babies so much that when I got to the Sidney Lumet picture, I would be on set in between takes and I'd be rocking back and forth. Just standing like this rocking back and forth, and Sidney would say, Why are you walking like that in between takes? — Vin Diesel

I love women more than anything. — Vin Diesel

A person in my position has to restrain himself. — Vin Diesel

Fight sequence to me isn't just about the athleticism. It so often is about what the emotion that is behind it and how willing you are to really, really challenge that emotion or really take that emotion to that place so you're feeling a certain intensity for the whole time when you're shooting the actual physical scenes. — Vin Diesel

When I'm writing, I'm locking myself in a room. I'm the worst critic in the world. I write something and then I beat myself up. I'm like "Vin, you're retarded, that makes no sense." — Vin Diesel

My mother gave me this book called Feature Films at Used Car Prices by a guy named Rick Schmidt. I gotta credit the guy, cuz he gave me the most practical advice. It empowers you. — Vin Diesel

When I was a child actor, I had the fear that I was going to be cast as the tree. — Vin Diesel

It's like you have a child and you think, 'Everything that I've done up until this point is insignificant in comparison to being a father.' It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. — Vin Diesel

If you take my performance or my understanding of the role and my appreciation for story and then dress it in CGI, that I guess becomes an action film. — Vin Diesel

I've been auditioning since I was 7 years old. — Vin Diesel

Hollywood is more concerned about its male actors being in shape than its female actors. — Vin Diesel

I have dangerous bones in my body. — Vin Diesel

Nothing comes easy when I'm in character, because everything I do in character, I take seriously. — Vin Diesel

I think there's something we all relate to about ... wanting to get to our most primal self. — Vin Diesel

It's very rewarding to see the movie, and it's very rewarding to make the movie, but playing the character [Riddick] is sometimes a lot more difficult than other characters because it takes so much preparation to get into that character. — Vin Diesel

I'm a perfectionist. I'm very critical, especially artistically. — Vin Diesel

It wasn't until I went to college and I got my first motorcycle that I understood the thrill of speed. — Vin Diesel

I approach 'Fast & Furious 6' the same way I would approach a Sidney Lumet film. Getting into character's getting into character. — Vin Diesel

If you believe in the project, you have to support it. — Vin Diesel

I'm not really afraid of the dark, except if I'm walking. The thing that scares me the most is the possibility of walking into a wall and busting my lip. — Vin Diesel

I'm a boy who appreciates a good body, regardless of the make. — Vin Diesel

The only way anyone knows which girl I'm with is if a one-night stand goes on 'Howard Stern.' — Vin Diesel

I always have issues with trust. — Vin Diesel

You know when something feels so good but you're afraid to feel good about it? So you kinda hold back? Everyone says, Congratulations, you must be so happy. And you say something stupid like, I'm just doing what little I can with what little I have. — Vin Diesel

Show me how you drive and I'll show you who you are. — Vin Diesel

To have a director that loves his actors is something that you can see in the film and in the fruits of that labor. You can see that translated in the film. When you watch such movie, you can see a director who loves his actors, and it shines through the movie, in my eyes. — Vin Diesel

Obviously, for me, story is first and foremost, even in the face of the attractive idea of having all the cast there, or having a great piece of talent come to it. — Vin Diesel

It would be flattering to call it a modern Dirty Harry, but I think this film deals more with the loss of his wife than the traditional revenge vigilante films. — Vin Diesel

I could care less about being an action actor like Stallone or Schwarzenegger. — Vin Diesel

When people believe in you, you can do miraculous things. — Vin Diesel

I always have issues with trust. I'm a New Yorker ... Really, I think trust is something that comes from the gut. And I think you have to - it's probably the worst advice to give people - but I think you gotta trust people from your gut. — Vin Diesel

I've turned down twentysomething million dollars for movies. — Vin Diesel

I look formidable. — Vin Diesel

Rated R movies are few and far between, nowadays. We're all seeing less and less rated R movies, and less and less of them are being made. — Vin Diesel

I enjoy playing a quintessential antihero. There's something therapeutic about playing such characters. I know it sounds corny but I feel like I learn about myself when I play that characters. — Vin Diesel

I've worked out for years. For a long time, it was my only sense of gratification. — Vin Diesel

IT don't matter if you win by an inch or a milewinning is winning!! — Vin Diesel

I'm the most ambitious person you ever met. — Vin Diesel

My mom used to say that I became a fighter and a scrapper and a tough guy to protect who I am at my core. — Vin Diesel

I was the oldest of the children in my family. I had to do a lot of diaper-changing and lunch-making. I was taking my little sister to ballet, picking up my brother, sort of being a super-nanny. — Vin Diesel

I live my life a quarter mile at a time. Nothing else matters: not the mortgage, not the store, not my team and all their bullshit. For those ten seconds or less, I'm free. — Vin Diesel

If you think about my filmography, I have never done a movie that a kid could go see, except for 'Iron Giant,' and I'm not even on the screen. — Vin Diesel

I love thinking about the film, the project and committing myself as much as possible. — Vin Diesel

When Lucas was doing Star Wars, he didn't have a 50 million person Facebook following where he could just sift through feedback to try to get an idea for what he was going to do next. It's a luxury we have today. — Vin Diesel

The thing that stood out above and beyond all the experiences was this relationship with the nine-month-old baby. On weekends, I'd be thinking about going back to set on Monday just to see the baby. — Vin Diesel

It's insecurity that is always chasing you and standing in the way of your dreams. — Vin Diesel

The first thing that happens is the cleansing of the former character. I don't think a lot of actors talk about it, but there is usually a process where you essentially purge yourself of the character played prior to the movie. Then you want to think about what the character represents, and you write down all of the elements about this character and then take the time to find some synchronicity and start breathing the character. — Vin Diesel

We all deal with being unfairly judged. — Vin Diesel

If Clark Gable had a Facebook page, there would have been a 'Gone with the Wind 2.' — Vin Diesel

My mom insisted on multigrain bread and never allowed soda in the house. — Vin Diesel

I act because it's the one time I'm sure of my identity. There's no doubt. It's on paper. — Vin Diesel

For the 'Riddick' character, I try to get as ruthless as possible, and I want to be a machine. — Vin Diesel

The one thing I will never do is become pigeonholed. — Vin Diesel

The whole year I was in LA I got into telemarketing and learned how to make money. Five years later that skill helped me make my first film. — Vin Diesel

I always want another actor to shine in my scene because it makes the film stronger. I would encourage people to scene steal, because filmmaking is a collaborative effort. — Vin Diesel

I started acting when I was seven-years-old. By the time I was 17 I would say: "If I'm not a star by the time I'm 18, I'll get out of the business." — Vin Diesel

I am definitely a person of color. — Vin Diesel

I'm an actor. I can do whatever I want. As an actor, not everything has to be the most obvious choice. And sometimes, the best thing you can do is to defy expectations. — Vin Diesel

I was a bouncer for ten years in New York City. — Vin Diesel

You live these three months in this reality, in this dark reality. You don't want to do those films every year because they're taxing. I started smoking a lot of cigarettes. — Vin Diesel

When your co-stars are 9-month-old babies, you fall in love. You start thinking, When am I going to have my own? — Vin Diesel

I grew up with all kinds of people. — Vin Diesel

Women are sacred. — Vin Diesel

Vin Diesel had to hire a babysitter. — Vin Diesel

With age, you get to a place where you don't want to knock people out. You just want to give people a hug. — Vin Diesel

My mother is the most supportive mother in the world, she's magical. — Vin Diesel

Film is my hobby, so I will work well through the night to develop films, whatever film I'm doing or dream projects I have. — Vin Diesel

Any film that you see is never just the director. If it's a film that you love, it's not so easy to say, "Oh it's directed by this person - that means everything that person directs is going be wonderful." — Vin Diesel

What was bizarre, when I was younger, I never watched TV. I would rather watch a movie 100 times than to watch a TV show, just to find another nuance. I can't tell you how many times I've watched 'On the Waterfront', just to find a flaw so that I can learn and try to improve my thing. — Vin Diesel

When I first did 'The Fast and the Furious', I didn't want there to be a sequel on the first one. I thought, 'Why would you rush to do a sequel - just because your first film is successful?' — Vin Diesel

It's really bizarre because no one knows this, but elephants have killed more animal trainers than any other animal. — Vin Diesel

The thing I'm scared of most is not fulfilling my work. There's so much anxiety around trying to get a movie made that you don't really get to be afraid of anything else. — Vin Diesel

When you go to the movies with your whole family, it's a different experience. For some reason, it's something that you're all doing together and you take away something special in that. — Vin Diesel

I don't know when the last time was that Steven Spielberg or George Lucas made a movie with Universal, but I can tell you that Universal is leading the charge. They're looking at film differently. They're planning ahead in a way that I've never seen a studio do before. They're believing in a relationship between fan and film franchise, in a new way. They're more receptive to an audience, in part because of social media, in a way we've never been allowed. — Vin Diesel

I always have issues. I'm a New Yorker. I always have issues with trust - you adopt it from being a New Yorker. I think trust is something that comes from the gut. I don't think it's anything specific. I don't think it's anything tangible. — Vin Diesel

If you're the type of person who has to fulfill your dreams, you've gotta be resourceful to make sure you can do it. I came out to California when I was 21, thinking my New York credentials would take me all the way. I came back home a year later all dejected and a failure. — Vin Diesel

I grew up the son of an acting teacher, so I was kind of introduced to all of these various methods early ... I've never been really good at articulating how, what that process is in the way that Stanislavsky could. — Vin Diesel

When you come onto the set, everything should be focused around your character and you should stay in the pocket, as much as possible. Every actor has their own process. For me, I really need to stay in the pocket. — Vin Diesel

When I got on the set of 'Saving Private Ryan,' I discovered, to my amazement, that Steven Spielberg is a gamer. — Vin Diesel

I was raised in New York City and raised in the New York City theater world. My father was a theater director and an acting teacher, and it was not uncommon for me to have long discussions about the method and what the various different processes were to finding a character and exploring character and realizing that character. — Vin Diesel

Every actor has their own process. For me, I really need to stay in the pocket. So, if I'm on set and I'm in character, I'm not thinking like a producer. If I'm on set and I'm not in character, wardrobe and make-up, and I'm just coming on set for the moments that I'm not shooting, then I'm able to be the producer. — Vin Diesel

You get a timeless cool card in New York. — Vin Diesel

I used to do fight sequences, and I started to get self-conscious about fight sequences, because invariably the other person would get hurt, and you never want anyone to be hurt on a film, let alone you being responsible. The great thing about working with guys who have spent their life choreographing fights for wrestling is that that's what they do. That's their specialty. Their specialty is selling taking hits. Their specialty is selling explosive hits without making a contact or doing too much damage. — Vin Diesel

My gut feeling about sequels is that they should be premeditated: You should try to write a trilogy first or at least sketch out a trilogy if you have any faith in your film. — Vin Diesel

I envision the future sunny and with love, harmony and oneness. I think Hollywood is changing. — Vin Diesel

The man who raised me is black. Culturally, he made me who I am. He was a theatre director, so he also guided me artistically. — Vin Diesel

Well, love motivates me in everything I do. — Vin Diesel

We've come a long way, from where we've been. I'll tell you all about it when I see you again. — Vin Diesel

I used to say I live my life a quarter mile at a time and I think that's why we were brothers- because you did, too. No matter where you are, whether it's a quarter mile away or half way across the world. The most important thing in life, will always be the people in this room. Salute mi familia. You'll always be with me ... And you'll always be my brother. — Vin Diesel

I used to feel guilty about owning a console. — Vin Diesel

The most important thing in life will always be family. The people right here, right now. — Vin Diesel

It's remarkable how a soundtrack can be so important to the storytelling and the experience. I think the music is going to make people see the movie a lot. The music is going to make you want to go see it again. You have so much fun in the movie, and it's music that you want to share with your kids, anyway. — Vin Diesel

Deal-making goes on with any job. — Vin Diesel

The majority of the filmmaking process is in pre-production. The more you've planned out the more freedom there is on set to find new stuff, to play around, find new jokes and let the actors kind of breathe - but it needs to come from a place where it's completely structured. — Vin Diesel

If it's an amazing role, I'll do anything. — Vin Diesel

It's hard for me to talk about Dom right now because I am Dom right now. So it's a really strange exercise to try to reflect on something that I am at the moment. But I guarantee you that when I'm done with the movie and you ask me that question, I'll be able to give you something insightful. — Vin Diesel