Michael Douglas Quotes

Lunch? You gotta be kidding. Lunch is for wimps.

— Michael Douglas

The quality of health care in Canada is excellent.

— Michael Douglas

“The one thing that men and women have in common - they both like the company of men.”

— Michael Douglas

I don't know if likeable, pleasant characters have enough conflict for me to want to do them. I admire those people, but I've never been that kind of screen presence who can do nothing. I need to do something.

— Michael Douglas

Actresses have more fear of being disliked. I, on the other hand, revel in it.

— Michael Douglas

“The arts are a celebration of life.”

— Michael Douglas

“Chemotherapy takes its toll; the more you keep doing it, you lose your energy, and it gets more difficult to swallow.”

— Michael Douglas

“I thought I could never be the actor Dad was, so I avoided it for a while.”

— Michael Douglas

“If your work isn't exciting, doesn't stir the emotions, where's the challenge? Where's the progress if you always play it safe?”

— Michael Douglas

My dad was a movie star. Having that name was good and bad. People think it's a silver spoon. It's not.

— Michael Douglas

“The message from national security experts and citizens around the world is clear: The only way to eliminate the global nuclear danger is to eliminate all nuclear weapons.”

— Michael Douglas

“I love kids, and I love having had this second chance to have a family.”

— Michael Douglas

“I've taken blame about being a bad father - if being a bad father is working your butt off trying to create a career at one time.”

— Michael Douglas

“It took me too long to realise that if you go to a marriage counsellor to resolve problems, it's in his interest to keep the marriage going.”

— Michael Douglas

“Capitalism is part of our system, but it's not for the faint of heart.”

— Michael Douglas

“Control is what gives you privacy.”

— Michael Douglas

My father did 90-plus films. He was Spartacus!

— Michael Douglas

“My marriage and my families come certainly before my career.”

— Michael Douglas

“My movies are usually about stripping off the makeup, getting down to the skeleton.”

— Michael Douglas

“Do you know what absolute happiness is? For me, it is to wake up my kids in the morning - these little pieces of innocence - to wake them and find they're so happy to see me! It is unequivocal love, no question about it.”

— Michael Douglas

“Liberace was a lovely guy.”

— Michael Douglas

“My daughter is a horseback rider, so I try to watch her ride; we take holidays together.”

— Michael Douglas

“Directing talent is very nebulous. You know, it's not in front of you like an actor's performance.”

— Michael Douglas

“I don't wish ill will on anybody.”

— Michael Douglas

“I enjoy provocative things that are questionable.”

— Michael Douglas

I have hardly ever worked with the same director twice. But when you have worked with a director before, you understand his behavior.

— Michael Douglas

“I have some idea of the pressure of finding your own identity with a famous father.”

— Michael Douglas

“I tell my kids they are going to live to over 100.”

— Michael Douglas

“I've always worked hard and played hard, and I'm sure I'll be cleaning up my act in the future.”

— Michael Douglas

“I've just kind of been used to carrying movies. I look back and I'm just used to being in every single scene in a lot of pictures.”

— Michael Douglas

Like a lovely orchid, or anything else that's nurtured, marriage prospers and grows, but if it's ignored, it withers.

— Michael Douglas

“Serious is when they tell you, 'You've got cancer.' Cancer is serious, but then the rest of it is not.”

— Michael Douglas

“The people who work in Wall Street still look up to Gordon Gekko. He's sort of a guru.”

— Michael Douglas

The so-called 'last golden age,' in the 1970s, most of those movies were independent films.

— Michael Douglas

To me, Bermuda is a real family spot.

— Michael Douglas

“'Wall Street' was a very important movie for me in terms of my career. I won an Oscar, and then the film 'Fatal Attraction' came right after it.”

— Michael Douglas

When you are a celebrity, nothing remains secret for very long.

— Michael Douglas

“'Five Easy Pieces,' 'Easy Rider' - those are indie pictures; those were not studio pictures. They had relationships with studio distribution, but they were indies.”

— Michael Douglas

'King of California' was just, I thought, a really great, fresh, original kind of script. I loved the tone, the mix of tragedy, comedy, and drama, and that it was a good part.

— Michael Douglas

“My own parents divorced when I was six. I was raised with my brother Joel by our mother on the East Coast, visiting my father in Los Angeles during holidays. When your parents are divorced, you don't know anything else, do you?”

— Michael Douglas

“Women are now very comfortable to have babies into their late 30s. You can be a father in your 50s. I'm not saying it's for everybody, and I think people have to get their own life secure before they take on the responsibility of a partner and children.”

— Michael Douglas

“Wherever arms flow, violence follows. Bullets replace ballots as the solution to political disputes.”

— Michael Douglas

“Cigar smoking by it's very nature is much more reflective than interactive.”

— Michael Douglas

“Players never die - they just try their luck at another table.”

— Michael Douglas

“I am a Jew. Those are four words of pride. My Jewishness is as deep as my genes.”

— Michael Douglas

“Never knew how poor I was until I started making money.”

— Michael Douglas

“It's a phenomenon that I see with young actors - a lot of American speaking parts going to British actors.”

— Michael Douglas

“I don't even know why, but my entire career is contemporary films. Entire career! There's no period movies - there's one - but there's no period movies, no special effects movies. I just do character studies and so, some of them are gonna bump into each other, but I love the challenge, with a good script. I love the challenge of playing not a very pleasant or attractive character that seduces an audience or wins an audience over by the end.”

— Michael Douglas

“Even when you're acting with a producing hat, when you're in every scene, you're really conscious of trying to make everybody as good as they are, because ultimately you're trying to make the best movie possible.”

— Michael Douglas

You have to make entertaining movies. But like a good meal, it's nice to have a little food for thought after you walk out of the theater rather than just wiling away a couple of hours.

— Michael Douglas