David Schwimmer Quotations

To be perfectly honest, I feel I have a duty to use my celebrity status in a positive way.

I like to challenge myself. I like to learn - so I like to try new things and try to keep growing.

I spend half my time just living my life, and the other half analyzing it.

I find America falling in love with a TV show flattering and interesting, but at the same time a little sad.

Being generous or doing things for others actually makes me feel good so I don't do it because I hope karma will come round and get me and I'll benefit from it.

My advice would be to write what is most personal and specific to your experience or your life. And your voice will emerge and because of its specificity, it will be universal.

I've made a good amount of money. I'm very happy that I can now support my theatre company and support friends and family, and I'm ready to maybe go back to school and change careers.

You're only as good as the sum of your parts, and one person can't be a team.

I like to grow as an actor, and you can do that by playing parts that are unfamiliar to you and uncomfortable.

Directing is something I always wanted to do. I started when I was 13 directing scenes in high school and then plays in college with my theatre company.

There are certain pressures and things that change your life to a degree that, in the cost benefit analysis that constantly goes on, sometimes makes you think, 'Maybe I should just leave.

I'm fiercely loyal to my friends, and I really cherish my friendships.

If there's something I want, I go for it. I just think about how I'm going to go for it.

My parents from a very young age raised my sister and I under a pressure to achieve. Theyre both attorneys. So good marks, getting through university, there was a huge emphasis and pressure to do well and keep going.

When I was six years old, my parents took me to this farmers' market with a petting zoo. They put me on a pony and, for some reason, it took off at a run and they had to chase it down. They tell me it was kind of traumatic.

It's a job - someone's gotta kiss Jennifer Aniston. The reality is, Jennifer and I can do our job well because we truly are friends. But when the day's over, she goes home to her boyfriend and I go home to a magazine.

London is completely unpredictable when it comes to weather. You'll start a scene, and it's a beautiful morning. You get there at 6 in the morning, set up, you start the scene, start shooting. Three hours later, it is pitch black and rainy.

Can I tell you how strange it is to look in your rearview mirror and see guys in cars tailing you?

'Friends', even though it was the longest single job I've had, still to me at the end of the day, when it was over it was a job.

I had a mustache when I was 13.

If someone doesn't believe enough in your product to put money in to it, then you should rethink how good the product is.

It's really important to me not to be known as Ross when I'm 60.

Knowing yourself and expressing it is hip. I think knowing yourself is the real journey, for me anyway.

When you're playing the same character for a decade it's natural that there are moments when you want to try something new.

Sometimes I've felt that the industry has typecast me as a certain kind of character. But then I think all it really takes is one role, the right role, to shake that up and change that perception.

There are certain sacrifices that you make, and you feel like the only compensation you have as an actor is financial.

I think it was really crucial that the actress was age appropriate. There are films, such as An Education, where that wasn't the case, and I think that really affects how you receive what you're watching.

At this age - I'm 44 - I think life's too short. I want it to mean something to me, if I'm going to spend that much time doing it.

If I'm going to do something, I really put everything into it and I want it to mean something to me.

A lot of a movie is locations, frankly.

I would say acting on stage is my first love.

I think I'm a very very nice director. Very supportive, very nurturing. I definitely try to challenge my actors but I think I'm very supportive.

I love helping someone else tell their story, but I like being the storyteller sometimes.

I was a geek in high school.

With the success of the last three or so years, when a lot of people start treating you differently, there's a danger that you may start to think of yourself differently. You rely on your friends to say, 'Hey, wake up!

There is a danger, if you cast someone who is 18, 19 or 20 to play 14 or 15, that very subtly, almost unconsciously, the audience is, "Oh, this isn't so bad."

I'm very goal oriented.

I don't think I responded very well to the sudden celebrity, the sudden fame, and the loss of privacy.

And the thing is, every time you start a new show or do a new series, you're committing to another six years.

When you see Liana [Liberato], who at the time was 14, there is an inexperience and innocence that you can't act and you can't fake.

Ive always been pretty energetic.

If I were given a choice between two films and one was dark and explored depraved, troubled or sick aspects of our culture, I would always opt for that over the next romantic comedy.

Our imagination often is more horrifying than being shown something.

And, again, I'm the first one to say that I'm not going be successful at everything.

I think the other honest attraction was that I just grew up loving watching TV and loving watching film, and there's so many directors and actors that I dreamed of working with, I just really wanted to take a crack at it and see if I could ever work with some of those.

I think a huge amount of it is because of the Internet. Every single thing in the world is accessible with a few clicks. Almost every child, by the age of 13, has seen pornography. That's clearly different. It used to be really hard or really humiliating, as a 13-year-old, to access pornography. If you wanted to take a look at a Playboy, it was really challenging. Today, it's a joke.

I didn't want to be a victim of my own message [in Trust film]. I didn't want to take advantage of a 14-year-old actor. I didn't want there to be any nudity, or any real overt violence. I think it's more terrifying that there is no violence, in that moment. There's control and there's power, but there's no violence.

When I was six years old, my parents took me to this farmers market with a petting zoo. They put me on a pony and, for some reason, it took off at a run and they had to chase it down. They tell me it was kind of traumatic.

Directing takes a lot longer than acting. This was about seven years in development, and then two and a half years with pre-production, production, post and now the release. Not that I have people banging on my door to star in movies, but it takes me out of the acting game for a longer chunk of time.

I had invited 50 or 60 peers and friends, most of whom were parents, to see the film [Trust], and I asked about the last scene. It was interesting because it was split right down the middle, 50/50. About half the audience wanted it to end with the very emotional scene between Clive and Liana, and that feeling of realization and catharsis. And, the other half were adamant about keeping that last scene.

There are days when I think: what if I just checked out? What if I grew a beard and went off to live somewhere remote? I have often wondered about the freedom that would bring.

It was really interesting to be editing the film [Trust] in New York and directing the play in Chicago, and one definitely informed the other. The play probably benefitted more because I realized what scenes could be cut, and I cut those scenes from the play.

The reality is, Jennifer and I can do our job well because we truly are friends. But when the day's over, she goes home to her boyfriend and I go home to a magazine.

Older actors can still play young, but it's harder for young actors to be able to play that age range.

My favorite thing about my family is that my sister and I will go over to our parents' house on the weekend and play canasta.

I didn't ask to be followed by five video guys from 'Hard Copy' that harass you with bright lights in your face and ask you questions and try to incite you. I didn't ask for that. I never went into acting for that, or to be in the public eye simply by walking down the street, not being able to eat a meal without being interrupted.

I love directing. It's something I started doing in theatre when I was in university in Chicago and I started a theatre company right out of college and was directing for many years.

I have a lot of girlfriends whom I've never been involved with. Those kinds of lines get drawn pretty early on.

I can't go anywhere without being recognized. I'm.

I don't tolerate any kind of dishonesty. I bring a lot to the table with my relationships, so I really expect the same.

You know, I grew up watching all kinds of films. So, as an adult, I wanted to be involved in all kinds of plays and television and film.

We were not trying to push anybody into a deal,

We really do feel like we're working as a team.

There's nothing like a play. It's so immediate and every performance is different. As an actor, you have the most control over what the audience is seeing.

I've commissioned an adaptation of 'The Jungle', by Upton Sinclair, a story of a young immigrant from Lithuania to the meat-packing industry of Chicago in 1904, and the rise of the unions in America.

As an actor, the training I received was that I walk through the world as an observer of life and of people. My job is to actually be looking out all the time and watching people.

The biggest effect celebrity had on me was that I stopped being open and receptive and started to walk around with my head down.

Oh my God, people really think I'm Ross!

I started in theater. I did theater professionally for seven years with my company before I started doing 'Friends.' I was waiting tables and doing theater.

I really believe that, as an actor, you should be constantly studying other people, and celebrity had the absolute opposite effect on me. It made me want to hide - to run away and hide.

I came from a family where I felt great pressure to be financially successful, and I felt that staying in Chicago and doing theater, I was, in all likelihood, not going to find financial success.