Kevin Kline Quotations

Nothing makes an actor feel freer and more inventive and more creative than being trusted.

But, I do think, on a very simplistic level, that we can project onto dogs because they are so innocent. They don't come with a lot of baggage.

Some of my favorite characters that I've played have been very pompous because I love making fun of pompous people.

Most of the comedies I've done have been rather farcical and extravagant.

It was all completely incomprehensible to me. I was fearful of the language. You had to look up every third word.

I've got the Jewish guilt and the Irish shame and it's a hell of a job distinguishing which is which.

When you have satire, it has to be real. No matter how outrageous the comedy becomes, you have to believe in the characters.

We're all animals, but we're a different sort of animal. Maybe they're better than us. They're more loyal. They're more pure. They're more simple. They're not neurotic. Well, there are some neurotic dogs.

I never went to class. That the university graduated me at all is an indictment of our educational system.

I think every American actor wants to be a movie star. But I never wanted to do stupid movies, I wanted to do films. I vowed I would never do a commercial, nor would I do a soap opera - - both of which I did as soon as I left the [Acting] Company and was starving.

I vowed I would never do a commercial, or a soap opera - both of which I did as soon as I left the Acting Company and was starving.

I've never felt completely satisfied with what I've done. I tend to see things too critically. I'm trying to get over that.

I had studied piano since I was 13, but I was surrounded by students who'd been playing since they were 5. I realized I was never going to be anything but mediocre.

Lots of people fantasize about what it would be like if they were president... Most think they'd be decent and wouldn't be corrupted at all, that they'd remain true to themselves.

I can play characters who sing, but I don't like singing in a nightclub or something. It's not my metier.

I don't like talking about myself. I don't like talking about my personal life.

I just don't think I'm a very good singer.

You know, actors are fans, too. And talent is very attractive to me.

I totally related to Cole Porter's magnetic pull to any piano that was in the room, which he was famous for doing, as was Gershwin. You couldn't drag them away from a piano.

It never ceases to surprise me, the people I get to work with. I'm in a French film with Sandrine Bonnaire? I adore Sandrine Bonnaire. I'm doing a picture for Robert Redford? The Sundance Kid? I have to pinch myself sometimes.

I think it's part of that heritage or that tradition of the creative artist trying to reconcile the insanity and ruthlessness of the artistic process with living a sane and socially acceptable existence.

Those of us who are blessed with good health must do all we can to help support the research community in their search for a cure for juvenile diabetes,

I love the sound of a woman in the throes of rapture - but not screamers.

Nobody sees the same movie. I'm sure there are people who saw Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and thought "Finally a gay movie about men who really care about each other. Thank God!" That's not what I saw necessarily but I don't think any two people see the same movie.

Don't kiss a man who hasn't shaved.

The technique's many benefits for actors include minimized tension, centeredness, vocal relaxation, and responsiveness, mind/body connection and about an inch and a half of additional height.

Well, the whole trick to doing an independent film, is to keep great pace and momentum. You're shooting maybe three times as many scenes in one day that you would on a big, luxurious budget on a luxurious schedule, and you try not to sacrifice quality for that. Things are just compressed, but essentially the same.

I've done a couple of movies for scale, and it's the only way to get a lot of these independent movies made. The actors negotiate deals where they're given just enough money to live on during the filming, but then they participate in the back-end. If the movie suddenly makes a gazillion dollars, we'll participate in that profit.

But you have to trust your instincts. Because you're not going to try it 20 different ways during rehearsal. You'll try it two or three different ways, maybe, but then you've got five other scenes you're shooting that day. You've got to keep going.

People ask, 'What's the best role you've ever played?' The next one.

Playing Shakespeare requires technique. You don't play a Bach toccata by getting in the mood.

I see God as a song-and-dance man. If I had my way, he'd be able to carry a tune, too. Preferably, one of mine.

The worth of a life is not determined by a single failure or a solitary success.

Ambition without contribution is of no significance.

Just because you're not sweating doesn't mean you're not putting in the work.

Dogs do have feelings, I gather.

I'm a real pushover for animals.

Hindsight. It's like foresight without a future.