Create Yours

Top 25 Alan Arkin Quotes (2025 Update)

Alan Arkin Quote: “Either you’re growing or you’re decaying; there’s no middle ground. If you’re standing still, you’re decaying.”

1. “Either you’re growing or you’re decaying; there’s no middle ground. If you’re standing still, you’re decaying.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “I gotta keep busy. I’m not happy unless I’m working on two, three things.”

2. “I gotta keep busy. I’m not happy unless I’m working on two, three things.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “Truth is always unfolding. It’s not an absolute.”

3. “Truth is always unfolding. It’s not an absolute.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “Improvisation sometimes seemed more like jazz than acting, like verbal jazz, with the actors playing a theme back and forth, and then introducing another theme, incorporating it, somehow trying to work their way all together to a meaning of some kind, or at least a conclusion.”

4. “Improvisation sometimes seemed more like jazz than acting, like verbal jazz, with the actors playing a theme back and forth, and then introducing another theme, incorporating it, somehow trying to work their way all together to a meaning of some kind, or at least a conclusion.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “A product is most easily sold when it has an identity. So they wrap you all up and put a label on you. And then that’s what you have to be. But what I’m looking for is the opportunity to explore what I can do, probing the limits, learning.”

5. “A product is most easily sold when it has an identity. So they wrap you all up and put a label on you. And then that’s what you have to be. But what I’m looking for is the opportunity to explore what I can do, probing the limits, learning.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “Is it possible to have an endless series of successes without falling on our faces? I suppose it is, but I think it would entail doing the same things over and over again without taking chances, without taking risks or exploring our limits, without finding out what we can and can’t do.”

6. “Is it possible to have an endless series of successes without falling on our faces? I suppose it is, but I think it would entail doing the same things over and over again without taking chances, without taking risks or exploring our limits, without finding out what we can and can’t do.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “For many years my acting came from a place of surmounting some enormous obstacle, confronting some stern and faceless judge who would condemn me to a pit of hell if I didn’t achieve the “zone,” if even for a moment. Not a particularly happy place to work from.”

7. “For many years my acting came from a place of surmounting some enormous obstacle, confronting some stern and faceless judge who would condemn me to a pit of hell if I didn’t achieve the “zone,” if even for a moment. Not a particularly happy place to work from.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “I had a hard time treating my field as if it’s horse racing, putting actors in competition against each other. I see how the industry and the studios feel it’s important, but I don’t really have a feeling for being in competition. I want to feel sympathetic and close to others, not opposed to them.”

8. “I had a hard time treating my field as if it’s horse racing, putting actors in competition against each other. I see how the industry and the studios feel it’s important, but I don’t really have a feeling for being in competition. I want to feel sympathetic and close to others, not opposed to them.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “I used to watch the world as if it was a performance and I would realize that certain things that people did moved me, and certain things didn’t move me, and I tried to analyze, even at that age, six and seven and eight, why I was moved by certain things they did.”

9. “I used to watch the world as if it was a performance and I would realize that certain things that people did moved me, and certain things didn’t move me, and I tried to analyze, even at that age, six and seven and eight, why I was moved by certain things they did.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “If I’m going to make a fake movie, it’s going to be a fake hit.”

10. “If I’m going to make a fake movie, it’s going to be a fake hit.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “No matter how much time you spend reading books or following your intuition, you’re gonna screw it up. Fifty times. You can’t do parenting right.”

11. “No matter how much time you spend reading books or following your intuition, you’re gonna screw it up. Fifty times. You can’t do parenting right.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “But one of the things I learned from improvising is that all of life is an improvisation, whether you like it or not. Some of the greatest scientific discoveries of the 20th century came out of people dropping things.”

12. “But one of the things I learned from improvising is that all of life is an improvisation, whether you like it or not. Some of the greatest scientific discoveries of the 20th century came out of people dropping things.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “If you want to be an actor and you love acting, you can do it whether you’re doing something else or not. You can be connected with community theater or make your own little movies. But, if you want to be a movie star, you’ve got a tough road ahead of you.”

13. “If you want to be an actor and you love acting, you can do it whether you’re doing something else or not. You can be connected with community theater or make your own little movies. But, if you want to be a movie star, you’ve got a tough road ahead of you.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “Creativity means learning where the rules exist, and then breaking them! Saying, “It’s better this way.” But you have to know the rules in order to break them with any grace.”

14. “Creativity means learning where the rules exist, and then breaking them! Saying, “It’s better this way.” But you have to know the rules in order to break them with any grace.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “There’s a familiarity that sometimes shocks and annoys the hell out of me. People want a relationship with you that they haven’t earned.”

15. “There’s a familiarity that sometimes shocks and annoys the hell out of me. People want a relationship with you that they haven’t earned.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “I don’t think it does the audience any good to know what I do to prepare. It keeps it more of a surprise. I don’t feel like it has to be a mystery.”

16. “I don’t think it does the audience any good to know what I do to prepare. It keeps it more of a surprise. I don’t feel like it has to be a mystery.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “Every physicist knows that things connect with each other. To isolate things is not the way the universe works – winning best actor is arbitrary.”

17. “Every physicist knows that things connect with each other. To isolate things is not the way the universe works – winning best actor is arbitrary.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “Marriage requires searing honesty at all costs. I learned that from my third wife.”

18. “Marriage requires searing honesty at all costs. I learned that from my third wife.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “I’ve always considered myself an actor, but I wasn’t making a living as an actor.”

19. “I’ve always considered myself an actor, but I wasn’t making a living as an actor.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “I know that if I can’t move people, then I have no business being an actor.”

20. “I know that if I can’t move people, then I have no business being an actor.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “Two-thirds of American movies are extensions of commercials – they tell you how to feel and they tell you how to think – rather than letting you figure it out on your own.”

21. “Two-thirds of American movies are extensions of commercials – they tell you how to feel and they tell you how to think – rather than letting you figure it out on your own.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “No matter what you do or where you are, you’re going to be missing out on something.”

22. “No matter what you do or where you are, you’re going to be missing out on something.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “That’s what we’re all doing, all the time, whether we know it or not. Whether we like it or not. Creating something on the spur of the moment with the materials at hand. We might just as well let the rest of it go, join the party, and dance our hearts out.”

23. “That’s what we’re all doing, all the time, whether we know it or not. Whether we like it or not. Creating something on the spur of the moment with the materials at hand. We might just as well let the rest of it go, join the party, and dance our hearts out.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “I don’t believe in competitions between artists. This is insane. Who has the authority to say someone is better?”

24. “I don’t believe in competitions between artists. This is insane. Who has the authority to say someone is better?”

Alan Arkin Quote: “You know what Andy Warhol’s sole contribution to this country has been? He made Campbell’s Soup a household word.”

25. “You know what Andy Warhol’s sole contribution to this country has been? He made Campbell’s Soup a household word.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “It’s murder to doubt yourself in life. It took until I was 45 to get to that point. As hard as it is in your work, it’s harder in your life. But it can be done.”

26. “It’s murder to doubt yourself in life. It took until I was 45 to get to that point. As hard as it is in your work, it’s harder in your life. But it can be done.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “My favorite kind of film is serious comedy. Comedy with serious underpinning.”

27. “My favorite kind of film is serious comedy. Comedy with serious underpinning.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “All I can say is if the part doesn’t delight me in some way, or I can’t feel any compassion for it, I just can’t do it.”

28. “All I can say is if the part doesn’t delight me in some way, or I can’t feel any compassion for it, I just can’t do it.”

Alan Arkin Quote: “Things are never going to turn out how you think they will.”

29. “Things are never going to turn out how you think they will.”

Motivational Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

Positive Quotes

Positive Quotes

Albert Einstein Quotes

Albert Einstein Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Motivational Quotes

INSPIRATIONAL SUCCESS MOTIVATIONAL

Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes

ENTREPRENEURSHIP BUSINESS INSPIRATIONAL

Positive Quotes

Positive Quotes

Albert Einstein Quotes

Albert Einstein Quotes

ENTREPRENEURSHIP BUSINESS INSPIRATIONAL

Steve Jobs Quotes

Steve Jobs Quotes

ENTREPRENEURSHIP BUSINESS APPLE

Inspirational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

COURAGE MOTIVATIONAL STRENGTH

INSPIRATIONAL SUCCESS MOTIVATIONAL

Swami Vivekananda Quotes

Swami Vivekananda Quotes

LIFE SPIRITUALITY

Save image...
Permalink
Open in new tab
Copy quote text

Beautiful Wallpapers and Images

We hope you enjoyed our collection of 25 Alan Arkin Quotes.

All the images on this page were created with QuoteFancy Studio.

Use QuoteFancy Studio to create high-quality images for your desktop backgrounds, blog posts, presentations, social media, videos, posters, and more.

Thank you!

Please check your email.