Top 80 Robert De Niro Quotes (2024 Update)
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51. “I always enjoy coming to Israel. Israelis are warm, they’re energetic people. Forthright. Very smart. I always like smart people. They’re nice people, you know. Aggressive, and I respect that aggressiveness because you need it in their situation.”

— Robert De Niro

52. “Money makes your life easier. If you’re lucky to have it, you’re lucky.”

— Robert De Niro

53. “One regret I have: I didn’t get as much of the family history as I could have for the kids.”

— Robert De Niro

54. “I always tell actors when they go in for an audition: Don’t be afraid to do what your instincts tell you. You may not get the part, but people will take notice.”

— Robert De Niro

55. “I love to find new people. It’s not for the sake of their being new; it’s because if you find someone who perfectly fits a part, that’s such a great thing.”

— Robert De Niro

56. “As I get older, I think that things have been pre-determined for me, whether I liked it or wanted it, wished for it, whatever, way before in some way. And with others, you do have a choice that you can change. And that choice that you make is still part of this grand scheme.”

— Robert De Niro

57. “My mother worked for a woman, Maria Ley-Piscator, who with her husband founded the Dramatic Workshop, which was connected to the New School. My mother did proofreading and typing and stuff or her, and as part of her payment, I was able to take acting classes there on Saturdays when I was 10.”

— Robert De Niro

58. “As an actor who’s starting out, you can’t say, “Hey, I’m too good for this.” You gotta do it, because people see you, your name gets around, and it has a cumulative effect.”

— Robert De Niro

59. “I mean, the actors that I admired were Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, an actress named Barbara Harris. And Greta Garbo. They were great actors.”

— Robert De Niro

60. “I’ve never been one of those actors who has touted myself as a fascinating human being. I had to decide early on whether I was to be an actor or a personality.”

— Robert De Niro

61. “There is only one way to gain access to the truth and that is to not expect anything.”

— Robert De Niro

62. “Everybody’s in New York and, hopefully, my younger kids will go to college in New York and find something they want to do so they’ll stay in the city.”

— Robert De Niro

63. “I don’t remember what made me want to be an actor. In fact, I’m always curious.”

— Robert De Niro

64. “The hardest thing about being famous is that people are always nice to you.”

— Robert De Niro

65. “I think it’s important to have had at least a few years of obscurity, where people treat you like everybody else.”

— Robert De Niro

66. “I think Hollywood has a class system. The actors are like the inmates, but the truth is they’re running the asylum.”

— Robert De Niro

67. “Callista Gingrich. Karen Santorum. Ann Romney. Now do you really think our country is ready for a white first lady?”

— Robert De Niro

68. “I guess the only thing to do now is meet his parents. I’m sure they’re decent people. I mean they gotta be if they named their son Gaylord Focker.”

— Robert De Niro

69. “Things rarely turn out the way we want them to.”

— Robert De Niro

70. “Movies are hard work. The public doesn’t see that. The critics don’t see it. But they’re a lot of work. A lot of work.”

— Robert De Niro

71. “Movies are hard to make, and you have to work toward a common ethic and do your best. You don’t want to work with people who don’t care or who are acting out some neurotic, crazy thesis on the set.”

— Robert De Niro

72. “In civilized societies, we spend our lifetimes trying to become what is socially acceptable. We’re dark and we’re light. We all have both sides to us.”

— Robert De Niro

73. “You don’t just play a part. You’ve got to earn the right to play it.”

— Robert De Niro

74. “I don’t get into these long-winded heavy discussions about character – do we do this or that or what. At the end of the day, what you gotta do is just go out there and do it.”

— Robert De Niro

75. “The director respects what they’ve hired you for and chosen you for: to do the part and respect what you’re doing.”

— Robert De Niro

76. “I always wanted to direct. Directing is a lot more of a commitment though, a lot more time. I like directors who do very few takes, they know what they want.”

— Robert De Niro

77. “Sometimes if you have financial restraints, it’s a benefit. It forces you to come up with a more creative way.”

— Robert De Niro

78. “As a kid I didn’t root for the bad guys.”

— Robert De Niro

79. “You always learn something about movies. Directing or acting, there’s always something new. It’s the technological thing; there’s always something to learn.”

— Robert De Niro

80. “I spent lunchtime in a grave during the filming of ‘Bloody Mama.’ When you’re younger, you feel that’s what you need to do to help you stay in character. When you get older, you become more confident and less intense about it – and you can achieve the same effect.”

— Robert De Niro

81. “I can get around pretty easily. People don’t expect to see me walking around.”

— Robert De Niro

82. “In acting, I always try to go back to what would actually be the real situation, the real human behavior in life.”

— Robert De Niro

83. “You draw on whatever’s relevant to the part you’re playing. It makes it more personal.”

— Robert De Niro

84. “Good directors can bring certain things out of you, with their intensity or gentleness or sensitivity or understanding. They can make an actor feel he can do no wrong.”

— Robert De Niro

85. “I certainly know the difference between right and wrong.”

— Robert De Niro

86. “Everyone’s always interested in a dark theme, especially when there’s humor connected to it. It seems like that helps, if that’s an integral and organic part of the whole story.”

— Robert De Niro