Quotes from Peter O'Toole

My own favorite is something called Rogue Male.

The good parts are the people who don't make do. They're the interesting people. Lear doesn't make do.

When did I realize I was God? Well, I was praying and I suddenly realized I was talking to myself.

I will not be a common man. I will stir the smooth sands of monotony. I do not crave security. I wish to hazard my soul to opportunity.

I'm not working-class: I come from the criminal classes.

I do not choose to be a common man…it is my right to be uncommon—if I can…I seek opportunity—not security…I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed… to refuse to barter incentive for a dole… I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence, the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopias….

I am human, all too bloody human.

The script sits in front of you. The writer's translated into ink what is in his spirit and his soul and his mind. Bum. [Thumps table.] I come along, I pick it up, and the ink goes into my eyes, into my mind, into my body, flows around and that part starts to inhabit me. And I know a good part when I see one.

I found him perhaps the least terrifying man I've ever met in the theater—because at first glance I could see through him and he could see through me, and he knew that I knew that he knew. Look, love, I've been bullied all my life by bigger experts than Larry Olivier, I can assure you, and he's just got to get in line.

Do.As.Thou.Wilt.

I've never looked for women. When I was a teenager, perhaps. But they are looking for us, and we [men] must learn that very quickly. They decide. We just turn up. Never mind the superficialities – tall and handsome and all that. Just turn up

I can't stand light. I hate weather. My idea of heaven is moving from one smoke-filled room to another.

if I was to be an actor, I would love to be like peter o'toole.

I'm a working stiff, baby, just like everybody else.

My life is littered with copies of Moby Dick.

I don't go for this auto-cannibalism. Very damaging.

Irish women are always carrying water on their heads, and always carrying their husbands home from pubs. Such things are the greatest posture-builders in the world.

I'm the most gregarious of men and love good company, but never less alone when alone.

We were doing it under the most extraordinary circumstances, but the first out of the tent in the morning would be David Lean. He said to me on the very first day of shooting, Pete, this is the beginning of a great adventure.

I woke up one morning to find I was famous. I bought a white Rolls-Royce and drove down Sunset Boulevard, wearing dark specs and a white suit, waving like the Queen Mum.

For me, life has either been a wake or a wedding.

You know when you've found a part that you want to play. You know it because the part takes you over. It sits in the script waiting for you to play him.

In my day England, Scotland, Wales had 80 drama schools. There are none left. So there's no training, no discipline.

The only exercise I take is walking behind the coffins of friends who took exercise.