Quotes from James Dean

You can do 'Hamlet' while performing cartwheels... as long as the audience sees your eyes - you can make the performance real.

If a man can bridge the gap between life and death, if he can live on after he's dead, then maybe he was a great man.

I also became close to nature, and am now able to appreciate the beauty with which this world is endowed.

There is no way to be truly great in this world. We are all impaled on the crook of conditioning.

To me, acting is the most logical way for people's neuroses to manifest themselves, in this great need we all have to express ourselves.

Trust and belief are two prime considerations. You must not allow yourself to be opinionated.

I think the one thing this picture shows that's new is the psychological disproportion of the kids' demands on the parents. Parents are often at fault, but the kids have some work to do, too.

An hour or two of learning from the masters is usually enough to recharge my artistic batteries.

Being a good actor isn't easy. Being a man is even harder. I want to be both before I'm done.

My purpose in life does not include a hankering to charm society.

To grasp the full significance of life is the actor's duty; to interpret it his problem; and to express it his dedication.

Trust and belief are two prime considerations. You must not allow yourself to be opinionated. You must say, 'Wait. Let me see.' And above all, you must be honest with yourself.

What do we need all that for? "If a picture is psychologically motivated, if there is truth in the relationship in it, then I think that picture will do good. I firmly believe Rebel Without a Cause is such a picture.

When an actor plays a scene exactly the way a director orders, it isn't acting. It's following instructions. Anyone with the physical qualifications can do that.

You are who you are meant to be. Dance as if no one's watching. Love as if it's all you know. Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today.

Dream as if you will live forever; Live as if you will die today.

Only the gentle are ever really strong.

If a man can bridge the gap between life and death,if he can live after he's died, then maybe he was a great man. Immortality is the only true success.

The gratification comes in the doing, not in the results.

Take it easy driving– the life you save may be mine.

Live fast, die young, leave a good looking corpse.

There is no way to be truly great in this world. We are impaled on the crook of conditioning. A fish that is in the water has no choice that he is. Genius would have it that we swim in sand. We are fish and we drown.

An actor must interpret life, and in order to do so must be willing to accept all the experiences life has to offer. In fact, he must seek out more of life than life puts at his feet.

Being an actor is the loneliest thing in the world. You are all alone with your concentration and imagination, and that's all you have.