Quotes from James Dean

You're tearing me apart!

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. So the director's task is just that – to direct, to point the way. Then the actor takes over. And he must be allowed the space, the freedom to express himself in the role. Without that space, an actor is no more than an unthinking robot with a chest-full of push-buttons.

I think there is only one form of greatness for man. If a man can bridge the gap between life and death. I mean, if he can live on after he has died, then maybe he was a great man. To me the only success, the only greatness, is immortality.

I can't let in the light.It will destroy my performance like light destroys film

Racing is the only time I feel whole.

No pretendo ser el mejor. Únicamente quiero volar tan alto que nadie pueda alcanzarme. No para demostrar nada, sólo quiero llegar a donde se llega cuando entregas tu vida entera y todo lo que eres a una única cosa.

Whatever's inside making me what I am, it's like film. Film only works in the dark. Tear it all open and let in the light and you kill it.

To grasp the full significance of life is the actor's duty; to interpret it his problem; and to express it his dedication. 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. Being a good actor isn't easy. Being a man is even harder. I want to be both before I'm done.

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.

Only the gentle are ever really strong.

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

An actual right is something that governments need merely to secure, not to implement.

To my way of thinking, an actor's course is set even before he's out of the cradle.

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

You try to be yourself, do only what you've always done and like to do, and right away, you're tagged as an oddball.

Remember: Life is short, break the rules

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

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.

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

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

Death can't be considered because, if you're afraid to die, there's no room in your life to make discoveries.

Racing is the only time I feel whole.

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.

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.