Happy birthday, Robert De Niro! The celebrated actor turns 73 on Aug. 17, 2016.
De Niro is famously taciturn in interviews, but when he does open up, he speaks wisely about fame, aging and the importance of holding your ground.
Launch the gallery to read 10 of De Niro’s most thought-provoking quotes.
“[Fame] is fleeting. I think if you have the opportunity to work and do things such as I have, you have to be grateful that you had the chance and take advantage of the opportunity because you might not ever get another one. You’re lucky if you get two chances. Some people get all crazy, they think that all of a sudden they are God’s gift to whatever. Everybody is dispensable. Nobody is indispensable. You have to be smart about it. Just take advantage and do your work and be happy you got to where you got.”
“Auditions are like a gamble. Most likely you won't get the part, but if you don't go, you'll never know if you could've got it.”
“I think it’s important to have had at least a few years of obscurity, where people treat you like everybody else. Then it goes crazy, and all of a sudden people behave differently toward you, they’re agreeing with you all the time, they’re not telling you no.”
“My kids aren’t too impressed with me. They don’t say very much about my career. Sometimes they Google me, though. And who knows what their friends say?”
“You can't please everybody all the time, or even part of the time."
“if you didn’t have a critic, who would tell you how it is? Because people won’t tell you. When you do a movie and you’re showing it to people or audiences or friends, they’re never going to say that they dislike it. Because they’re with you and they know what you went through. So they’ll always find a positive thing to say. So the people who you’ll get real feedback from are critics. Especially good critics.”
“Part of me is shy, I guess...You know the old story that actors are shy, then they get behind the character they play, you know? There's truth to that."
“No matter how you do it, you gotta hold your ground at times. Other times you’ve got to compromise. But never a compromise that you can’t live with.”
“As you get older, you have more confidence.”
—GQ
“There are certain things I am clueless about as far as the new technologies. I see these people in front of these computers all day and I don’t know what they are doing—they are doing something, obviously—with Facebook, Instagram and all that. I am aware of it, but basically not in touch.”
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