Paul Giamatti Quotes

You are absolutely free to describe me as a turtle or something.

Academia is a rarified culture, especially an Ivy League academic background.

I was the youngest child and got a lot more freedom than my brother and sister. I used to wander, doing my own thing under the radar, but I didn't get in bad, bad trouble.

I think that deep down all I have been looking for is to be accepted and liked by as many people as possible.

I like playing weird, kind of shady people.

I learned how to fire a sniper rifle, which I'm sure will be useful at some point.

Well, you know, when people say stuff about you, it's always really flattering. But does it mean anything to me? It's not really real to me; there's no reality to it.

I get tired of myself pretty fast. So I can't imagine other people don't get tired of me.

I get tired of myself pretty fast.

I don't consider myself a very interesting person. I have the mentality of a supporting actor.

I'm not a big wine guy. And bars, I never go to bars anymore. It's such a drag, man.

I still want to be the guy who can get on the subway and check out the freak on the subway.

I definitely had a top-notch education.

As an actor, to have achieved financial stability is amazing. But I always have this weird fear that I'm not going to get any more work; it's about not having enough money.

I don't mind talking about acting. I don't have anything interesting to say about it, but it's interesting talking about it.

I definitely have a tendency to only see the blemishes of things, and see lots of things about my acting that I don't like.

I always would be happy to make a character even more unlikable, but you know, there's a limit and if you go there, you get into a very different kind of movie, man.

I don't think film actors need training, really.

I mean, I'm not going to play the hero of something.

Acting can be a really silly thing. It's like playing dress-up.

I've very critical of myself, and film has been an adjustment for me.

It is because my dad died suddenly that I became an actor. I thought, I'm going to make money doing this thing I enjoy.

Lead roles are fun, but I'm especially happy other, more colorful supporting stuff has come along.

I like to work - I probably work too much.

My definition of likeable may be different from other people's. That's not traditional likeable. Sympathy is a different thing [to define it].

I felt like I did lots of crappy work in the past. I can't even tell.

Come on, man.... Hemingway, Sexton, Plath, Woolf. You can't kill yourself before you're even published.

Maybe it's because I have too much pride or self-respect, but I thought, 'Why does a guy who has thinning hair and who is overweight have to be a loser or a joke?'

I feel like in a lot of ways I've gotten kind of soft as an actor, not doing stage stuff. In terms of being a better actor, it's really important.

The broad comedy thing is really hard to do on film.

I married a Jewish lady, and we're raising our son Jewish, and since I'm not Jewish the whole thing is just a mystery to me. I leave it to her, actually, because it's just a great mystery.

I never thought I would have any particular career in movies at all.

I don't mind being stereotyped in some way and playing certain kinds of guys, but if I can find something to occasionally get a break from that, that would be nice. And I feel like I manage to.

I've got to be the geekiest guy in the world in a lot of ways. I'm like a zeta male.

I'd like to have permanent time off, really. The goal is financial security and permanent time off, basically.

I don't think I gave a good enough performance to be nominated for it. I thought I gave a fine performance, but those things are supposed to be about giving an extraordinary performance.

I'm clearly not Brad Pitt, and I'm never going to be Brad Pitt.