Top 122 David Duchovny Quotes

I’ve run into certain geniuses of individualism – they are very few and far between – who live their lives completely on their own terms; they are very powerful and have a great amount of happiness. We all should aspire to that.

If you have Darwin, Christ and Nietzsche, they’re all going to talk at once. You need somebody who listens.

I think there are ways in which shows can pop their heads up a little bit in the morass of everything you can watch.

In this age of media and Internet access, we are much more talkative than ever before.

People think celebrities don’t have to worry about human things like sickness and death and rent. It’s like you’ve traveled to this Land of Celebrity, this other country.

You’re raising a kid and you give it food and shelter and, most importantly, you give it the feeling that it’s special. I think people react to celebrities like that – I mean, they treat celebrities like children.

I’ve made so many mistakes. But it is my feeling that you learn from failures, so I welcome them as often as I can.

Willie Mays was the best ever. When I was in college I once made a catch like the one Mays made over his head. Sometimes when I’m lying in bed at night I think about it. It still makes me warm.

When I grew up, I was in Manhattan the whole time. But my kids have been all over the world.

One of the scary things is that, when you’re a kid, you look at your dad as the man who has no fear. When you’re an adult, you realize your father had fear, and that you have it, too.

I think of myself as more of a comic person. I don’t know about a comic actor.

I love the Lower East Side.

It’s hard to find scripts that know what they are from page one to page 115.

Anxiety is part of creativity, the need to get something out, the need to be rid of something or to get in touch with something within.

Generally, I don’t like to walk out of a movie. It’s like a relationship – you want to see it to the end; otherwise, you won’t know if you left early or not.

I understand the self-loathing and the resentment, and the discipline that it takes to sit down in front of a typewriter or computer every single day, whether it’s going well or not going well.

In the U.S., oddly, we have images of men as arrogant and aggressive.

The happiest moment of my life was probably when my daughter was born.

98% of the people in the world are harmless and wish you well, but it only takes one person who doesn’t. That’s what you’re constantly on guard against.

The key is to get to know people and trust them to be who they are. Instead, we trust people to be who we want them to be – and when they’re not, we cry.

Fame does lead to money, which I don’t have a close relationship with. I’m the kind of guy who never sees the money – it all goes somewhere else. I don’t understand it, I don’t like to deal with it. I have a fear of not having it, because I grew up without it.

I’m not really a gamer.

I really enjoy taking an outdoor shower.

For hundreds of years, that was the major form of entertainment: The grown-ups sat around and watched the kids play. Now they sit around and watch the television. The actors are the kids.

For hundreds of years, that was the major form of entertainment: The grown-ups sat around and watched the kids play. Now they sit around and watch the television. The actors are the kids.

Privacy is something I have come to respect. I think when I was younger I wanted to tell everybody everything, because I thought I was so damn interesting. Then I heard the snoring.

At one time there were voiceover artists, now there are celebrity voiceover artists. It’s unfortunate because these people need the money less than the voiceover artist.

I wanted to write plays. I was at Yale graduate school at the time for English literature, not for acting… I liked the idea of collaboration, and I thought if I’m gonna write plays, I should learn something about speaking the lines that I might try to write.

I don’t like the idea of being eaten by a shark. I like to swim in the ocean, and I think much more about sharks than anyone should. I really resent the fact that my oceangoing experiences are ruined by ‘Jaws.’

I don’t make decisions based on money.

I’m turning into a stricter dad.

Maybe the best things about celebrity are the things like being able to get that seat on the plane that you wouldn’t normally get, but that’s kind of like cheating.

I always dreamt of being a basketball player. A dream that only I believed in.

I may be learning guitar, but I’ll never be able to sing.

If you’re smart, you’ll always be humble. You can learn all you want, but there’ll always be somebody who’s never read a book who’ll know twice what you know.

A lot of times passion projects or films are difficult to make because they don’t have proven directors attached to them.

You become tyrannized by this notion that women must not only be treated equally, but they must never fail.

Every day I try to do breathing exercises, meditation, and yoga. These things sound awfully cliche, but they help me slow down and try to point to a truth.

I understand the self-loathing and the resentment, and the discipline that it takes to sit down in front of a typewriter or computer every single day, whether it’s going well or not going well.

In terms of likeability, that’s something that I don’t think about as an actor when I approach a role.

I think Polanski’s an amazing director.

I don’t know how anybody gets better at anything aside from doing it.

I don’t make decisions based on money.

Every day I try to do breathing exercises, meditation, and yoga. These things sound awfully cliche, but they help me slow down and try to point to a truth.

I’ve turned down jobs because I’ve said, ‘Honestly, I can’t find my way in. I can’t do it. I love you, as a director. I think the script is good. You deserve better than I think I can do.’

I never, ever, ever cook. And I would never eat anything I might cook.

I really enjoy taking an outdoor shower.

I think of myself as more of a comic person. I don’t know about a comic actor.

One of the great things about doing series television is the guest actors that you can have come on and play around with.

I don’t need my phone to play me music. I need it to be a phone and an e-mail thing.

I feel I have to work hard to nurture whatever talent I have as an actor. I feel like it’s not natural to me. So I don’t take it for granted… What I think is my natural ability – which is writing – I think I totally take that for granted.

Sex is great until you die, but it’s never as great as it was when you were a kid, when it was a mystery.

I enjoy comedy and I hope that people enjoy watching me do it.

Just like every show has a tone, every show has different people on it playing different games. I don’t say ‘game’ in a pejorative sense, I just mean, these are different stories that we tell ourselves when we go to work.

I’m kind of stupid when it comes to gadgets.

I don’t think of myself as a TV actor. I think of myself as a film, television and Off-Off-Off-Off Broadway actor.

If my work was good enough, I would never have to do publicity.

I won’t look online. The whole fan thing makes me self-conscious, which is not to say I don’t appreciate it or understand it. If Mickey Mantle were around, I’m sure I’d have a ton of questions to ask him that might make him uncomfortable. I get it. That doesn’t mean it’s not really awkward.

I love dogs. They live in the moment and don’t care about anything except affection and food. They’re loyal and happy. Humans are just too damn complicated.

Whenever somebody says they need an angle for their story I always fear that they’ve got an idea and they want me to fit into it or they want me to come up with an idea myself or I’m supposed to be more revealing than I’ve been, and to me it just sounds like something I don’t want to do.

I’m not really a gamer.

Actually, I have an interest in finishing my Ph.D., but I just know I never will.

I lost my virginity when I was 14. And I haven’t been able to find it.

I’ll instinctively know that I identify with a character.

There’s nothing wrong with acknowledging the panoply of life’s rich experience.

One of the nice things about acting is that it allows you to open up to the other people within you.

People always love and respect characters who speak the truth, even if the truth hurts.

Willie Mays was the best ever. When I was in college I once made a catch like the one Mays made over his head. Sometimes when I’m lying in bed at night I think about it. It still makes me warm.

I’m half Jewish, half Scottish. It’s hard for me to buy anything.

I’m half Jewish, half Scottish. It’s hard for me to buy anything.

Without whining and without making myself a tragic figure, there is no replacement for the loss of your privacy. It’s a huge sacrifice.

I lost my virginity when I was 14. And I haven’t been able to find it.

I like my computer. But I don’t know how to use it as well as the 10-year-old daughter.

I mean, you always want everybody to pat you on the back and tell you you’re wonderful every time you do something; I think that’s human nature.

You can’t control your mind. Why would you want to?

I love the ocean, wide-open space and trees, but I’m not a gardener or anything like that. I think I may be, eventually. I was raised in the city, so I don’t have that skill set, but my heart is more with the dirt than the concrete. It’s an unrequited love with nature – a one-way love affair.

‘Alien’ is a great movie. So is ‘Close Encounters.’ But I’m not the guy who goes out to the science-fiction festival. ‘2001’s good.

I’m very proud of my Scottish blood.

In high school and college, I was an athlete.

I was about 26 or 27 and it was imperative that I make a living right away and it’s hard to make a living on stage, so I started in television and film.

I don’t mind close-ups, I like them, but they’re kind of forceful – you see a lot, you get a lot of information in a close-up. There’s less mystery.

I’m always trying to perfect the romantic comedy, though.

I don’t believe in a conspiracy to hide the existence of extraterrestrial life.

I’m always trying to perfect the romantic comedy, though.

I had a fear that I’d be typecast, but I don’t really have that fear anymore.

On the one hand, people think they own kids; they feel that they have the right to tell the kids what to do. On the other hand, people envy kids. We’d like to be kids our whole lives. Kids get to do what they do. They live on their instincts.

One of the scary things is that, when you’re a kid, you look at your dad as the man who has no fear. When you’re an adult, you realize your father had fear, and that you have it, too.

It’s not someone else’s responsibility to honor my marriage. It’s my responsibility.

I think the real heroic teachers are the ones who work with kids, like my mom and my sister do.

I don’t like watching people work if they’re making art.

My favorite parts of work as an actor and a director are those unplanned mistakes that do happen, because it’s like catching lightning in a bottle. It’s the best part of what we do.

Sometimes the better the writing, the harder it is to play because you really want to service it.

It’s always a mystery when you’re going into a role – ‘Here’s your wife of 40 years and… action!’ How do you create ease or chemistry or whatever is supposed to exist?

Sometimes the better the writing, the harder it is to play because you really want to service it. It’s hard to be that quick and articulate in life. You’ve got to try to make it seem discovered, you know, not rehearsed.

People think celebrities don’t have to worry about human things like sickness and death and rent. It’s like you’ve traveled to this Land of Celebrity, this other country.

Part of being an actor is letting things come about organically as opposed to forcing them.

When I started getting notoriety it was cheesy to appear in a commercial.

I think there are ways in which shows can pop their heads up a little bit in the morass of everything you can watch.

I don’t like the idea of being eaten by a shark. I like to swim in the ocean, and I think much more about sharks than anyone should. I really resent the fact that my oceangoing experiences are ruined by ‘Jaws.’

I feel like I came to acting late in a way. I was about 26 or 27, and it was imperative that I make a living right away, and it’s hard to make a living on stage, so I started in television and film.

What makes me mad is arrogance, pretension, putting on airs.

At one time there were voiceover artists, now there are celebrity voiceover artists. It’s unfortunate because these people need the money less than the voiceover artist.

I don’t mind close-ups, I like them, but they’re kind of forceful – you see a lot, you get a lot of information in a close-up. There’s less mystery.

I think we all choose our style from the ether and whatever is out there.

If you’re smart, you’ll always be humble. You can learn all you want, but there’ll always be somebody who’s never read a book who’ll know twice what you know.

You’re raising a kid and you give it food and shelter and, most importantly, you give it the feeling that it’s special. I think people react to celebrities like that – I mean, they treat celebrities like children.

I may be learning guitar, but I’ll never be able to sing.

I love animals and I love working with them because they don’t lie.

Fame does lead to money, which I don’t have a close relationship with. I’m the kind of guy who never sees the money – it all goes somewhere else. I don’t understand it, I don’t like to deal with it. I have a fear of not having it, because I grew up without it.

I like my computer. But I don’t know how to use it as well as the 10-year-old daughter.

I always dreamt of being a basketball player. A dream that only I believed in.

There are certain things I learned when I first started learning about acting, to try and place the character physically and emotionally. And the way you place them emotionally is often with humor.

I don’t think I’d ever be cruel to an animal.

I never thought about the actors on television or film, like what kind of life they had.

Humility is considered an un-masculine quality.

I’ve turned down jobs because I’ve said, ‘Honestly, I can’t find my way in. I can’t do it. I love you, as a director. I think the script is good. You deserve better than I think I can do.’

I think people are always trying to demystify whatever acting is, so they want to know what your method is.

I just spend my money on the essentials. Just basically food and shelter.

Women’s fashion is a subtle form of bondage. It’s men’s way of binding them. We put them in these tight, high-heeled shoes, we make them wear these tight clothes and we say they look sexy. But they’re actually tied up.

I’ll instinctively know that I identify with a character.

Women’s fashion is a subtle form of bondage. It’s men’s way of binding them. We put them in these tight, high-heeled shoes, we make them wear these tight clothes and we say they look sexy. But they’re actually tied up.

You can’t control your mind. Why would you want to?