Top 25 James Caan Quotes

Unless I love something or hate it, I don’t want to deal with it.

I lost my passion for work. No, that’s a negative statement. I just had a bigger passion for something else, for my son, and growing up with him.

There’s a big difference between wanting to work and having to work. And I had to learn that the hard way. Now money is very important to me, because I ain’t got it.

One night I went over to get some dope from some Hollywood tough guy. After I left, my son Scott, who was only fifteen, went over with a baseball bat to kill him. I was laughing out of one eye and crying out of the other. I thought, Who am I kidding?

A lot of young actors look up to me, and I wouldn’t trade that for any money in the world. I don’t want to lose their respect and be a hypocrite.

There’s nothing more boring than actors talking about acting.

To get over my divorce, I got a prescription to live at the Playboy Mansion for a while.

I have nothing against these big CGI movies, but there are not enough of the other ones – the ones with stories about character that have a beginning, a middle and an end. I said that to a couple of studio heads and they said, ‘That’s novel.’

I play a guy who believes he’s a king. He’s the most common man in the world; in fact his family, like his suits, are just make-up. It’s about dysfunctional people and dysfunctional relationships.

People say, ‘Gee, you do a lot of mafia movies.’ I think I’ve done two, out of 60.

People are always backing up when I’m just going to shake their hands.

What’s the difference between sex and love? I have four wives and five kids. I apparently don’t know the difference.

What I do quite honestly and seriously and not in any way being humble is not as important as what the garbage collector does. People make actors important.

My big thing is that I always get typecast.

My least favorite phrase in the English language is ‘I don’t care.’

I’m here instead of having shoulder surgery. But I’m not sure which is more painful.

There are a lot of guys in Hollywood who clap you on the back just a little too hard.

It’s always more interesting to play the villain.

My acting technique is to look up at God just before the camera rolls and say, ‘Give me a break.’

You’re the only one who’s closing your eyes at night. There’s no one else who can do it for you.

Anyone of my generation who tells you he hasn’t ‘done Brando’ is lying.

I don’t think silicone makes a girl good or bad.

I went to a shrink once, but I caught him going to a fortune-teller so I quit.

I’ve been lucky. The critics never went out of their way to single me out for doing bad work.

I won’t mention names, but in my career, the most talented people invariably are the easiest and nicest to get along with.