Robert De Niro Quotes

Quotes by and about Robert De Niro

(Continued from his main entry on the site.)

De Niro: "I don't get into these long-winded heavy discussions about [acting]. ... What you gotta do is just go out there and do it."

New York Times: "[His staff] is well versed in the essentials for dealing with him: never lie; don't sugarcoat things; say what you have to say directly; do what you say you'll do; don't delay, and in particular, don't delay bad news."

New York Times: "Robert De Niro lives by a code. In his world, sharp lines are drawn between good and bad, wrong or right, fair and unfair. It is a world run by basic laws of reward and punishment, cause and effect, where he can 'earn the right' to play a particular character only by working obsessively hard. 'You'll have time to rest when you're dead,' he says."

New York Times: "[For 'A Bronx Tale' which he directed] De Niro reviewed every bit of film, sifting through it like a prospector panning for gold. 'You can find a look, a moment, a glance,' he explained. 'It's more arduous, tedious, but necessary. When you think you got it, go back again and again. ... Exhaust all the possibilities."

New York Times: "He despises Hollywood hype and bitterly recalls one of the rare occasions that he pitched an idea to a studio executive. 'Yeah,' the man instantly said, 'I'm going to do it.' 'He said yes so easily, I knew he was lying,' De Niro said later. 'It's hard to say yes if you really mean it.' When De Niro says yes, he always means it."

New York Times: "Not surprisingly, for a man who 'works to relax,' as [his assistant] says, the quality he most decries is laziness. When another star is mentioned De Niro exclaims: 'He walks through everything! What kind of narcissism is that? What kind of nonsense?'"

New York Times: "Though his strong suit is common sense, he is [also] sentimental."