Richard Burton quotes

Richard Burton was a renowned Welsh actor, celebrated for his powerful stage presence and deep, resonant voice. His performances in both theater and film earned him international fame and critical acclaim. He became famous for his intense roles and high-profile relationships, including his marriages to Elizabeth Taylor. Here are 38 of his quotes:

False friendship, like the ivy, decays and ruins the walls it embraces; but true friendship gives new life and animation to the object it supports. (Richard Burton)

I might run from her for a thousand years and she is still my baby child. Our love is so furious that we burn each other out.

Richard Burton

This diamond has so many carats it's almost a turnip.

Richard Burton

If you're going to make rubbish, be the best rubbish in it.

Richard Burton

When I played drunks I had to remain sober because I didn't know how to play them when I was drunk.

Richard Burton

The Welsh are all actors. It's only the bad ones who become professional.

Richard Burton

You reach the top of the heap, but it's a circle, and you slip on the down side; maybe for years. You get scared. He said then he thought he was coming out of a slump.

Richard Burton

It's difficult for me to know where to start with rugby. I come from a fanatically rugby-conscious Welsh miner's family, know so much about it, have read so much about it, have heard with delight so many massive lies and stupendous exaggerations about it and have contributed my own fair share, and five of my six brothers played it, one with some distinction... it's difficu1t for me to know where to start so I'll begin with the end. The last shall be first, as it is said, so I'll tell you about the last match I ever played in...I had played the game representatively from the age of ten until those who employed me in my profession, which is that of actor, insisted that I was a bad insurance risk against certain dread teams in dead-end valleys who would have little respect, no respect, or outright disrespect for what I was pleased to call my face. What if I were unfortunate enough to be on the deck in the middle of a loose maul...they murmured in dollar accents?

Richard Burton

She can do everything...there's nothing she can't do...she looks after me so well. Thank God I've found her.

Richard Burton

Although I like to be thought of as a tough rugby-playing Welsh miner's son, able to take on the world, the reality is that this image is just superficial. I am the reverse of what people think.

Richard Burton

I stayed in bed all day yesterday, for instance, while she [Elizabeth Taylor] spent the entire day until well after midnight sitting in the main room, gossiping, etc. And, of course, inevitably sipping away at the drinks... What is more frightening is that she has become bored with everything in life. (Richard Burton)

My father considered that anyone who went to chapel and didn't drink alcohol was not to be tolerated. I grew up in that belief.

Richard Burton

Little islands are all large prisons: one cannot look at the sea without wishing for the wings of a swallow.

Richard Burton

A man that hoards up riches and enjoys them not, is like an ass that carries gold and eats thistles.

Richard Burton

I wanted that diamond because it is incomparably lovely. And it should be on the loveliest woman [Elizabeth Taylor] in the world.

Richard Burton

Make up your mind, dear heart. Do you want to be a great actor or a household word?

Richard Burton

A brimming pool running disturbingly deep...His voice is urgent and keen... He turned interested speculation into awe as soon as he started to speak.

Richard Burton

Money was nice but it was not everything to the actor whose greatest joys were words, words, and words.

Richard Burton

He was marvellous at rehearsals. There was the true theatrical instinct. You only had to indicate - scarcely even that.

Richard Burton

He should have been in the same rank as Laurence Olivier, but he was very wild and had a scandal around him all the time and I think in theater circles that would not be approved of.

Richard Burton

The magnificent baritone was not merely a voice. It was an orchestra of enormous range and power, its graceful sound seemed to linger on for millions who had heard it on film and stage. Homer must have known someone very much like Richard Burton. (Richard Burton)

Throughout his life he would quote and write in his Notebooks chunks of John Donne, Edward Jones, John Betjeman, Gerard Manley Hopkins, William Dunbar, Shakespeare and his greatest read Dylan Thomas. Dylan became his hero. Sweetly, their paths would later cross and a good friendship would grow.

Richard Burton

Dear Long-wayaway-one,' very antisocial I am when I don't booze. And no fun when you're not around... Do you love me? Do you want to be a lazy Jane and never work again? Once I stopped boozing I have enjoyed not working. But we can't do it though.

Richard Burton

If you're a bad actor, you don't get hired. But if you're a bad doctor, you can still practice medicine.

Richard Burton

Richard Burton is now my epitaph, my cross, my title, my image. I have achieved a kind of diabolical fame. It has nothing to do with my talents as an actor. That counts for little now. I am the diabolically famous Richard Burton.

Richard Burton

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Richard Burton

Richard Burton - Image

Occupation: Welsh Actor
Born: November 10, 1925
Died: August 5, 1984
Quotes count: 38
Wikipedia: Richard Burton

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