Mike Nichols quotes

Mike Nichols was a German-born American director, producer, and comedian, acclaimed for his influential work in film, television, and theater. His career featured celebrated films such as "The Graduate" and successful collaborations on Broadway. He left a lasting legacy as one of the very few artists to achieve the EGOT—winning Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards. Here are 19 of his quotes:

Being with an insanely jealous person is like being in the room with a dead mammoth. (Mike Nichols)
The only safe thing in filmmaking is to take a chance. View quote
Mike Nichols
You can always tell gifted and highly intelligent people as they always turn to the past. Any young person who knows anything that happened before 1980, or 1990, or 2000 for that matter, is immediately someone who is intelligent, probably creative, maybe a writer. Nobody who is drawn to the past and learning about the past is not gifted. View quote
Mike Nichols
I was standing right behind Marilyn, completely invisible, when she sang 'Happy birthday, Mr. President.' And indeed, the corny thing happened: Her dress split for my benefit, and there was Marilyn, and yes, indeed, she didn't wear any underwear. View quote
Mike Nichols
The degree to which you're peculiar and different is the degree to which you must learn to hear people thinking. Just in self-defense you have to learn, where is their kindness? Where is their danger? Where is their generosity? View quote
Mike Nichols
It's the hardest thing on earth to like yourself, and then when you do, it's a catastrophe. I mean, the people I know who like themselves - I don't want to see them! View quote
Mike Nichols
A movie is like a person. Either you trust it or you don't. View quote
Mike Nichols
I love to take actors to a place where they open a vein. That's the job. The key is that I make it safe for them to open the vein. View quote
Mike Nichols
I came to love silence, because it's so rare, and it's now my favorite aural condition. View quote
Mike Nichols
There's nothing better than discovering, to your own astonishment, what you're meant to do. It's like falling in love. View quote
Mike Nichols
There's nothing in the American dream about character. It's a serious flaw. (Mike Nichols)
Any good movie is filled with secrets. View quote
Mike Nichols
Directing is mystifying. It's a long, long, skid on an icy road, and you do the best you can trying to stay on the road... If you're still here when you come out of the spin, it's a relief. But you've got to have the terror if you're going to do anything worthwhile. View quote
Mike Nichols
All the theories that acting is reacting to imaginary circumstances as though they are real, and directing is turning psychology into behavior, those are all stabs at something that can't be taught. All the great actors can't talk about what they do, and they don't want to begin to talk about it. They just do it. View quote
Mike Nichols
It's not a film-maker's job to explain his technique, but to tell his story the best way he can. View quote
Mike Nichols
That seems to me the greatest American danger we're all in, that we'll bargain away the experience of being alive for the appearance of it. View quote
Mike Nichols
If you want to be a legend, God help you, it's so easy. You just do one thing. You can be the master of suspense, say. But if you want to be as invisible as is practical, then it's fun to do a lot of different things. View quote
Mike Nichols
Yes. The whole point about laughter is it's like mercury: you can't catch it, you can't catch what motivates it - that's why it's funny. View quote
Mike Nichols
Nerves provide me with energy... It's when I don't have them, when I feel at ease, that's when I get worried. View quote
Mike Nichols