A compilation of quotations from Paul Newman from The Associated Press archives:
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"The light that you think you emanate is not necessarily the light that other people see. You think of yourself as a shy, retiring whatever it is, and some other people will see you in an entirely different way. ... You have to constantly learn. Obviously, you have to start with some kind of gift, but people don't understand that. ... I don't have a gift for anything. I've only had a gift of pursuit." — 1990.
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"I remember a speech I did at a graduation. I was saying how you spend your whole life trying to get 'it' and you never know what the 'it' is. You want to connect somehow, to be in touch, and this business is terrible because it encourages you to create that protective wall. Otherwise, you get eaten alive." — 1994.
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"There aren't many jobs you do where you do your work and people criticize you in print and on television about it. 'He's really off. He shouldn't do that.' ... They praise me, too, but that can be just as bad." — 1994.
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"I didn't seek out those (anti-hero) roles. They're probably written better. ... Maybe it's because the writers, good writers try to choose people who are loners or are anti-heroes for characters. You can probably find some good connection between that and their own writing talent." — 1994.
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"I've been trying to quit almost everything I do for the last 10 years, and I've managed to quit absolutely nothing. ... I was going to give up my race team, I was going to quit racing. I was going to quit films. I was going to turn the salad-dressing business over to somebody else. And get out of politics. And unfortunately, I'm busier now than before." 2002.
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"I used to make three pictures a year, and now I make a picture every three years. Things change. There have been a lot of good things out there, but they weren't the kind of pictures that I wanted to make. I didn't want to do pictures about explosions. I don't want to do pictures about shattered glass and broken bodies and blood. That just doesn't interest me." 2002.
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On his longevity: "Luck. ... Genetics is luck. Appearance is luck ... being born in the United States." — 1999.
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On working with Robert Redford on "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "The Sting": "We were lucky. We did two almost perfect films together. And to try to maintain that special quality is pretty tough." — 1999.
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On continuing acting or not: "There's a lot of stuff floating around, but I don't like to talk about it until it's in cement. I think I'd like to make one more film and then take a powder. It's time Joanne and I spent quality time together." — 2005.
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On his Newman's Own food business: "I got into the theater because I was running away from the sporting goods business. I could never understand the romance of it — I mean, of any (retail) business. ... Now that I'm in this business, I understand the allure of market share, and killing the opposition. ... Yes, I'm very competitive." — 1999.
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On auto racing: "Young (drivers) think about winning. I think about whether I'm going to have a pulse. ... When you get older and older, you start slowing down. Everything is off one-50th of 1 percent. Your eyes are a little off, your reflexes, touch — everything. You multiply that by just a factor of 1 percent, that's two or three seconds a lap." — 1990.
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"I don't regret anything. It came at the right time. I was getting bored acting. ...You become passionate about one thing, it leads back into something else. If you can gain a sense of passion and commitment in your life in one arena, it's bound to bleed back into other arenas. ... In all the things I started to attack — football, tennis — I had no gift for it at all. I had no gift for racing, either. It's just something that I really wanted to do." — 1990.
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"I'm thrilled. I'm on a roll now, and maybe now I can get a job." — Joking after winning his first best-actor Oscar in 1997.
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