John Garfield Quotes

There are many films in which minority groups are caricatured to the point where truth is all together lost. There are many more films, good in general, but untrue in their presentation of the Negro’s life as totally divorced from the Caucasian’s or the Caucasian’s from the Negro.

– John Garfield

There was a revolution going on at home. Why didn’t I earn some money? Why didn’t I do something practical, like chicken farming?

– John Garfield

I didn’t learn anything about acting until I joined the Group Theatre. They taught me an entirely new approach, an entirely new technique.

– John Garfield

To my surprise, I discovered that I could act, and I liked it even better than boxing.

– John Garfield

I wanted the attention I missed at home, so I became the leader of a gang. That way, I got attention and was recognized as being important. It wasn’t a bad gang – you know, in poor districts in New York, there’s a gang to every block. We never robbed at the point of a gun; we’d steal potatoes from a grocery store, or crackers.

– John Garfield

Reading is important.

– John Garfield

I did a lot of jobs when I was a kid – paper boy, grocery boy, all those things. I guess maybe I got a point of view then.

– John Garfield

Must I tell the story of my life again?

– John Garfield

There was no convincing me that a stepmother could be anything but a wicked ogre, and I acted accordingly.

– John Garfield

When an actor doesn’t face a conflict, he loses confidence in himself. I always want to have a struggle because I believe it will help me accomplish more.

– John Garfield

When I think back, the neighbors were always sayin’, ‘Oh, that poor Julie, that poor orphan.’ I loved it. The Italians would invite me in for dinner – it was an Italian neighborhood mostly. Oh, I loved it.

– John Garfield

I believe the more successful an actor becomes, the more chances he should take. An actor never stops learning.

– John Garfield

I always wanted to be in the limelight, and I found I could get it by being on the stage. That was the beginning of everything for me.

– John Garfield

I lived in a bad neighborhood. I knew so many things a boy shouldn’t know. I did so many things a boy shouldn’t do.

– John Garfield