Talk:River Phoenix

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Those quotes from films are what we are not sorted under the actor, but the screenplay writers or even compromised, directors? So I suppose most of the current content should be remove4 ... --Aphaia 06:22, 26 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I would expect that all the film quotes should be moved to the films' pages and only quotes by the actor (outside of his films) should be left here. ~ UDScott 14:26, 26 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Unsourced[edit]

Wikiquote no longer allows unsourced quotations, and they are in process of being removed from our pages (see Wikiquote:Limits on quotations); but if you can provide a reliable and precise source for any quote on this list please move it to River Phoenix.

  • If I have some celebrity, I hope I can use it to make a difference. The true social reward is that I can speak my mind and share my thoughts about the environment and civilization itself. There's so much shit happening with people who are exploiting their positions and creating a lot of negativity.
  • I wish sometimes I wasn't as conscious as I am.
  • In simplicity there is truth.
  • I project a definite innocence. A lot of that is just the way I grew up.
  • I would get songs sung to me, like "Old Man River", or kids would call me Mississippi and things like that. At the time, I wished I had a name that blended in more with my surroundings. Now, though, I've really learned to love it. From fifteen, I really liked it. It felt appropriate. Before that, I don't think it quite fitted me. I had to grow into it .
  • Sometimes I hear stuff like "Hey man, wheres your skateboard, dude?" from people who think I'm Christian Slater.
  • I don't see any point or any good in drugs that are as disruptive as cocaine.
  • It still strikes me as strange that anyone could have a moral objection against somebody's sexuality, it's like telling someone else how to clean their house.
  • Addiction is not just for bad people or scumbags - it's a universal disease.
  • Animals are not our playthings. We are on this earth to protect them. It's our duty.
  • When I was old enough to realize all meat was killed, I saw it as an irrational way of using our power, to take a weaker thing and mutilate it. It was like the way bullies would take control of younger kids in the schoolyard.
  • I can't on my own change the regime in South Africa or teach the Palestinians to learn to live with the Israelies, but I can start with me.
  • Everything is ironic to me. There are moments I find hysterical, but I'm probably the only one who would find that, except for a few people.
  • Commercials were too phony for me. I just didn't like selling a product I didn't believe in.
  • Music is my main goal, but I'm not going to rush a record out. There are so many actors who have come out with albums these days. I don't want to do it because it's the thing to do. I want to wait until the time is right.
  • Music is a whole oasis in my head. The creation process is so personal and fulfilling.
  • Music is a hobby, because I'm not making any money out of it, but I put just as much conviction into that as I do into my acting.
  • I've been wanting to go into music ever since I can remember. I mean even before I became an actor. I just thought it would be a tough field to break into, so I became an actor instead.
  • I don't want to die in a car accident. When I die it'll be a glorious day. It'll probably be a waterfall.
  • I have a lot of chameleon qualities, I get very absorbed in my surroundings.
  • I sometimes lie, especially about personal things, because what does it matter? I am a kind of minute commodity, my name is no longer my own. I try to lie as much as I can when I'm interviewed. It's reverse psychology. I figure if you lie, they'll print the truth.
  • When I was younger, I was worried about how others viewed me and if I was good enough. I realize now that you can't mold an image or try to be something that you are not. As far as being an actor is concerned, your work really speaks for itself.
  • It's a great feeling to think that I can be a friend to so many people through my movies.
  • In Stand by Me, I realized that what I was creating was going to live on far longer than anything of me as a person. The characters are more powerful than the person that creates them.
  • I feel that there are great minds up there who would like to see what I can do with an Oscar nomination. I guess many people would change after a nomination in the way they see things. In my case it's really irrelevant in terms of what I do. Still, it was an incredible experience which I will put in my memories, like everything else.
    • On his Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Running on Empty in 1989.
  • I would just look at Harrison; he would do stuff and I would not mimic it, but interpret it younger. Mimicking is a terrible mistake that many people make when they play someone younger, or with an age difference. Mimicking doesn't interpret true because you can't just edit it around.
    • On his interpretation of a young Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
  • Every day of my life since I finished My Own Private Idaho, at some point in the day, I find the conversation somehow goes back to that film, because it was just such a great experience. I just start getting all joyous and start babbling about it.
    • On his feelings about My Own Private Idaho after filming
  • I did my best work in The Mosquito Coast. I know it wasn't such a big hit, but for me it was more meaningful than anything else I'd ever done.
  • * We were constantly moving to different countries and adjusting to new things. It was such a free feeling. I'm glad I didn't have a traditional upbringing.
  • Rich kids gave us their old clothes. They were the best clothes we ever had. We were these very pure, naive, poor children. The rich kids called us a lot of names but it never bothered us because we didn't know what the words meant.
  • We respect our parents and they respect us. Even when we were younger, it was never, 'Well, I'm the parent and you're the kid.' You wouldn't be held back because of your age. Just the opposite. My father used to say, 'The youngest gets to yell the loudest because they're never listened to!' My father talks to Summer, who is the youngest, the way he talks to my grandfather or anyone else. They always gave us a fair shot.
  • We all have our distinct things. Leaf was the family clown — very witty, very smart. Mom had to work a lot, so Rainbow was the mother and the older sister and trend setter. Liberty was always the most physical, like an acrobat, very nimble and strong, a really beautiful girl. And Summer was the youngest, the baby of the family, with big brown eyes and blond hair, more American-looking.
  • I want kids, a family of my own. I'd like to give them the first eight years of their lives in the country. Then I'd want them educated, which I wasn't formally, although I had a tutor once when I was twelve. At times I miss a formal education, but at others I thank God for everything else I have now. What I have got from my childhood aren't toys, but memories. And happy memories are better than any toy.
  • People wonder if I'll always be a part of this family and the answer is yes. My family has a lot of good energy going in one direction and because of it, we get a lot of things done. That's why I'll always spend a lot of time at Camp Phoenix.
  • I would rather quit while I was ahead. There's no need in overstaying your welcome.

About River Phoenix (unsourced)[edit]

  • There's something inside River that his parents are largely responsible for. He's got tremendous warmth; he's obviously been loved quite a bit. His parents have somehow managed to maintain what was pure and good about the '60s morality and make it work. When kids are talented and become successful, you never know if they're going to make the right judgments. Knowing his family, I give River a good shot.
  • I feel River Phoenix is one of our finest young actors and destined to leave an indelible imprint on American film.
  • You're working against raw talent and that's very invigorating for me -- he sparkles.
  • The talent is original. River doesn't know how to do anything falsely. Give him a false direction and he'll look up helplessly. He has a surprising technique that he has developed on his own- he has never studied acting. He couldn't be ordinary if he tried.
  • River's the best man, he's a god, he's the king. I pray to the church of River Phoenix!
  • He was impulsive and careless - he took more drugs than I ever heard of anyone taking before... I don’t know how anyone could take that amount of drugs without the idea that they were basically going to die. They said that River was stoned throughout the whole movie which just was not true. It is extremely annoying. It discredits his work on 'My Own Private Idaho' to say that he was on drugs. He was too good in it. You can’t be that good and be on drugs.
  • River was the best there was. River was a man with a future. You could see it coming right out of him. You could see his work, you could see his variety, you could see his level of talent was superior.
  • River was a good friend of mine. He is someone who i will always hold very close to my heart. He was someone who understood a lot of things about me that no one else has ever understood about me. He was very insightful, intelligent. Probably the kindest person i ever met in my life and he also had a lot of problems, you know? and because of that.. I cant exactly say why, you know? He made some bad mistakes and he died. Everybody makes mistakes, you know? It's just a shame when they happen to be fatal.
  • He was a great actor and a great young man; a great human being. He had a great family, a very level view of life, and a promising future.
  • When a role for a young guy is offered to me, I think of River Phoenix. It feels like a loss.
  • When he made a choice to do something, boy, he followed through with it and with a sincerity that was captivating and striking.
  • This song is dedicated to Frank Zappa and River Phoenix, Fred Gwynne who played Herman Munster, Dixie Lee Ray, Thomas P, Tip O'Neil, and you, dumb ass, who just threw water on me.
    • Kurt Cobain on 01/07/94 at Seattle Center Arena, Seattle, Washington
  • In River's case, i think it was more a shame that he was born than that he died. Because he didn't like this life, he didn't like this place and he's in a better place now.
  • He was my brother and I loved him a great deal. It was just an awful, awful mistake. We fed off each other and learned a lot from each other.
  • River Phoenix played my son and I came to love him like a son. I was proud to watch him grow into a man of such talent, integrity and passion.
  • I wasn't jealous of River. I was in agony with jealousy over River.
  • You can’t blame Hollywood for what happened to River. Kids are doing drugs everywhere in the world. He had his own very personal problems. I will never discuss with the press. They’re just way too personal. River had a self-destructive side to his personality. He was angry and hurt that he couldn’t have a private life once he became famous. He just couldn’t deal with having his private life on the front page all the time.
  • I don't have any friends in the business. Just River. Oh where, oh where has my Juliet gone?
  • River was a remarkable artist and a rare human being. I miss him every day.
  • River was the greatest actor of my generation at that time. He was so brave and so raw and so honest in his work. He really was such an inspiration to anyone in their teens and twenties at that time. Not to mention adults, who worked with him, who were so blown away by his talent.
  • He was very serious. Always a little worried and..complete genius. He was impossible to take your eyes off of.
  • After River's death, I felt like I was in an altered state. It took me over a year to get my life back.
  • River and I would talk about getting old, being in our 50s together, how it'd probably take us that long to get to work together. There was something gorgeous about us being old together. River will be missed — period. I mean now, more than ever I wish I could talk to him.
  • I've heard stuff about how the night River died he was partying and all that — it's so untrue. That night we were together. He was just playing guitar. He wanted to show me a new song. And... I wanted to go out to see Flea play, because I'd never seen him play before. River wanted to go home, just hang out, play guitar. I was the one who wanted to go out and he was just making sure to take care of me.
  • I'm proud of my brother. I would never not want to be associated with him.
  • I don't have the slightest desire to talk about my dead brother. He was a magnificent person and an outstanding actor. It always gets on my nerves to be compared with him.
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