Hilt Quotes

Some years ago I had a complete nervous breakdown, was dead broke and had to be put in a charity ward with 30 others. I was there 18 months and doctors didn`t give me long to live. So now each day to me is a special dividend, so I live it to the hilt. - response to gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, who asked him why he was "trying to kill himself."

Pick the day. Enjoy it - to the hilt. The day as it comes. People as they come... The past, I think, has helped me appreciate the present - and I don`t want to spoil any of it by fretting about the future.

Whenever I play a role, whether it`s good or bad, an evil person or nice person, I believe in being a purist and going all the way with the role. If I`m going to be a villainous wrestler, I believe in going all the way with it and not breaking character and not giving away to the audience that I`m playing a role. I believe in playing it straight to the hilt.

What is going on in America is extreme. The youth cult, they worship youth so much it`s almost paranoid. And LA is the Mecca of it all; they`re taking it to the hilt.

I`m ambivalent about Patton (1970). I`m kind of a half-assed pacifist and I must tell you, you know, your philosophy is as strong as your feelings on a particular day. If you`re feeling good and you`ve accomplished something, you can back your philosophies to the hilt. And I don`t know what happened, but I decided I`m not going to glorify this thing. I wasn`t going to glorify war . . . I was a schmuck, because if I did "Patton" half as good as Mr. Scott (George C. Scott), I might have walked into The Godfather (1972). So that was a big mistake.