Leonardo di Caprio is an American actor, writer, and director, with an impressive list of film credits to his name. Of the dozens of films he has starred in, Titanic, The Beach, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Inception are just a few that stand out.
An actor of his stature, experience, and success to draw upon has much advice to pass on. The Leonardo di Caprio quotes below show him to be a considered, respectful man with both wit and wisdom.
Anyone reading through details of his career can see that he has kept busy throughout. For di Caprio, talent is a gift that must be shared, and so he is always seeking out new projects.
No-one can accuse Leonardo di Caprio of being lazy or apathetic. He leads a full and active life and is quick to act when he feels the occasion demands action. His acting career began at an early age, and he continues to be involved in an almost endless line of new acting opportunities, as well as directing and writing.
While he allows that his early success involved some luck, it was mostly down to hard work and determination. You can only take advantage of the lucky breaks that come your way if you are well-prepared and alert to all opportunities.
Leonardo di Caprio admits that he openly worships the great heroes of the movie business. Because of his admiration for these heavyweight actors, he says his main aim to be as good as they were. He wants to emulate his heroes and leave a body of work that will be admired for years to come.
Always, he feels, do the very best that you can whatever you are doing. Perfection might elude you but never go away, thinking, “I could have done better.” By doing your best, you will be a happier, better-adjusted person. Success will follow when you know that your work is the best it can be. Don’t waste time worrying as that won’t make it any different.
Di Caprio’s approach to failure is robust. You must never let failure control your next move. Put any failure behind you and carry on with your plan.
You can’t change what has happened, but you can learn from it and make sure that a similar failure won’t happen again. The consequences of failing should push you on to the relentless pursuit of success. Always keep trying.
In the pursuit of success, Leonardo di Caprio says, you must not allow anything to stop you. Do not be side-tracked, deterred, or fazed; nothing must get in the way of your pursuit of success and the happiness and fulfillment that comes as a result.
He also argues that no-one should be frightened by the need to change to succeed. Change is often good, positive, and life-affirming. Without change, there would be no progress, no development, and for people, no future.
Leonardo Di Caprio Quotes
I like to be able to play a character and act out a lot of things which I can’t or don’t do in my normal everyday life.
Leonardo Di Caprio
If money isn’t everything work at McDonalds.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I’m just starting to scratch the surface of what really makes me happy and it’s taken me a while to admit that acting like a little child and being a jerk and punk is fun.
Leonardo Di Caprio
Work until your bank account looks like a phone number.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I get unhappy doing things that I’m not passionate about. Because I feel like I’m squandering this incredible gift I’ve been given to finance films. As soon as my name alone was enough to make this happen, I vowed to myself that I was going to work with directors who were changing cinema, doing something important, you know?
Leonardo Di Caprio
We are all shaped from memories we have as young people.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Portraying emotionally ill characters gives me the chance to really act.
Leonardo Di Caprio
I want you to back yourself into a corner. Give yourself no choice but to succeed. let the consequences of failure become so dire and so unthinkable that you’ll have no choice but to do whatever it takes to succeed.
Leonardo DiCaprio
The best thing about acting is that I get to lose myself in another character and actually get paid for it… It’s a great outlet. I’m not really sure who I am – it seems I change every day.
Leonardo Di Caprio
Pay close attention to people who don’t clap when you win.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Money was always on my mind when I was growing up. So I was always wondering how we were going to afford this and that. Acting seemed to be a shortcut out of the mess.
Leonardo Di Caprio
Relationships are like electric currents.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I don’t think I ever expected anything like an Oscar ever, to tell you the truth. That is not my motivation when I do these roles. I really am motivated by being able to work with great people and create a body of work that I can look back and be proud of.
Leonardo Di Caprio
Never let failure take control of you.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I really don’t know what I’m doing… I don’t. It’s terrible. I go in there and I learn how to be like the character and do the best I can, and that’s all I really do.
Leonardo Di Caprio
Be thankful for the hard times, for they have made you.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Hollywood is a very volatile place where artists come in, and they essentially say they want to belong. It’s incredibly vulnerable to be an actor and also get criticism at a young age when you’re formulating who you are. We’ve seen a lot of people fall victim to that, and it’s very unfortunate.
Leonardo Di Caprio
Thirty is a very good age for an actor: you can play both young and old men.
Leonardo DiCaprio
When I started acting, I didn’t think of it as a career. I always thought Hollywood was this magical world where a fairy came down and said, ‘Come live with the Munchkins; you are now one of us.’ I didn’t understand the concept of it as a career. I thought I would save up enough money to go to college.
Leonardo Di Caprio
If you have done the very best you can. worrying won’t make it any better. if you want to be successful, respect one rule.
Leonardo DiCaprio
The bottom line is, when it comes to an actor and his performance, whether nominated or not, it simply has to do with whether that character had enough resonance with the audience. You know, to the filmgoers. And that something that you can’t control.
Leonardo Di Caprio
Wrong connection will give you shock throughout your life.but the right one will light up your life.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I am completely open to doing a romantic comedy, but I will never do something just for the sake of doing a specific genre or because it’s the time or place to do a different type of movie. I think that would be a huge mistake.
Leonardo Di Caprio
Only you and you alone can change your situation. Don’t blame it on anything or anyone.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Hopefully I’ve gotten better as an actor as the years have gone on, but the type of work I want to do has never changed.
Leonardo Di Caprio
Everybody has gone through something that has changed them in a way that they could never go back to the person they once were.
Leonardo DiCaprio
The good thing about acting is that it always keeps you on your toes… It’s not like any other job where you can go in and do the same thing as yesterday.
Leonardo Di Caprio
Last night’s win at the Oscars was an incredible honor – but it was also an important opportunity to bring even more attention to climate change. Last year was the hottest in recorded history. Climate change is real, it is the most dire crisis our species has ever known, and it is happening right now. We must empower leaders who don’t speak for corporate interests but who speak for us, our children’s children and those whose voices cannot be heard. Take action!
Leonardo DiCaprio
Meryl Streep does things I would never have thought possible… Her presence on screen is outstanding.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I just really love doing what I do. I know every career is fleeting and there will be time periods when I don’t get the opportunities that I’m getting right now, so I am taking advantage of them.
Leonardo Di Caprio
My father, George, has also affected the choices in my life regarding films. I like films that take chances or say something different or experiment. Growing up with him, I was surrounded by different artists – not just actors or film-makers but cartoonists, poets, writers.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I realize that I do not change the course of history. I am an actor, I do a movie, that’s the end of it. You have to realize we are just clowns for hire. After I had success it was great, at first, not to worry about money. It was on my mind when I was growing up.
Leonardo Di Caprio
I’m probably not going to get married unless I live with somebody for 10 or 20 years. But these people (Romeo and Juliet) took a chance and they did it. We don’t have the balls that Romeo did.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I grew up when I was 15 when I had my first opportunity in movies. I watched every great movie for a year and a half, and since then I’ve asked myself how I can emulate such artistry. That’s really my motivation. I want to do something as good as my heroes have done.
Leonardo Di Caprio
Being dubbed as a hunk sort of annoys me. It gives me a yucky feeling.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Don’t think for a moment that I’m really like any of the characters I’ve played. I’m not. That’s why it’s called acting.
Leonardo Di Caprio
I like to be able to play a character and act out a lot of things which I can’t or don’t do in my normal everyday life.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I have learned from my experiences in this industry that there is absolutely no way to control people’s opinions on your performance in your movie. You go out there, promote your film and hope people like the work you did.
Leonardo Di Caprio
I was always the kid in school who tried to get attention, not necessarily the class clown, but I’d do little unexpected performances.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I didn’t know what types of movies I wanted to do. I want to do things that are different. I want to take my time with each role.
Leonardo Di Caprio
School, I never truly got the knack of. I could never focus on things I didn’t want to learn.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I’ve been planted here to be a vessel for acting… That’s why I’m really taking any part, regardless of how complicated it’s going to be.
Leonardo Di Caprio
Don’t think for a moment that I’m really like any of the characters I’ve played. I’m not. That’s why it’s called ‘acting’.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I just want to keep doing what I’m doing and hopefully people will watch my movies.
Leonardo Di Caprio
Portraying emotionally ill characters gives me the chance to really act.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I don’t ask other actors questions. I think that’s too intrusive. I just watch. I don’t want to be constricted to an idea of what acting is by anyone else. I want to take my own education.
Leonardo Di Caprio
I’ve been planted here to be a vessel for acting… That’s why I’m really taking any part, regardless of how complicated it’s going to be.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I don’t watch anything of mine much. I haven’t gone to drama school, or college, either. I just like to watch other actors in action. I learned so much from working with De Niro. I’d be in a scene with him where I was supposed to be acting, and I was just watching.
Leonardo Di Caprio
My career should adapt to me. Fame is like a VIP pass wherever you want to go.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I’ve always been spontaneous and outgoing… I’ve tried lots of things so I’ve got some good life experiences, which is great ’cause it means I’ve got lots of material to work with as an actor.
Leonardo Di Caprio
I grew up when I was 15 when I had my first opportunity in movies. I watched every great movie for a year and a half, and since then I’ve asked myself how I can emulate such artistry. That’s really my motivation. I want to do something as good as my heroes have done.
Leonardo DiCaprio
My mom, Irmelin, taught me the value of life. Her own life was saved by my grandmother during World War II.
Leonardo Di Caprio
I really don’t know what I’m doing… I don’t. It’s terrible. I go in there and I learn how to be like the character and do the best I can, and that’s all I really do.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I’ve been very lucky to have achieved a lot of the things that I dreamt of achieving as a young man. But, at the end of the day – and I truly believe this – it is not about achieving great wealth or success. Because they don’t bring happiness, ultimately.
Leonardo Di Caprio
I didn’t know what types of movies I wanted to do. I want to do things that are different. I want to take my time with each role.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I saw all the moral decay you could, beginning at 2 years old. But I also got to see how the other half lived.
Leonardo Di Caprio
I have learned from my experiences in this industry that there is absolutely no way to control people’s opinions on your performance in your movie. You go out there, promote your film and hope people like the work you did.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Brothers don’t necessarily have to say anything to each other – they can sit in a room and be together and just be completely comfortable with each other.
Leonardo Di Caprio
I’ve managed to keep a clear head and remain sane in this business because I remain a kid off-camera.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Considering all that’s happened in my life, I feel like I’m a pretty levelheaded person that has remained happy and not let my shortcomings overtake the better part of me. I’m fulfilling the things I wanted to fulfill, and I’m still sane.
Leonardo Di Caprio
I prefer ordinary girls – you know, college students, waitresses, that sort of thing. Most of the girls I go out with are just good friends. Just because I go out to the cinema with a girl, it doesn’t mean we are dating.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I don’t see why I can’t have friends of both sexes without wild rumors being circulated. It’s crazy.
Leonardo Di Caprio
Hoover was incredibly ambitious as a young man. He was highly motivated to succeed in Washington, primarily due to his mother’s expectations of him.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I have a production company,; I have a foundation. I have a lot of responsibilities. Not family – just a lot of responsibilities.
Leonardo Di Caprio
My mother is a walking miracle.
Leonardo DiCaprio
My friends have named me the person they least want to do extreme adventures with because I always seem to be very close to being part of a disaster. If a cat has nine lives, I think I’ve used a few.
Leonardo Di Caprio
Everywhere I go, somebody is staring at me, I don’t know if people are staring because they recognize me or because they think I’m a weirdo.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I just really love doing what I do. I know every career is fleeting and there will be time periods when I don’t get the opportunities that I’m getting right now, so I am taking advantage of them.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I think I will always feel like an outsider.
Leonardo Di Caprio
I’ve always been spontaneous and outgoing… I’ve tried lots of things so I’ve got some good life experiences, which is great ’cause it means I’ve got lots of material to work with as an actor.
Leonardo DiCaprio
You do need parental guidance and I was in a great position with both my mum and dad. They split when I was a baby but even though I stayed with my mom they were both very much involved in my upbringing.
Leonardo Di Caprio
The good thing about acting is that it always keeps you on your toes… It’s not like any other job where you can go in and do the same thing as yesterday.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I really hate relaxing. I’ve done three movies in a row, worked for two years straight, and to me, idle time is the devil’s workshop. I like to focus on something.
Leonardo Di Caprio
I realise that I do not change the course of history. I am an actor, I do a movie, that’s the end of it. You have to realise we are just clowns for hire. After I had success it was great, at first, not to worry about money. It was on my mind when I was growing up.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I’m not the kind of person who tries to be cool or trendy, I’m definitely an individual.
Leonardo Di Caprio
It’s easy to fall into the trap of believing all the hype that’s written about you… Who knows? In a couple of years, you might find me in the loony bin!
Leonardo DiCaprio
I get a friend to travel with me… I need somebody to bring me back to who I am. It’s hard to be alone.
Leonardo Di Caprio
I’m just starting to scratch the surface of what really makes me happy and it’s taken me a while to admit that acting like a little child and being a jerk and a punk is fun.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I play fictitious characters often solving fictitious problems. I believe mankind has looked at climate change in the same way, as if it were fiction.
Leonardo Di Caprio
The role of Rimbaud is one of the most important roles to play for a young actor.
Leonardo DiCaprio
As a kid, I was going to be a marine biologist or an actor. When I became successful as an actor, I said, ‘Well, maybe I can lend a voice to this with an equal passion.’ You realize how lucky we are and how destructive we’ve been and what little regard we have for the natural world.
Leonardo Di Caprio
I got attention by being funny at school, pretending to be retarded, and jumping around with a deformed hand.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I love scuba diving, and I’ve been up and down the Amazon.
Leonardo Di Caprio
I want to be a jerk like the rest of my friends, and have fun, and not care about the consequences, but I just can’t now.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Raising awareness on the most pressing environmental issues of our time is more important than ever.
Leonardo Di Caprio
I don’t see why I can’t have friends of both sexes without wild rumors being circulated. It’s crazy.
Leonardo DiCaprio
A great white jumped into my cage when I was diving in South Africa. Half its body was in the cage, and it was snapping at me.
Leonardo Di Caprio
I’ve never been Romeo who meets a girl and falls for her immediately. It’s been a much slower process for me each time I’ve gone into a relationship.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I love being immersed in nature, going to places in the world that are pristine and untouched by man. It’s almost a religious experience when you go to a place like the Amazon, and there’s no civilization for thousands of miles.
Leonardo Di Caprio
I was a bit of a loudmouth, and I was in an environment where the elements aligned to have kids smack the hell outta me once in a while.
Leonardo Di Caprio
The best thing about acting is that I get to lose myself in another character and actually get paid for it… It’s a great outlet. I’m not really sure who I am – it seems I change every day.
Leonardo DiCaprio
As a young boy, I was obsessed with endangered species and the extinct species that men killed off. Biology was the subject in school that I was incredibly passionate about.
Leonardo Di Caprio
I don’t think I ever expected anything like an Oscar ever, to tell you the truth. That is not my motivation when I do these roles. I really am motivated by being able to work with great people and create a body of work that I can look back and be proud of.
Leonardo DiCaprio
With Romeo and Juliet, you’re talking about two people who meet one night and get married the same night. I believe in love at first sight but it hasn’t happened to me yet.
Leonardo Di Caprio
If you can do what you do best and be happy, you’re further along in life than most people.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I’ve always been a slow starter. My first date was with a girl called Cessi. We had a beautiful relationship over the phone all summer, and then when we met, I couldn’t look her in the eye.
Leonardo Di Caprio
I’m not the kind of person who tries to be cool or trendy, I’m definitely an individual.
Leonardo DiCaprio
These Leonardo di Caprio quotes show just how dedicated, hard-working, and passionate he is about his work and life. In these quotes, you will find wisdom and, above all, enthusiasm for life. Allow them to boost your enthusiasm too.