Peter O'Toole Quotes

I retired simply because I didn't have the passion and motivation anymore; I was tired. At the time I thought, 'Well, I had a great time, there is the end.' At some moment, there is the right time to call it an end.

I’ve made the decision to get off the stage.

I honestly don't want to act anymore.

Every couple of years - no, that's every couple of weeks - I think I'm going to give up acting.

When I reach the point that I write Yesterday, then I can retire.

Yeah, I was in the phase for the last ten years or so where every record I made I said OK, that's the last one, I don't want to record anymore, I don't want to do this any more, I don't want to have a public life.

As an artist, it's possible to get tired of yourself.

I've been acting since age 8. I just stopped enjoying it as much as I used to.

I pulled out of making movies in about '96 or '97.

I'm retiring the Mos Def name after 2011. I'm actually doing it.

I really didn't feel challenged anymore. I wanted to learn something and be excited again... While it can be a family - that environment is actually a family - in the sense that also you sometimes hate each other, you can't stand being around each other and grudges are held... I was getting cranky on 'Criminal Minds.'

Well, I just think through your career you go through different phases, and I just got sort of uninspired by the whole studio process of making and releasing films.

As for the reasons behind my retirement, they mostly center around simple fatigue and a fear that if I continue for many more years my work will begin to suffer, or at the very least ease into the graveyard of mediocre cartoons.

I think, sometimes, you can just get really burnt out on something you enjoy doing and feel like the sponge is completely wrung dry.

I'll know when to retire when I don't want to push myself anymore.

After much deliberation I have made the decision to retire from playing international football.

I have fully retired as a choreographer. I do not have the patience now to make actors learn their steps. For me, that ship has sailed. I have enjoyed 22 years of it.

I'm not the entertainer anymore.

I've done my bit for motion pictures-I've stopped making them.

I just felt like I had run out of steam. I just felt like it was my time.

That is sort of the eternal question for people who go to Hollywood...what will be the straw that breaks the camel's back, and forces you to think about doing something else? When do you throw in the towel?

It's hard for an athlete to quit what he's done his whole life.

I don't miss playing for the national side, I am glad to be out of it.

I'm going to quit when I feel like I'm not having fun anymore or I'm not competitive.

I'm kind of like an open wound all the time, and that's hard. It's hard to deal with, especially in this industry. Every time I leave a movie, I feel like I'm going to die. Because you connect with these people, and then they all leave. I wish I wasn't like that, but I am.