"Keep interested in others; keep interested in the wide and wonderful world. Then in a spiritual sense you will always be young." "I liked the name Frederick Bickel and I wish now I had left it as it was. After all, Theodore Bikel, whose name was similar, though spelled differently, didn't change his, and he did all right." "Co-starring with Garbo hardly constituted an introduction." [Commenting on the fact that he and Wallace Beery, who both won Best Actor Oscars for 1931-32 due to a tie, had recently adopted children] "It seems a little odd that we were both given awards for the best male performance of the year." "Stardom is just an uneasy seat on top of a tricky toboggan. Being a star is merely perching at the head of the downgrade. A competent featured player can last a lifetime. A star, a year or two. There's all that agony of finding suitable stories, keeping in character, maintaining illusion. Then the undignified position of hanging on while your popularity is declining." "I have earnestly endeavored to perform my own share without fuss or temperament. An actor has no more right to be temperamental than a bank clerk. Possibly a very sane bringing up as a child has helped me to retain my sense of proportion in these matters."