James Cagney Quotes

"Though I soon became typecast in Hollywood as a gangster and hoodlum, I was originally a dancer, an Irish hoofer, trained in vaudeville tap dance. I always leapt at the opportunity to dance in films later on."
-James Cagney

"One thing that troubles me is that they say that my portrayals of gangsters and hoodlums led to a tolerance of the criminal element by society. Well, I certainly hope they didn't, because I'm firmly opposed to crime."
-James Cagney

"It was just everyday living. With me, it was fighting, more fighting, and more fighting. Life then was simply the way it was: ordinary, not bad, not good, just regular. No stress, no strain. Of course, no one had much of anything, but we didn't know that we were poor."
-James Cagney

"I got a part as a chorus girl in a show called Every Sailor and I had fun doing it. Mother didn't really approve of it, through."
-James Cagney

"You know, the period of World War I and the Roaring Twenties were really just about the same as today. You worked, and you made a living if you could, and you tired to make the best of things. For an actor or a dancer, it was no different then than today. It was a struggle."
-James Cagney

"If the American family has seemed in danger of disintegration, I believe and hope it will survive, and I think America will return to old values."
-James Cagney

"The 1920s were essentially the time when I learned the business of performing. It was my initiation into the world of show business."
-James Cagney