Quote Of The Day By Michael Douglas: 'He Said To Me, You Know, I Would Have Been Nicer To You If...'

Michael Douglas is best known for being an Oscar-winning actor thanks to his work in film. He won best picture in 1976 for producing "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest," before later winning best actor in a leading role in 1988 for his performance as greedy stock broker Gordon Gekko in "Wall Street." However, he actually broke out thanks to leading ABC's crime drama "The Streets of San Francisco" as Inspector Steve Keller. It's one of the cop shows from the '70s that still holds up today.

In 1974, he was nominated for an Emmy for best supporting actor in drama for his role in "The Streets of San Francisco," and nominated two more times throughout the show's five-season run for outstanding continuing performance by a supporting actor in a drama series. Later, Douglas received a nomination for outstanding guest actor in a comedy series in 2002 for appearing in NBC's "Will & Grace." Douglas then won the Emmy Award for outstanding lead actor in a miniseries or movie after playing Liberace in HBO's "Behind the Candelabra" in 2013.

The star has continued to act, playing the titular founding father in Apple TV's "Franklin" in 2024 with the likes of Noah Jupe and Eddie Marsan. Most recently, Douglas wrote a memoir about his life and sprawling Hollywood career, titled "One Helluva Ride." Since the book was recently published, here's his quote of the day.

"Time heals...Hopefully. Life moves on. Dad had that great line right after I won [the Oscar] for 'Wall Street.' He said to me, 'You know, I would have been nicer to you if I knew how successful you were going to be.'"

Today's quote of the day comes from a 2026 Associated Press interview with Michael Douglas to promote his memoir. A large portion of the book is about the difficult relationship he had with his father, acclaimed actor Kirk Douglas. During the conversation, Douglas said: "I looked at Dad as just Superman. He was so dynamic. He was so strong. He has such tenacity."

However, Douglas explained that his father had a "big temper" and he couldn't have written the memoir while he was alive because he was "uncomfortable" discussing "the early years and his physical abuse." The star said he managed to forgive him as he got older.

Michael Douglas' recollection of his father's comments to him might seem very specific to his life, but it features two key pieces of advice that everyone can learn from. The first, is that time is a great healer. Yes, it's a cliche as old as time, but any sort of emotional pain does slowly fade the further we get away from it and are able to process our feelings about whatever it is that has hurt us.

But the second part is more complicated. It comes down to the fact that you never know who people are going to become in the future. For Kirk Douglas, he had no idea how successful his son was going to be, and it seems like he regretted the way he acted toward him. However, someone else's achievements and success shouldn't be the motivator into making us regret our actions toward them. Essentially, Douglas' quote teaches us to take accountability for things in our lives without external pressure.

• "I go with my heart and do things I like to do. I've never been one to carefully calculate my career decisions, to sit on the outside looking in. I go with my passion and what moves me.” — from a 1998 interview with The New York Times
• "Do you know what absolute happiness is? For me, it is to wake up my kids in the morning — these little pieces of innocence — to wake them and find they're so happy to see me! It is unequivocal love, no question about it. And oh God, is that rare! So I think, 'Who knows what's next? Right now, we're here, we're together, we're happy.'" — from a 2010 interview with Parade
• "I believe there is a spirit within us, which we nurture based upon our efforts and what we bring to the world. But it doesn't come from the outside; it comes from the inside." — from a 2010 interview with The Hollywood Reporter
• "Sometimes we spend more efforts with people that are strangers in terms of making an impression than the person that's closest to us. And you just gotta remember not to take for granted that person that's closest to you." — from a 2014 interview with Entertainment Tonight