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There's only one Sir Michael Caine: a legendary actor with more than 175 credits and two Oscars to his name. He is celebrating his 90th birthday this week, so we're marking the milestone by looking back at some of his most memorable quotes. Some are funny and perceptive; others are self-deprecating and refer to his humble upbringing in South London's Elephant and Castle in the 1930s. But they all sound better if you imagine them delivered in Caine's completely distinctive speaking voice, which has inspired countless impressions over the years. Happy birthday, Sir Michael – and never change!

Caine on the British class system:

"People always told me: 'You can't be an actor, you don't talk posh.' And I said, 'I'll show you how to be an actor without talking posh.' And I did it."

"In England, I was a Cockney actor. In America, I was an actor."

"I'm the original bourgeois nightmare – a Cockney with intelligence and a million dollars."

"Just because I have made a point of never losing my accent, it doesn't mean I'm an eel-and-pie yob."

"Poverty taught me not to worry about money."

Caine on his career:

"The only alternative to playing elderly people is playing dead people. So I picked elderly people. That's a better idea."

"I'm an icon. It says so in the paper."

"I am in so many movies that are on TV at two in the morning that people think I am dead."

"First of all, I choose the great roles; and if none of these come, I choose the mediocre ones. And if they don't come, I choose the ones that pay the rent."

"I have never seen Jaws 4, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built my mother, and it is terrific."

Caine on acting:

"I'll always be around because I'm a skilled professional actor. Whether or not I've any talent is beside the point."

"The difference between a movie star and a movie actor is this: a movie star will say, 'How can I change the script to suit me?' and a movie actor will say, 'How can I change me to suit the script?'"

"Acting is not a competition – everything must be done for the good of the film or else everybody loses."

"You must always steal, but only from the best people. Steal any trick that looks worthwhile. If you see Vivien Leigh or Robert De Niro or Meryl Streep do something stunningly effective, and you can analyze how he or she did it, then pinch it. Because you can be sure that they stole it in the first place."

"My most useful acting tip came from my pal John Wayne. Talk low, talk slow, and don't say too much."

Caine on life:

"Books were my window on the world. Growing up at the Elephant and Castle, which was very rough, my paradise was the library."

"Nobody impersonated me when I was a child. Where I came from, everybody talked just like me."

"When you start pretending to have fun, you might have a little by accident."

"Be like a duck: calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath."

"I've had such a great time, I'd like to come back as me – and do it all over again."

Quotes sourced from IMDb, Esquire, azquotes.com, and Forbes.

Do you have a favorite Michael Caine quote?