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When I Was Growing Up, Everybody In Charge, My Parents And Teachers, Had All Survived The War, And They Talked About The War Like It Was The Kraken - You Know, This Huge Beast That Roamed The Earth During Their Formative Years.

-Tom Hanks

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When I Was Growing

Tom Hanks

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When I Was Growing Up, Everybody In Charge, My Parents And Teachers, Had All Survived The War, And They Talked About The War Like It Was The Kraken - You Know, This Huge Beast That Roamed The Earth During Their Formative Years.

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I Have Gone Through So Many Examinations Of What A Hero Is, Between The World War Ii Stuff And The Astronaut Stuff.

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If I Was To Direct Ron Howard, I Guarantee You, I Would Put Him Through A Living Hell Every Day. I Would Demand So Much Of Him. We Wouldn't Quit Until He Leaves The Set Crying. Weeping! Spent!

One Thing That Was Amazing About World War Ii Was That Everybody Signed Up For The Duration Plus Six Months. Fliers Got To Leave Combat After 25 Missions, Or 35 Missions, But Other Than That, You Were In It. You Were Part Of The Great Effort, Until, Oh Boy, Six Months After It Was Over.

If You're Funny, If There's Something That Makes You Laugh, Then Every Day's Going To Be Okay.

The Truth Is That Everyone Pays Attention To Who's Number One At The Box Office. And None Of It Matters, Because The Only Thing That Really Exists Is The Connection The Audience Has With A Movie.

There Was A Period Of Time In Los Angeles When I Wondered If I Was Just Going To Lose Everything.

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The Reason Most Of Us Go To The Movies Is To Be Involved In Someone Else's Moral Dilemma.

In Your Mid-30s, It’s Time To Start Playing Guys Of Compromise. And As You Get Older, Men Of Bitter Compromise.

If Not For John Adams Leading A Revolution Against Great Britain...this Would Be The Baftas.

Some People Go To Bed At Night Thinking, 'that Was A Good Day.' I Am One Of Those Who Worries And Asks, 'how Did I Screw Up Today?'

I Understand The Concept Of Optimism. But I Think With Me What You Get Is A Lack Of Cynicism.

I'm Glad I Didn't Have To Fight In Any War. I'm Glad I Didn't Have To Pick Up A Gun. I'm Glad I Didn't Get Killed Or Kill Somebody. I Hope My Kids Enjoy The Same Lack Of Manhood.

When You're Going To Try And Have People Talk In A Room And Actually Reflect Life As We Know It And Have People Recognize Themselves And Their Own Street And Their Own House In It, Well Then You're Aiming For The High Country And It's A Much Bigger Gamble. You Can Interview All The Marketing Gurus And The People In Charge Of, You Know, The People You Gotta Fight With In Order To Get Your Seats Here, And They All Talk About Release Dates And Counterprogramming. At The End Of The Day, It's Gotta Be A Good Movie.

From Now On We Live In A World Where Man Has Walked On The Moon. It's Not A Miracle; We Just Decided To Go.

It Just So Happens That My Body Type And My Lifestyle Gives Me A Preclusion For High Blood Sugars.

I Have Faith That A Script Is Going To Hit Me Like A Ton Of Bricks, And When That Happens, It's Undeniable That I Should Choose The Role.

Believing Is Seeing And Seeing Is Believing.

Seeing Is Believing

The Prejudice Surrounding Aids Exacts A Social Death Which Precedes The Actual Physical One.

All That Most Parents Hope Is That Their Children Are Happy, Funny, Well Adjusted, And Have A Passion For Something In Their Lives. What Would Negate Everything Is If The Next Generation That We're Responsible For Has A Passionless Existence. And That's Cause For Occasional Sleepless Nights.

Making A Film Is To Make Sure That Everybody Looks Forward To Coming To Work.

I Would Not Want To Live In A Country That Would Have Me As A Leader In Any Sort Of Political Bent.

If Things Were Easy To Find, They Wouldn’t Be Worth Finding.

But Look, I Was Born In 1956, The Peak Year For Births In Us History. I Think I'm Very Representative Of Many Of The Thought Processes My Generation Have Been Through And, By And Large, People Of My Age Have Had Their Imprint Planted On The Consciousness Of Western Society For A Long Time.

Once Humankind Has Been Some Place And Found It Entrancing, They Always Go Back, I Think In The History Of The Human Race, The Moon Has Been The First Place We've Gone To And Said, 'ok, We Don't Need To Go Back There Again.

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For Some People, I Will Be Forrest Gump For The Rest Of My Life. But That's Ok; That's A Good Thing.

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I Don't Cause Riots, But I Do Cause Confusion. People Freeze When They Spot Me.

Before You Go Into What Is Essentially A Competition, You Have To Have That Confidence. You Have To Ask Yourself, "are They Looking For A Guy My Height? My Age? I've Got A Shot." And If There Are Nine Guys Auditioning And They're All Gorgeous, I Have An Advantage, Because Gorgeous Guys Are A Dime A Dozen. But If They Need Someone Else - Like A Goofy Guy With Bad Hair Who Is Just Okay - Then That's Me. And Finally, The Other 2 Percent Who Audition Are Geniuses That I Could Never Touch.

The Pixar People Continuously Amaze Me. They Come Up With Something That Actually Looks As Though It Takes Place In This Happy, Real-world. Every Plot Line Is Not Just Plausible, But Oddly Authentic. The Stories Are Full Of Adventure, Humor And Love. The Characters Are Written With Great Human Dimension. I Don't Know How They Do It But They Astound Me.

Now, Learning How To Make A Movie Is Something You Can Figure Out In About An Afternoon. The Physics Of It, The Marks, The Lights, Etc. What's Hard To Do Is To Suspend Your Own Feelings Of Self Consciousness. The Natural Actors Can Do That; They Can Become Part Of A Characterization And Learn How To Maintain It.

I Would Like To Think I've Reflected The Audience's Lives Somehow, Though It's In This Big, False, Glamorous Arena Of Movies. I Hope People See Themselves Somehow Up On The Screen.

Larger-than-life Characters Make Up About .01 Percent Of The World's Population.

My Work Is Really A Blast. When It Stops Being A Blast, Then It Ain't No Fun No More!

In The Creative Process You Come To Loggerheads And You Just Have To Keep The Process Moving Forward, Even If That Requires Jumping On A Plane And Flying To London. It's A Good Thing It's Fun, Otherwise It Would Be Too Much Work.

The Desert, When The Sun Comes Up...i Couldn't Tell Where Heaven Stopped And The Earth Began.

There Is Something Basic About Protecting Land By Taking It Off The Market. People Should Be Able To Enjoy Where They Live While At The Same Time Protect The Plants And Animals Around Them.

Help, And You Will Make A Huge Impact In The Life Of The Street, The Town, The Country And Our Planet. If Only One Out Of Four Of Each One Hundred Of You Choose To Help On Any Given Day, In Any Given Cause, Incredible Things Will Happen In The World You Live In.

The Cinema Has The Power To Make You Not Feel Lonely, Even When You Are.

Mama Always Had A Way Of Explaining Things So I Could Understand Them.

I Hope My Kids Understand That They're Not Operating In A Normal World. And Yet There Are Principles They Have To Adhere To That Are Normal - Like Decency, Choosing Between Right And Wrong, And Honesty. That's Important Stuff, Whether You're Flying First-class Or Not.

You Don't Necessarily Go In To Talk To The Person To Try To Find Some Secret Key To The Lock.

An Animatic Is A Process Where Every Voice And Every Sound Effect Is Added To Rough Animated Drawings And It Lasts Exactly As Long As The Final Movie. So You Actually Get To Go Into A Screening Room With The Rest Of The Cast And You Get To See It All At The Same Time.

The Most Accurate Representation Of How I Feel Is That I'm Incredibly Lucky To Be Working In This Structure Where People Get Paid Millions To Read The News On Tv. And, Yes, It Is Insane. And There Is Nothing I Can Say Beyond Acknowledging My Immense Good Fortune, And Being Aware That I'm Blessed, And Aware That It Isn't Going To Last Forever.

In The Early Days You Have A Tendency To Intellectualize, But You're Really Just Trying To Sound Smart And Score With The Chicks.

If I Have No Connection With The Character, Then It's All Fake - It's Just Blah, Blah, Blah.

Tweeting Is Like Sending Out Cool Telegrams To Your Friends Once A Week.

The Same Way That I Know That I'll Never Do A Movie As Good Or As Celebrated As 'forrest Gump,' I Know That I'll Never Do A Movie As Bad As 'bonfire Of The Vanities.'

There Isn't Any Great Mystery About Me. What I Do Is Glamorous And Has An Awful Lot Of White-hot Attention Placed On It. But The Actual Work Requires The Same Discipline And Passion As Any Job You Love Doing, Be It As A Very Good Pipe Fitter Or A Highly Creative Artist.

Movie-making Is Telling A Story With The Best Technology At Your Disposal.

Let's Not Pretend There Isn't A Huge Industry Driven By The Choices Made By Editors And Writers Who Decide What A Story Is.

Saying No To Something Is Actually Much More Powerful Than Saying Yes.

I've Talked To A Number Of Actors Who Have Gained Weight For Roles, And Just The Sheer Physical Toll It Puts On One's Knees And Shoulders - No One Wants To Do It Again. I'm 57 And I Don't Think I'm Going To Take On Any Job Or Go On Vacation Again And See To It That I Can Gain 30 Pounds.

Being Politically Correct Means Always Having To Say You're Sorry. Believe Me, The Power And Pleasure And The Emotion Of This Moment Is A Constant Speed Of Light.

My Favorite Traditional Christmas Movie That I Like To Watch Is All Quiet On The Western Front. It's Just Not December Without That Movie In My House.

If I Stopped Having Passion, I'd Be Done.

Houston, We Have A Problem.

I Am Who I Am, And I Think I Have A Good Nature, By And Large. But If Someone Takes Advantage Of That Good Nature, Well Then, You Know, I'm Not That Nice A Guy.

Eating Everything You Want Is Not That Much Fun. When You Live A Life With No Boundaries, There's Less Joy. If You Can Eat Anything You Want To, What's The Fun In Eating Anything You Want To?

College Isn't Necessary For Everybody And It's Only From What You Put Into It What You Go There For.

All Directors Should Have To Act And All Actors Should Have To Direct, So That They Can Understand All These Key Things That Come Into Play With Whether You Can Meet Your Day.

As A Young Man, Even If I Was Going To See A Play Or A Film By Myself, I Didn't Feel Like I Was Alone. There Was Something That Was Unfolding Up There That Brought Me Into It. And I Recognised That. For Those Two Hours, It Made Me Feel Like I Belonged To Something Really Good.

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Fred F. Fielding

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