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After Directing Awhile, You Get An Instinct About It, But You Have To Be Able To Trust Your Own Feelings. Invariably, Two-thirds Of The Way Through A Film, You Say, "jeezus, Is This A Pile Of Crap! What Did I Ever See In It In The First Place?" You Have To Shut Off Your Brain And Forge Ahead, Because By That Time You're Getting So Brainwashed. Once I Commit Myself To A Film I Commit Myself To That Ending, Whatever The Motivations And Conclusions Are.

-Clint Eastwood

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After Directing Awhile, You

Clint Eastwood

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After Directing Awhile, You Get An Instinct About It, But You Have To Be Able To Trust Your Own Feelings. Invariably, Two-thirds Of The Way Through A Film, You Say, "jeezus, Is This A Pile Of Crap! What Did I Ever See In It In The First Place?" You Have To Shut Off Your Brain And Forge Ahead, Because By That Time You're Getting So Brainwashed. Once I Commit Myself To A Film I Commit Myself To That Ending, Whatever The Motivations And Conclusions Are.

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When You Hang A Man, You Better Look At Him.

I Think The Only Way It Has Influenced Me Is To Cause Me To Try To Branch Out And Do Other Things. So That People Will Know That I Am Reaching Out And Trying To Be A Little More Versatile. So They Realize He Is Not A "dirty Harry." He Doesn't Advocate Martial Law Or Mayhem -it's A Character.

Kids Piercing Themselves, Piercing Their Tongues, What Kind Of Masochism Is That? Is It To Show You Can Just Take It?

Pay Attention To The Work You Want To Do And Everything'll Work Out Fine. If You're In It For The Ego, You Might Be Successful But At A Limited Level.

I'm Not A Chick-flick Enthusiast.

The More Time You Have To Think Things Through, The More You Have To Screw It Up.

I Always Like To Try Different Things, Different Genres; Stories That Have A Dramatic Element And Can Generate Conflict Which I Find Appealing; Where The Characters Have To Overcome Obstacles. That Kind Of Thing Is Challenging.

In Recent Times It Just Seems That Women Have Been Relegated To Either Romantic Roles Or Fluff Pieces. So The Appeal, For Me, Is To Make A Picture About A Real Woman.

Actors Know What Actors Are Insecure About - And They're All Insecure.

I'm Past Doing One Chin-up More Than I Did The Day Before. I Just Kind Of Do What I Feel Like.

Most People Who'll Remember Me, If At All, Will Remember Me As An Action Guy, Which Is Okay. There's Nothing Wrong With That. But There Will Be A Certain Group Which Will Remember Me For The Other Films, The Ones Where I Took A Few Chances. At Least, I Like To Think So.

It's A Very Confusing Era That We're In.

I Always Thought What An Interesting Idea Because Almost Everybody's Fascinated By The Perpetrator Of A Crime; Very Few People Study What Happens To People For The Rest Of Their Lives, And How It Affects Not Only That Particular Character But Other Characters Around Him As Well.

Respect Your Efforts, Respect Yourself. Self-respect Leads To Self-discipline. When You Have Both Firmly Under Your Belt, That's Real Power.

If You're Afraid To Take Risks In Anything In Life, It's Just Boredom.

Anything In Life

I Have Great Respect For The Fbi, And I Know That There Have Been Some Rumors Lately That The Fbi Was Disenchanted Because Of What We Were Doing In Story, Or Doing A Certain Take: That's Not True. Actually The Fbi Was Tremendously Enthusiastic About Us Doing [ J. Edgar Hoover ] Film.

These People Who Are Making A Big Deal Out Of Gay Marriage? I Don't Give A Fuck About Who Wants To Get Married To Anybody Else! Why Not?! We're Making A Big Deal Out Of Things We Shouldn't Be Making A Deal Out Of. Hey Go On And On With All This Bullshit About "sanctity"—don't Give Me That Sanctity Crap! Just Give Everybody The Chance To Have The Life They Want.

You Know I've Had People Come Up And Ask Me To Sign Their Guns. Sign My Name On Gun Handles And Holsters And Stuff. I've Done It Once Or Twice For Law Enforcement Officials, But When People Do That -- And There Have Been Quite A Few Of Them Lately -- I Always Tell Them No. I Don't Want To Do That. I Don't Want My Name On That And I Hope You Use This Gun, Whatever Its Purpose Is, I Hope It's Used Wisely.

You Always Want To Quit While You Are Ahead. You Don't Want To Be Like A Fighter Who Stays Too Long In The Ring Until You're Not Performing At Your Best.

My Uncle Played Rugby, And My Dad Played Football, And They Used To Argue Which Game Was The Roughest - And Everybody Agreed Rugby Was. It's A Great Team Sport, And To Be Successful, Every Person Has To Play In The Same Level.

There's Only One Way To Have A Happy Marriage And As Soon As I Learn What It Is I'll Get Married Again.

I'm Just Naturally Gravitating Towards Different Things. As You Mature, Different Subject Matters. And As You're Older, You Can't Play As Many Parts, Or You Shouldn't Be Playing The Parts That You Used To Play. But Also There's The Opportunity To Play Parts That You Couldn't Have.

It's Always Fun To Talk About Jazz.

You Have To Go With Your Instincts. I Remember When I Was About To Make "fistful Of Dollars" A Big Article Came Out That Said, "italian Westerns Are Finished." I Said, "swell." Then, Of Course, The Film Came Out, And It Did Something. I'm So Glad For The Dozens Of Times I Haven't Listened Along The Way.

It's What People Know About Themselves Inside That Makes Them Afraid.

At Certain Points If Your Life, You Like Doing More. I'm Not Sure What Causes It Or For What Reasons; You Just Do It.

After Directing Awhile, You Get An Instinct About It, But You Have To Be Able To Trust Your Own Feelings. Invariably, Two-thirds Of The Way Through A Film, You Say, "jeezus, Is This A Pile Of Crap! What Did I Ever See In It In The First Place?" You Have To Shut Off Your Brain And Forge Ahead, Because By That Time You're Getting So Brainwashed. Once I Commit Myself To A Film I Commit Myself To That Ending, Whatever The Motivations And Conclusions Are.

My Whole Life Has Been One Big Improvisation.

Society Is At Odds With Itself.

Dyin' Ain't Much Of A Living, Boy.

You Have To Trust Your Instincts. There Is A Moment When An Actor Has It, And He Knows It.

Over My Career I Played Some Badass Characters. So, People Sometimes Think I Should Have A .44 Magnum. But That's Not True, I Don't Have That. But I Do Fire Them And I Do Enjoy Target Shooting And All That Sort Of Thing. I'm Not Much Of A Hunter. I Don't Like Killing Animals, But I Love To Shoot.

Fate Pulls You In Different Directions

Different Directions

I'm A Movie Maker, But I Have The Same Feelings As The Average Guy Out There.

Just Trust Your Instincts. There's An Old Saying In Golf, You've Studied The Swing Many Times, And You Practice And Practice, But When You Stand Over The Ball, You Just Have To Trust Your Swing. And You Trust It. And If You Don't Trust It, You'll Ruin It; Your Brain Will Take Over.

Every Man Has Got To Know His Limitations.

I Never Considered Myself A Cowboy, Because I Wasn`t. But I Guess When I Got Into Cowboy Gear I Looked Enough Like One To Convince People That I Was.

Winning The Election Is A Good-news, Bad-news Kind Of Thing. Okay, Now You're The Mayor. The Bad News Is, Now You're The Mayor.

First, I Blow A Hole In Your Face; Then I Go Back Inside, And Sleep Like A Baby... I Guarantee You.

There's A Rebel Lying Deep In My Soul. Anytime Anybody Tells Me The Trend Is Such And Such, I Go The Opposite Direction. I Hate The Idea Of Trends. I Hate Imitation; I Have A Reverence For Individuality.

I'm A Great Supporter Of Transcendental Meditation. I've Been Using It For Almost 40 Years Now - And I Think It's A Great Tool For Anyone To Have, To Be Able To Utilize As A Tool For Stress. Stress, Of Course, Comes With Almost Every Business. I Think There Are Enough Studies Out There That Show That Tm Is Something That Could Benefit Anybody. It's A Great System To Use. Otherwise, Why Would I've Been Doing It For All These Years, For Almost Half Of My Life?

If You Want A Guarantee, Buy A Toaster.

There Was A Stool There, And Some Fella Kept Asking Me If I Wanted To Sit Down. When I Saw The Stool Sitting There, It Gave Me The Idea. I'll Just Put The Stool Out There And I'll Talk To Mr Obama And Ask Him Why He Didn't Keep All Of The Promises He Made To Everybody.

I Always Revered People That I Thought Had An Idea And Proceeded Through With It. I Guess I've Been That Way Since The Day I Called My Father And Told Him I Was Going To Study Acting And Maybe Try To See If I Could Do Well With That, And He Told Me: "don't Do That. You Don't Want To Do That, That's Just Dream Stuff. Get A Legitimate Job And Move Forward."

All I Know Is There's Thousands Of People In The Academy And A Lot Of Them, The Majority Of Them, Haven't Won Oscars.a Lot Of People Are Crying, I Guess.

Nobody Looks Like They Did When They Were 20, So Why Not Take Advantage Of The Fact That You're Changing, Emotionally As Well As Physically?

I Don't Wanna Need You Because I Can't Have You.

Today, The Only Thing Hollywood Swears By Is Space Adventures Because That's What Goes Over Well. For My Part, I Trust My Instinct And I Make The Films I Believe In. If The Public Follows Me, That's Wonderful. If It Doesn't Follow, "c'est La Vie.

Our Modern Society - Especially In The West, And Especially Now - Reveres Youth.

Scott Eastwood Always Came In And Did A Good Job. And He's Now Graduated To Better Roles, And The Chicks Are All Calling And Asking Where Scott Is. They Used To Ask Where I Was. Now They're Going, "what About Scott?"

There's A Lot Of Young Guys Coming Along, But I'd Like To Say To The Various Financiers, Don't Forget The Senior Guys. The Senior Guys And Gals Are There, Willing To Do Their Best Work For You.

You, Me...we Own This Country. Politicians Are Employees Of Ours....and When Somebody Does Not Do The Job, We Got To Let Them Go.

It's Not About You. It's About Them.

Pose? I Don't Pose. What Am I? Paris Hilton Or Something?

I Think Being Able To Age Gracefully Is A Very Important Talent. It Is Too Late For Me. The Horse Is Out Of The Barn... In Past Generations, People Would Try To Play Younger Than They Really Are. My Trick Is, I Don't Try To Play Younger Than I Really Am.

Music Does Have A Very Special Place In My Heart. I Enjoy It Very Much. I Suppose It Is My First Love And I Do A Lot Of It. It Seems To Be When You Are Making A Project It Inspires You Sometimes To Jot Down Something That You Think Fits The Situation.

Am I Aging? The Pros And The Cons? Well, You Know A Lot More, At Least Until The Time You Start Forgetting It All. Actually, Aging Can Be A Fun Process, To Some Degree.

We Don't Even Know Who's In The Academy.

If A Person Is Constantly Evolving, Constantly Reading New Material And Being Exposed To New Material And Growing In Life, Then You're Becoming, Hopefully, A More Intelligent And Well-rounded Individual. If You're Not Then Something's Wrong And You're Sliding Back In The Other Direction.

I Believe In My Gut. Most People Intellectualize Their Instincts Away, But When You Feel Something, You Have To Go For It. A Fistful Of Dollars Was A Great Instinct For Me, Because Here I Was, A Guy Who's Doing Rawhide.

Nobody Wants To Make Something That Displeases People, But Once You Make A Film, That's Out Of Your Control And You Can't Think About That. You Just Have To Follow Your Head And Make Sure That You're Satisfied By Putting Down What You Intended.

My Old Drama Coach Used To Say, 'don't Just Do Something, Stand There.' Gary Cooper Wasn't Afraid To Do Nothing.

I've Never Been On A Movie Where They Play Five-dollar Friday. I Must Not Be Very Observant.

I Became A Republican In 1951, The First Year I Could Vote.

I Don't Like Showing The Technique. I Don't Like People Who Say, "here, I'm Going To Act, But First I Have To Bounce Off This Wall." If You Have To Bounce Off The Wall, Do It By Yourself. Don't Feature The Technique. My Old Drama Coach Used To Say, "don't Just Do Something, Stand There." Gary Cooper Wasn't Afraid To Do Nothing.

A Lot Of Times People Get To A Certain Age And They Quit. I Always Felt Sorry For The Frank Capras, The Billy Wilders, Directors Like That, Because They Quit In Their Sixties. Why Would You Quit? Think Of The Great Work They Could've Done In Their Sixties, Seventies, And On Up.

I Don't Believe In Pessimism. If Something Doesn't Come Up The Way You Want, Forge Ahead. If You Think It's Going To Rain, It Will.

Famous Inspirational

Everybody Has Certain Things They Wish They Hadn't Done In Life. They Wish They Hadn't Kicked Their Dog When They Were Ten Or Something. There Are Many Things You Can Go Back And Have Regrets About. I Don't Like Doing That. But By The Same Token I Do Agree That When You Get To A Certain Stage In Life, You Change. And You Should Change.

Westerns. A Period Gone By, The Pioneer, The Loner Operating By Himself, Without Benefit Of Society. It Usually Has Something To Do With Some Sort Of Vengeance; He Takes Care Of The Vengeance Himself, Doesn't Call The Police. Like Robin Hood. It's The Last Masculine Frontier. Romantic Myth. I Guess, Though It's Hard To Think About Anything Romantic Today. In A Western You Can Think, Jesus, There Was A Time When Man Was Alone, On Horseback, Out There Where Man Hasn't Spoiled The Land Yet.

Everybody Always Feels That They're Right Even If They're Wrong And That's What A Whole Actor's Career Is Built Around Rationalizing Your Way Into Whatever Character You're Playing.

I'm Anti - The Pussy Generation. Not To Be Confused With Pussy.

An Awful Lot Of Good Movies Have Gone Unrecognized, And An Awful Lot Of Bad Movies Have Had Tremendous Recognition. As Long As You Keep That In Mind, You Are Never Really Disappointed.

You Have To Teach Yourself To Act But Michael Chekhov Will Give You The Necessary Tools - And For Me, Psychological Gesture And Centers Are Extremely Valuable They Work Like A Charm. I've Used Them All Along And Still Do.

I Can't Do That To Myself...

Even People On The Liberal Side Are Starting To Worry About Going Off A Fiscal Cliff.

The Best Part Of Aging In This Business Is Losing That Obsession About Work And Being Able To Spend A Little More Time With Family.

When You Think Of A Particular Director, You Think You Would Have Liked To Be With Them On One Particular Film And Not Necessarily On Some Other One.

Everything That You Do Is A Challenge. And Acting Is Just Building Up Your Concentration And Being Able To Listen And To Do The Ridiculous.

I'm More Focused On Making A Scene Seem Real As Opposed To Perfect.

I Couldn't Tell You Exactly What I Like About Golf. Just When You Think You've Got It Mastered It Lets You Know You Haven't. I'm Just Crazy Enough To Do It.

I Tried Being Reasonable, I Didn't Like It.

There's A Lot Of Great Movies That Have Won The Academy Award, And A Lot Of Great Movies That Haven't. You Just Do The Best You Can.

At Some Point In Your Fife, Your Tolerance Level Goes Down And You Realize That, With Someone Much Younger, There's Nothing Really To Talk About. And I Think We're At A Point Now Where A Lot Of Older Women Take Better Care Of Themselves, Compared To The 1940s And '50s When Women Were Programmed To Figure It's All Over After 30.

I'm Trying To Preach The Idea That If We Don't Pay Attention To History We're Destined To Repeat It.

I Am Not A Regret Type Person. I Don't Believe In Regrets. Lots Of Things You Would Do Differently If You'd Do It Again, But You Don't Do It Again, So You Don't Think About It. But That Goes For Life In General. You're Only Dealing With The Knowledge You Have At That Time.

If Anybody Asks Me What I Attribute The Longevity Of My Career To, Then I Say It's Because I Was Never Satisfied With Being A Cowboy In The Plains Of Spain And Later I Was Never Satisfied With Just Playing A Detective In San Francisco, And Constantly Just Pushing The Envelope.

I Don't See Myself As Conservative, But I'm Not Ultra-leftist. You Build A Philosophy Of Your Own. I Like The Libertarian View, Which Is To Leave Everyone Alone. Even As A Kid, I Was Annoyed By People Who Wanted To Tell Everyone How To Live.

You Have To Feel Confident. If You Don't, Then You're Going To Be Hesitant And Defensive, And There'll Be A Lot Of Things Working Against You.

Everybody Puts Importance In Money On A Film Set.

In America, Instead Of Making The Audience Come To The Film, The Idea Seems To Be For You To Go To The Audience. They Come Up With The Demographics For The Film And Then The Film Is Made And Sold Strictly To That Audience.

My Mother Knew How To Read Music And Everything. But I Just Kinda Learned Off Of Records. And So, I Was Listening To Records And I'd Play 'em Over And Over.

When You're Young, You're Very Reckless. Then You Get Conservative. Then You Get Reckless Again.

If You Feel Like You've Got Something To Offer You Should Do It While The Iron's Hot.

There Are So Many Parallels In Society Today [with Era Of J. Edgar Hoover ] That You Can Use, Whether It's The Head Of A Studio Or The Head Of An Organization, A Major Newspaper, A Major Factory Or Company, Of People Who Stay Too Long, Maybe, And Overstay Their Usefulness.

Conflict Is The Basis Of Drama. I Guess That Goes Back As Long As Time Has Existed As Far As Mankind Is Concerned, Dating Back To The Greek Tragedies Or The Old Testament. And Violence Is A Form Of Conflict, So Whether That's Catharsis Or Whether That Has Some Socially Damaging Effect On Audiences - I Suppose That Would Just Depend.

I Don't Know How Everybody Else Feels, But I Just Long For Reality Rather Than These Made-up Things.

Historically, Actors Have Been Made Very Famous For Roles That Were Something That Was Far - - Richard Widmark Comes To Mind (playing Tommy Udo In "kiss Of Death") Or Something Like That, Where You Do Some Famous Role And Everybody Imitates You For The Rest Of Your Life. But Obviously It's Much More Fun To Play Something You're Not Than It Is To Play Something You Are.

I Think As You Get Older, You Find You Can Play More Things Because You're Moving To A Different Category. You Play A Certain Thing As A Younger Man, Playing Action Roles Like I Did. Then I Moved Out, And I Kept Trying To Do Different Things All The Time.

What Happened Is I Was Going To College In 1950. L. A. City College. A Guy I Knew Was Going To An Acting Class On Thursday Nights. He Started Telling Me About All The Good-lookin' Chicks And Said, "why Don't You Go With Me?" So I Probably Had Some Motivation Beyond Thoughts Of Being An Actor. And Sure Enough, He Was Right. There Were A Lot Of Girls And Not Many Guys. I Said, "yeah, They Need Me Here." I Wound Up At Universal As A Contract Player.

You Have To Steal A Lot. You Have To Have A Criminal Mentality To Be A Film Director.

I Don't Believe In Pessimism.

There's Really No Way To Teach You How To Act, But There Is A Way To Teach You How To Teach Yourself To Act. That's Kind Of What It Is; Once You Learn The Little Tricks That Work For You, Pretty Soon You Find Yourself Doing That.

Finding Yourself

A Lot Of People When They Retire, They Just Expire. It Happens To Men More Than Women. Women Usually Have Great Interest In The Family, Because The Family's Always Growing And They're Always Coming To The Rescue.

Of Course We All Know Biden Is The Intellect Of The Democratic Party. Kind Of A Grin With A Body Behind It.

It Takes Tremendous Discipline To Control The Influence, The Power You Have Over Other People's Lives.

Influence And Power

As You Get Older, You're Not Afraid Of Doubt. Doubt Isn't Running The Show. You Take Out All The Self-agonizing.

Listen, Punk. To Me You're Nothin' But Dogshit, You Understand? And A Lot Of Things Can Happen To Dogshit. It Can Be Scraped Up With A Shovel Off The Ground. It Can Dry Up And Blow Away In The Wind. Or It Can Be Stepped On And Squashed. So Take My Advice And Be Careful Where The Dog Shits Ya!

I'd Like To Be A Bigger And More Knowledgeable Person Ten Years From Now Than I Am Today. I Think That For All Of Us As We Grow Older, We Must Discipline Ourselves To Continue Expanding, Broadening, Learning, Keeping Our Minds Active And Open.

Knowledgeable Person

Abuse Of Power Isn't Limited To 'bad Guys' In Other Nations. It Happens In Our Own Country. Those In Power Get Jaded, Deluded, And Seduced By Power Itself. I Have A Reverence For Individuality. I've Always Considered Myself Too Individualistic To Be Either Right-wing Or Left-wing. I Like The Libertarian View, Which Is To Leave Everyone Alone. People Should Be Able To Be What They Want To Be And Do What They Want - As Long As They're Not Harming Other People. I Am A Libertarian.

There Are A Lot Of Conservative People, A Lot Of Moderate People, Republicans, Democrats, In Hollywood. It Is Just That The Conservative People By The Nature Of The Word Itself Play Closer To The Vest. They Do Not Go Around Hot Dogging It.

Men Must Know Their Limitations.

When You're An Actor, You're So Busy: People Are Always Coming Up To You And Pulling Your Collar, Making Sure That Things Fit, Brushing Your Hair And You're Always Being Yanked Up, So Finally When You're Behind A Camera, You're Just A Slob.

No, I Don't Have To Practice That Grunt. You Just Do It. Once You're In Character, You're In Character. You Don't Sit There Purposely Thinking, Well, I'll Grunt Here, Or I'll Groan There.

Scott's Eastwood Movie Snowden Sounds Fascinating. I Want To See It Because It's About Deserting Your Country ... For Whatever Reasons You Have. Edward Snowden Became Famous For The Wrong Reasons, As Captain Chesley "sully" Sullenberger Became Famous For Doing Something Spectacular.

If You Approach A Film With The Feeling That You Are Going To Have Some Impact On Society Then You're Liable To Get Carried Away With Yourself. Alfred Hitchcock Once Told Me, When I Was Analyzing A Lot Of Things About His Pictures, "clint, You Must Remember, It's Only A Movie.

Don't Look At Me Like I've Gotten Old Or Something Like That.

Plagiarism Is Always The Biggest Thing In Hollywood.

Extremism Is So Easy. You've Got Your Position, And That's It. It Doesn't Take Much Thought. And When You Go Far Enough To The Right You Meet The Same Idiots Coming Around From The Left.

Everybody Wants To Make Something They Think Is A Surefire Winner, Though Nobody Knows What A Surefire Winner Is, In My Opinion.

There Are Two Kinds Of People In This World. 'i' People And 'we' People. I've Always Tried To Be A 'we' Person.

I Like The Inspiration Of The First Take.

What Do You Want Me To Tell Romney? I Can't Tell Him To Do That. I Can't Tell Him To Do That To Himself. You're Crazy. You're Absolutely Crazy. You're Getting As Bad As Biden.

To Me Cinema Can Be A Much More Friendly World If There's A Lot Of Things To Choose From.

Do Ya' Feel Lucky, Punk?

The Interesting Thing With Child Actors Is That Kids Are Natural Actors. They're Wonderful Actors, And Most Kids Are Acting All The Time. They're Imagining They're Out In The Yard Playing. They're Imagining That Things Happened, And They Can Get Very Vivid.

If You Don't Pay Attention To History, You're Destined To Repeat It.

You Take The Work Seriously, You Don't Take Yourself Seriously. You Keep That Straight And You'll Do Well The Rest Of Your Life.

Rest Of Your Life

I Pay Tribute To The Writing Always. The Writer Is A Creative Artist And The Director Is An Interpretive Artist And The Actors Are Interpretive. You Take Zero And Make It Into Something, That's Always Amazing To Me.

If You're Doing A Biography, You Try To Stay As Accurate As Possible To Reality. But You Really Don't Know What Was Going On In The Person's Mind. You Just Know What Was Going On In The Minds Of People Around Him.

I Had Three Points I Wanted To Make. That Not Everybody In Hollywood Is On The Left, That Obama Has Broken A Lot Of Promises He Made When He Took Office, And That The People Should Feel Free To Get Rid Of Any Politician Who's Not Doing A Good Job. But I Didn't Make Up My Mind Exactly What I Was Going To Say Until I Said It.

Hollywood, As Everyone Knows, Glamorizes Physical Courage. . . . If I Had To Define Courage Myself, I Wouldn't Say It's About Shooting People. I'd Say It's The Quality That Stimulates People, That Enables Them To Move Ahead And Look Beyond Themselves.

The Main Thing Is To Do Each Project The Way You Want, And If They Find An Audience, That's Terrific. And If They Don't, There's Nothing You Can Do Anyway, So Don't Let It Concern You That Much. An Awful Lot Of Good Movies Have Done Badly And An Awful Lot Of Bad Movies Have Done Very Well. There Are No Real Rhymes Or Reasons For It. Sometimes The Stars Don't Always Align Right. But If You've Done The Best You Can, You Feel Pretty Good About It.

In School, I Could Hear The Leaves Rustle And Go On A Journey.

The Reason I Still Work At This Stage Of Life Is Because I Enjoy Learning Something New Each Day.

Learning Something New

I Mean, I've Always Been A Libertarian. Leave Everybody Alone. Let Everybody Else Do What They Want. Just Stay Out Of Everybody Else's Hair.

If You Get A Certain Amount Of Notoriety For Doing Something, And You Can Stick To That Type Of Project For The Rest Of Your Life And Make A Decent Living, I Think You Still Have A Responsibility To Stretch. Flexibility Is What Keeps You Alive.

If You Read Any Of The Biographies On J. Edgar Hoover, You Find That They Contradict Each Other More Than They Agree. Often Times, They're Often Told From A Political Perspective.

When Anybody Gives You An Award, It Could Be Wrong. You’ve Just Got To Bear That It Mind And Go Ahead And Enjoy It. Like Morgan Says, It’s A Pat On The Back, So Great You’ll Take It And Then Move On.

You Have To Go With Your Instincts.

I Guess A Great Movie Would Be One That Has The Most Great Moments In It.

I Like To Direct The Same Way That I Like To Be Directed.

A Lot Of People Are Bored Of All The Political Correctness.

To Me, Life Is Like The Back Nine In Golf. Sometimes You Play Better On The Back Nine. You May Not Be Stronger, But Hopefully You're Wiser. And If You Keep Most Of Your Marbles Intact, You Can Add A Note Of Wisdom To The Coming Generation.

A Man's Just Gotta Know His Limits

I'm In The Saddle Every Day Playing A Screwball. And Then Somebody Comes Along And Says, "how Would You Like To Go To Italy And Spain And Do An Italian/spanish/german Co-production With An Italian Director Who's Only Directed One Movie?" It Wasn't Like I Was Going There To Be With Federico Fellini. But Something Was There, And I Thought, Well, I Loved This Story When It Was Told By Akira Kurosawa; Maybe This Is A Good Idea. That's An Instinctive Moment. A Fistful Of Dollars Was Made.

I Know What You're Thinking 'did He Fire Six Shots Or Only Five?

I Love Every Aspect Of The Creation Of Motion Pictures And I Guess I Am Committed To It For Life.

Motion Pictures

A Love Like This Happens But Once In A Lifetime

Once In A Lifetime

I Don't Watch A Lot Of Films. I'm Usually Involved In Making Them.

You Can't Stop Everything From Happening. But We've Gotten To A Point Where We're Certainly Trying. If A Car Doesn't Have Four Hundred Air Bags In It, Then It's No Good.

Well, If You're Waitin' For A Woman To Make Up Her Mind, You May Have A A Long Wait.

I Was Forty The First Time I Directed. I Formed A Company In 1967, Looking To The Future. My Dad Taught Me That Whatever You Do, Do It Well. Be The Best At What You Can Do For That Particular Job In Life. That Always Resonated With Me.

You Definitely Do Not Do Films For That Particular Reason. You Do Them For Yourself, For Your Satisfaction Of Creating This Thing With Characters And Watching These Characters Take On Real Life - That's All You Care About.

I Know What You're Thinking. Did He Fire Six Shots Or Only Five? Well, To Tell You The Truth, In All This Excitement, I've Kinda Lost Track Myself. But Being As This Is A .44 Magnum, The Most Powerful Handgun In The World, And Would Blow Your Head Clean Off, You've Got To Ask Yourself One Question: "do I Feel Lucky?" Well, Do Ya, Punk?

I'm Suffering From Oxygen Deprivation. It's Overwhelming Watching Your Career Go By.

Overnight Stardom Can Be Harmful To Your Mental Health. Yeah. It Has Ruined A Lot Of People.

I Could Be The Driver - The Uber Guy Saying, "i Used To Be In Films Years Ago... ."

When I Look Back On My Life, I Don't Have Regrets About What I Didn't Do. If I'd Become A Musician, It Could Have Ruined My Life.

Every Movie I Make Teaches Me Something. That's Why I Keep Making Them.

I Think It Is More Important To Tell A Story Rather Than Follow Any Trend; That Is A Less Bold Way To Go. If You Do That [follow Trends] You Are Just Trying To Ride On The Coat Tails Of Someone Else's Success.

I Try To Stick To A Vegan Diet Heavy On Fruit And Vegetables.

Funny Inspirational

Vegetarian Diet

I Still Work Out On A Daily Basis.

The Story [for The Western Genre] Is Everything. Whether It's A Book Or A Screenplay, The Story Drives Everything. And If You Just Go Out And Try To Make One By Putting On Boots And Jumping On A Horse And Riding Off... If You Don't Have The Material, The Characters And The Things To Overcome And Conflicts That Give Life To Drama, You Don't Have It.

I Think Great Movies Have To Have Some Great Moments In Them To Bring Them Up To That Level.

Abuse Of Power Isn't Limited To Bad Guys In Other Nations. It Happens In Our Own Country If We're Not Vigilant.

I Guess It's Like Trying To Put Through The Flat Tax, Which Is Probably My Favorite One Of All.... If We Did Pass It, All Of A Sudden, What Do You Have? You Have The Whole Tax System Run By A Little Old Lady On A Home Computer, Doing The Work Of All These Thousands Of Bureaucrats And Accountants. Passing That Would Be Amazing, Wouldn't It?

I Have A Small Child. Being A Parent Takes A Lot Of Time. People Always Ask Me, "what Movies Have You Watched Lately?" I Tell Them, "finding 'nemo' ... 'shrek'.

I Was Kind Of A Little Disappointed When They Started Building A Competition Between Marty (martin Scorsese) And Me. I Have The Greatest Respect For Him And All The Films He's Done Over The Years.

You See, In This World, There's Two Kinds Of People, My Friend - Those With Loaded Guns, And Those Who Dig. You Dig.

When I Was A Kid, I Remember The First Batman, The First Superman Comic Books When They Came Out, Thinking How Great That Was And Wouldn't It Be Great To See A Movie Like That. They Did Some Cheap Serials, But They're Not The Same As Today. But I Think Younger Audiences Would Like To See A Real Hero Also.

I Was Drafted During The Korean War.

I Never Expect Anything. I Am Always Amazed At Why Anybody Goes To Any Movie Or Why Anybody Doesn't Go To Any Movie. Any Movie You Make, You Make It Because You're Hoping Somebody Wants To See It, But You Never Know.

I Just Think It Is Important That You Realize, That You're The Best In The World. Whether You Are A Democrat Or Republican Or Whether You're Libertarian Or Whatever, You Are The Best. And We Should Not Ever Forget That. And When Somebody Does Not Do The Job, We Got To Let Them Go.

You Get To A Certain Age And You're Just Glad To Be There. I Don't Know What To Add To That. It's Fun. You Have To Be A Realist, So You Try To Look For Roles That Are Within The Age You Are.

Go Ahead, Make My Day.

I've Had Moments When I've Thought About Somebody, Picked Up The Phone To Call Them And They Are On The Line Already, And I Think That Maybe There's Some Vibration, Some Connection.

Twenty-some States In The United States Have Statutes That Say Showing The Nipples To Children Is Oscene. That's The First Thing We Come Into Contact With When We Arrive On This Palnet: A Woman's Breasts!

I Have A Very Strict Gun Control Policy: If There's A Gun Around, I Want To Be In Control Of It.

I Never Look Back And Think Too Much About My Films. I've Done Some Work I've Been Proud Of Over The Years But Which Of Them Is My Favourite I Really Don't Know. I Could Say The Last One. I've Had Little Jumps In My Career Like Unforgiven Possibly.

Romney And Ryan Would Do A Much Better Job Running The Country, And That's What Everybody Needs To Know.

We Were Dealing With Films That Had Very Prominent Roles For Women And I Felt I Was Actually Contributing Something. Many People Had Wondered Why I Would Want To Do A Film Where The Best Part Was A Woman's Part. But I Wasn't Afraid To Be The Lesser Intelligence In A Film.

Children Teach You That You Can Still Be Humbled By Life, That You Learn Something New All The Time. That's The Secret To Life, Really: Never Stop Learning. It's The Secret To Career. I'm Still Working Because I Learn Something New All The Time. It's The Secret To Relationships. Never Think You've Got It All.

If You Think It's Going To Rain, It Will.

That's Why I Don't Rehearse A Lot And Why I Shoot A Lot Immediately. I Have Ideas Of Where I'd Like To Take The Character, But We Both End Up Going Together.

My Wife Is My Closest Friend. Sure, I'm Attracted To Her In Every Way Possible, But That's Not The Answer. Because I've Been Attracted To Other People, And I Couldn't Stand 'em After A While.

I Am Sort Of Anti-hunting. I Don't Put Down What Anyone Wants To Do, But It Seems To Me That Killing A Creature For Fun Is Not A Progressive Idea.

My Wife And I Are Both Libertarian; She Was A Democrat And I Was A Republican, And We Both Met In The Middle Somewhere.

As You Get Older You Try To Do Things That Please You More. You Get A Little More Selfish. You Start Thinking I Want To Do Things Where I Enjoy Myself.

What Trump Is Onto Is, He's Just Saying What's On His Mind. And Sometimes It's Not So Good. And Sometimes It's... I Mean, I Can Understand Where He's Coming From, But I Don't Always Agree With It.

Hitchcock Used To Believe That If There Were Three Or Four Memorable Scenes In A Film That Would Be Enough To Drive It, But I Don't Know If That's True Or Not.

I Haven't Been Very Active In Politics.

I've Lived Through The Shooting Of Movie, The Editing And Every Other Process Along The Way, So It's Not For Me To Really Judge It. I'll Probably Look At It Again Five Years From Now To Get A Fresh Feel For It.

I'd Have To Go For Donald Trump ... You Know, 'cause Hillary Clinton Is Declared That She's Gonna Follow In Barack Obama's Footsteps. There's Been Just Too Much Funny Business On Both Sides Of The Aisle. She's Made A Lot Of Dough Out Of Being A Politician.

If A Person Doesn't Change, There's Something Really Wrong With Him.

The Only Reason I Ever Thought About Retiring From The Front Part Of The Camera As Opposed To The Back Is Sometimes You Think, "how Many Roles Are There For Someone My Age?"

My Father Died Very Suddenly At Sixty-three. Just Dropped Dead. For A Long Time Afterward, I'd Ask Myself, Why Didn't I Ask Him To Play Golf More? Why Didn't I Spend More Time With Him? But When You're Off Trying To Get The Brass Ring, You Forget And Overlook Those Little Things. It Gives You A Certain Amount Of Regret Later On, But There's Nothing You Can Do About It. So You Just Forge On.

It's A Hell Of A Thing, Killing A Man. You Take Away All He's Got And All He's Ever Gonna Have.

The Guys Who Won World War Ii And That Whole Generation Have Disappeared, And Now We Have A Bunch Of Teenage Twits.

The Prospect Of Dating Someone In Her Twenties Becomes Less Appealing As You Get Older. At Some Point In Your Fife, Your Tolerance Level Goes Down And You Realize That, With Someone Much Younger, There's Nothing Really To Talk About.

Nobody, I Mean Nobody, Puts Ketchup On A Hot Dog.

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John C. McGinley

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