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I'd Been Trying To Retire To The Back Of The Camera For Quite A Few Years. And Then, In 1970, When I First Started Directing, I If I Could Pull This Off, I Can Some Day Just Move In Back Of The Camera And Stay There.

-Clint Eastwood

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I'd Been Trying To

Clint Eastwood

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I'd Been Trying To Retire To The Back Of The Camera For Quite A Few Years. And Then, In 1970, When I First Started Directing, I If I Could Pull This Off, I Can Some Day Just Move In Back Of The Camera And Stay There.

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Having The Security Of Being In A Series Week In, Week Out Gives You Great Flexibility; You Can Experience With Yourself, Try A Different Scene Different Ways. If You Make A Mistake One Week, You Can Look At It And Say, 'well, I Won't Do That Again,' And You're Still On The Air Next Week.

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I've Done A Few Special Effects Movies In My Life, So I've Gotten That Out Of My System.

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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.

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

If I'd Had Good Discipline, I Might Have Gone Into Music.

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.

Instead Of Calling Everybody Names, Start Being More Understanding.

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Plagiarism Is Always The Biggest Thing In Hollywood.

I Was Always Respectful Of People Who Were Deeply Religious Because I Always Felt That If They Gave Themselves To It, Then It Had To Be Important To Them. But If You Can Go Through Life Without It, That's Ok, Too. It's Whatever Suits You.

The Reason I Don't Retire Is That I Learn Something New Every Day. The Brain Has To Be Exercised The Same As The Rest Of The Body. It's About Expanding, Constantly Pushing Yourself.

Being Comfortable Is Over-rated.

Let's Take The Work Seriously, And Not Ourselves Seriously.

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.

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.

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.

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 Just Don't Want To Copy The Current Trends Or Do Movies For Teenagers. I Want People To Get More Out Of Movies.

Buzzards Got To Eat, Same As The Worms.

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.

If The Director's A Communist, Whatever, He's A Communist. All I Care Is That He Directs. For The Actor, The Same Thing. All You Really Care Is That He Comes In And Performs.

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.

The Most Gentle People In The World Are Macho Males, People Who Are Confident In Their Masculinity And Have A Feeling Of Well-being In Themselves. They Don't Have To Kick In Doors, Mistreat Women, Or Make Fun Of Gays.

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.

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.

Society Is At Odds With Itself.

Everybody Thinks Making Films Back To Back Is A Big Deal But They Did It All The Time In The Old Days.

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

I Haven't Killed Anybody All Day. Help Me Keep It That Way.

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.

Improvise, Adapt And Overcome!

I Like The Inspiration Of The First Take.

Maybe I`m Getting To The Age When I`m Starting To Be Senile Or Nostalgic Or Both, But People Are So Angry Now. You Used To Be Able To Disagree With People And Still Be Friends. Now You Hear These Talk Shows, And Everyone Who Believes Differently From You Is A Moron And An Idiot - Both On The Right And The Left.

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

I Don't Mind Telling A Dark Side.

Over The Years, I Realized There Was A Republican Philosophy That I Liked. And Then They Lost It. And Libertarians Had More Of It. Because What I Really Believe Is, Let's Spend A Little More Time Leaving Everybody Alone.

Casting A Film Is To Me One Of The Most Important Things Next To The Writing. If You Cast It Properly Everything Takes Place Very Easily. If You Cast It Improperly You're Fighting An Uphill Battle.

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.

Whether You Like It Or Not, You're Forced To Come To The Realisation That Death Is Out There. But I Don't Fear Death, I'm A Fatalist. I Believe When It's Your Time, That's It. It's The Hand You're Dealt.

A Love Like This Happens But Once In A Lifetime

Once In A Lifetime

People Have Lost Their Sense Of Humor. In Former Times, We Constantly Made Jokes About Different Races.

I Don't Believe In Pessimism.

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.

As You Get Older, You Change Certain Things.

It's Always Fun To Talk About Jazz.

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

Anything In Life

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

If You Can Make A Good Picture That Actually Has Some Substance, That's Doubly Good Nowadays 'cause Most Everybody Else Is Trying To Address How Many Cgi Plates We're Gonna Do, What Little Being Is Gonna Come In From Another Asteroid.

When I See A Story, I Ask: Is This Something I'd Like To Be In? Is This Something I'd Like To See? And If I'd Like To See It, Would I Like To Tell It?

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.

I Think Being Able To Age Gracefully Is A Very Important Talent. It Is Too Late For Me.

Opinions Are Like A**holes, Everybody Has One.

There Are Two Kinds Of Actors -- One Sits In A Dressing Room Waiting For His Call And The Other Gets Out Into The Business And Polishes His Craft By Absorbing Everything. I Don't Know Enough, I'll Never Learn Everything I Need To Learn. When A Guy Thinks He's Already Learned It, He Can Only Go Backwards.

Hillary Clinton Has Made A Lot Of Dough Out Of Being A Politician. I Gave Up Dough To Be A Politician. I'm Sure That Ronald Reagan Gave Up Dough To Be A Politician.

It's Hard To Tell What Will Stimulate Curiosity Nowadays Because Looking At Some Of The Things That Do Excite People, You Kind Of Go, "ohh, Ok. So This Hasn't A Chance." But We Made It Anyway. I Think If People See The Picture, They'll Find A Lot Of Parallels To Today, Ever Since 9/11 And Everything, That Kind Of Fear That's Going On In Disturbance Of The Country.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

That's The Secret To A Movie Career - Just Keeping An Open Mind.

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

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.

There's A Saying That We Use In Golf: "i'd Rather Be Lucky Than Good." Of Course, To Be Lucky And Good Is The Ideal. If You Study Hard, You Can Get Good. And If You Get Lucky And Get The Proper Parts For People To Be Able To Appreciate What You're Doing ... I'm Sure There Are Many Actors That Are Quite Talented Who Have Never Been A Success Because They've Never Had The Right Opportunity And The Right Material. My Mother Used To Think I Had A Guardian Angel.

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.

Men Must Know Their Limitations.

Libertarian: Everyone Leaves Everyone Else Alone

I Always Felt Blessed That I Was Able To Make A Living In A Profession [acting] That Not A Lot Of People Can Make A Living At, And I Was Able To Do Something I Liked, Rather Than Be In A Job That I Hated.

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

I Don't Write. I Usually Look For Material By Other People. Sometimes I Change Things Or Adapt Things But I Don't Write From Scratch. I Wish I Had That Ability.

Always Keep Your Ego In Check And Not Be Afraid To Listen. Listening Is A Great Art Form.

I Just Make The Pictures And Where They Fall Is Where They Fall. If Somebody Likes Them, That's Always Nice. And If They Don't Like Them, Then Too Bad.

Self-respect Leads To Self-discipline.

There's Nothing Like A Nice Piece Of Hickory.

Everybody Is Looking For A Reason To Not To Take Responsibility For Their Own Actions In Hand.

Take Your Work Seriously, But Don't Take Yourself Seriously

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

Secretly Everybody's Getting Tired Of Political Correctness, Kissing Up. That's The Kiss-ass Generation We're In Right Now. We're Really In A Pussy Generation. Everybody's Walking On Eggshells. We See People Accusing People Of Being Racist And All Kinds Of Stuff. When I Grew Up, Those Things Weren't Called Racist.

Politicians Have To Make Unpopular Decisions. Schwarzenegger Is Going To Understand The Nature Of His Job. I Wish Him Good Luck, He's Going To Need It. It's Going To Be Difficult For Him.

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

I'd Been Trying To Retire To The Back Of The Camera For Quite A Few Years. And Then, In 1970, When I First Started Directing, I If I Could Pull This Off, I Can Some Day Just Move In Back Of The Camera And Stay There.

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

Acting Is An Animal Thing, Not An Intellectual Thing.

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

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

Motion Pictures

You Should Just Evaluate The Work And Make Your Judgments Accordingly. That's The Way You Do It In Life And Every Other Subject.

With People In High Office, The Old - You Go Into The Extreme, Which Is Absolute Power And Absolute Power Corrupts.

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

Learning Something New

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