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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.

-Clint Eastwood

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I Had Three Points

Clint Eastwood

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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.

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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.

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.

As A Movie Actor, Once You've Become Known, You're Observed All The Time So You Don't Get The Chance To Observe Anymore. You Still Get A Taste Of Life But It's Not Quite The Same And There's Something To Be Said For A More Anonymous Life.

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.

You Know When You're Young And You See A Play In High School, And The Guys All Have Gray In Their Hair And They're Trying To Be Old Men And They Have No Idea What That's Like? It's Just That Stupid The Other Way Around.

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

We Are Like Boxers, One Never Knows How Much Longer One Has

Stage Actors Are Usually Much More Conscious Of Speaking Up And Making Sure That Everyone Can Hear In The Back Of The Theatre; A Film Actor Probably Thinks Of That A Little Less. Unfortunately, There's A Style Of Acting Going Round, Especially With The Younger Actors, Where They Talk Without Even Moving Their Lip. Maybe It's Because My Hearing Probably Isn't What It Was 40 Years Ago But I'm Sitting There Going "what Did They Say"?

It's Always Fun To Talk About Jazz.

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.

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.

Sometimes If You Want To See A Change For The Better, You Have To Take Things Into Your Own Hands.

I Found Out That A Lot Of My Liberal Friends Weren't Liberal Because They Weren't Liberal About Approaching Anybody Else's Ideas, Or At Least Standing For It. They Started Getting Really Animalistic About, "i Can't Even Associate With This Guy. He's Stupid. He's An Idiot."

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.

I Don't Believe In Pessimism.

I Don't Mind Telling A Dark Side.

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.

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.

At Waco, Was There Really An Urgency To Get Those People Out Of The Compound At That Particular Time? Was The Press Going To Make It Look Heroic For The Bureau Of Alcohol, Tobacco, And Firearms? At Ruby Ridge, There Was One Guy In A Cabin At The Top Of The Mountain. Was It Necessary For Federal Agents To Go Up There And Shoot A 14-year-old In The Back And Shoot A Woman With A Child In Her Arms? What Kind Of Mentality Does That?

You're As Young As You Feel. As Young As You Want To Be. There's An Old Saying I Heard From A Friend Of Mine. People Ask Him, "why Do You Look So Good At Your Age?" He'll Say, "because I Never Let The Old Man In." And There's Truth To That. It's In Your Mind, How Far You Let Him Come In.

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

They Say Marriages Are Made In Heaven. But So Is Thunder And Lightning.

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

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.

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

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.

The Thing That Haunts A Man The Most Is What He Isn't Ordered To Do.

Acting To Me Is A Very Organic Art Form And You Just Go And Do It. And I Like To Direct The Same Way That I Like To Be Directed. Let Me Bring In What I Want To Bring In, And If Something's Wrong, Just Tell Me About It And I'll Make Some Corrections Or Adjustments. And That's What I Do.

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.

Writing Is A Creative Art Form And The Acting And Directing Is More Of An Interpretive Art Form.

I Do Believe If One Keeps Busy It's Very Good For A Person. In Fact, People Are Always Rushing Into Retirement And We Read In Europe That People There Are Talking About Their Retirement Age And Moving It To 67 Or Something. Well, Back When They Started Retirement Funds And Everything, The Average Age Was 70 Or 60, And Then All Of A Sudden Now It's 80, And So. [...] And So You Keep In Shape, You Keep Yourself Mentally In Shape. And If You Keep Yourself Mentally In Shape, Chances Are Physically It Will Follow Suit.

Keep Your Eyes On The Horizon And Your Nose To The Wind.

I'm So Glad For The Dozens Of Times I Haven't Listened Along The Way.

Do Ya' Feel Lucky, Punk?

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

Are You Going To Pull Those Pistols Or Whistle Dixie?

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.

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

Anything In Life

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

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?"

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.

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.

I Had Always Planned When I Started Directing In 1970 That After A Few Years I'd Get Tired Of Looking At Myself On The Screen And Say: "hey, Let's Not Do That Any More." But Then Every Once In A While Something Pops Up. I'm Not Saying It Won't Happen Again But Probably The Odds Get Less As You Set Yourself For Roles That Fit Your Age Group.

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

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

The Craving For Information Is So Huge Now, And It Can Be Marketed At Such A Rapid Rate.

There's Something About The First Time An Actor Runs The Material Over His Or Her Face You Know When They Kind Of Run It Through Their Eyes And You See The Thing And There Is Little Imperfections In It And Not Every Line Is Delivered Perfectly, And It Doesn't Have That Mechanical Feeling.

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'm Just A Kid. I've Got A Lot Of Stuff To Do Yet.

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.

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

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Things Always Look Different From Higher Up.

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.

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

Nobody Knows Diddly. They Just Think They Do. And The People That Think They Know The Most Know The Least.

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

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.

I Like A Drama. And I Think That's The Basis Of Good Films, Or Good Plays, Is To Have A Nice Drama.

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.

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.

My Whole Life Has Been One Big Improvisation.

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

Libertarian: Everyone Leaves Everyone Else Alone

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

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?

Once You Finish A Film, It Doesn't Belong To You Anymore - It Belongs To The Audience To Interpret It The Way They Feel Like Interpreting.

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.

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

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.

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

Influence And Power

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.

Every Story Has Its Demands.

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

Crimes Against Children Are The Most Heinous Crime. That, For Me, Would Be A Reason For Capital Punishment Because Children Are Innocent And Need The Guidance Of An Adult Society.

A Good Man Always Knows His Limitations.

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

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

You Should Never Give Up Your Inner Self.

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.

I'm A Firm Believer In Research, But I'm Also A Firm Believer In Utilizing The Instincts That Are Within Your Soul Or In Your Body Or In Your Stomach, Wherever They Reside.

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

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

The Casting Is The Most Important Thing. If You Cast A Picture Really Well A Lot Of Things Take Care Of Themselves. You Get Actors That Like To Give A Lot To The Role And Who Appreciate The Role On The Same Level That You Do. If You Miscast It, You're Working An Uphill Battle A Little Bit And Maybe You Can Come Out Okay But You Can't Always Come Out Great.

One Day We Will Look Back And Realize That The Barack Obama Presidency Was The Biggest Fraud Ever Perpetrated On The American People.

Everybody's Got A Right To Be A Sucker ... Once.

I Can't Do That To Myself...

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?

I Haven't Been Very Active In Politics.

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.

If Somebody's Dumb Enough To Ask Me To Go To A Political Convention And Say Something, They're Gonna Have To Take What They Get.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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?

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

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.

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.

When You're Making A Movie, You Can't Think Anybody Will Ever See It. You've Just Got To Make A Movie For The Values It Has. The Greatest Films Were Made Because Someone Really Wanted To Make Them. And, Hopefully, The Audience Will Show Up, Too.

President Obama Is The Greatest Hoax Ever Perpetrated On The American People.

I'd Say People Get To Work And Start Being More Understanding Of Everybody - Instead Of Calling Everybody Names, Start Being More Understanding. But Get In There And Get It Done. Kick Ass And Take Names. And This May Be My Dad Talking, But Don't Spend What You Don't Have.

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

Improvise, Adapt And Overcome!

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

Instead Of Calling Everybody Names, Start Being More Understanding.

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

Hollywood Seems To Succumb To Fads. Well, Action Films Do Well. Give Me Violence. Give Me A Scene Where There's A Couple Of Car Chases Or Shooting And Stuff Like That. They're Forgetting The Fact That There's A Basic Structure To A Story That Is Essential To Making It Really Broad And Appealing.

Go Ahead, Make My Day.

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

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.

You Spend Your Life Training To Be An Actor, Observing People's Characteristics So That You Can Design Characters Around What You've Seen.

Plagiarism Is Always The Biggest Thing In Hollywood.

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.

It's Much More Fun To Play Something You're Nothing Like Than What You Are... It's Much Easier To Hide Yourself In A Character.

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

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.

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

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.

I've Never Met A Genius. A Genius To Me Is Someone Who Does Well At Something He Hates. Anybody Can Do Well At Something He Loves - It's Just A Question Of Finding The Subject.

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."

You Have To Go With Your Instincts.

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

Learning Something New

The Main Thing Is, You Just Want To Have Your Place In History. You Hope That People Will Look Back On It In 15, 20, 30 And Beyond Years, And Say, "that Was An Exciting Film."

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

I Don't Really Get Into A Big Intellectual Analysis Of Why I Am Going To Do A Certain Script Or Not.

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

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.

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.

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

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 Puts Importance In Money On A Film Set.

The Cruelty Of Nature Is You Have To Work Out Harder When You Get Older ... It Should Be The Other Way Around: Work Out Hard When You're A Kid You Should Be Able To Coast When You Get Older. But Unfortunately You Have To Do More To Stay In The Same Position.

I Had One Well Known Director Who Kept Saying, "now Clint, This Is What ...." And I'd Say, "i Know. I Read The Script. I'm The One Who Cast You As The Director. Let Me Show You And You'll Correct Me If I'm Wrong."

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

My Father Had A Couple Of Kids At The Beginning Of The Depression. There Was Not Much Employment. Not Much Welfare. People Barely Got By. People Were Tougher Then.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

This Film Cost $31 Million. With That Kind Of Money I Could Have Invaded Some Country.

[fbi] Philosophy Is "go Ahead And Make The Story You Want To Make, And Hopefully We'll Love It." So That's That.

Nothing Wrong With Shooting...as Long As The Right People Get Shot.

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

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

A Lot Of People Are Realizing They Had The Wool Pulled Over Their Eyes By Obama.

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

I Take Vitamins Daily, But Just The Bare Essentials Not What You'd Call Supplements. I Try To Stick To A Vegan Diet Heavy On Fruit, Vegetables, Tofu, And Other Soy Products.

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

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.

The Country Has Come A Long Way In Race Relations, But The Pendulum Swings So Far Back. Everyone Wants To Be So Sensitive.

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.

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.

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.

Being Comfortable Is Over-rated.

Ever Notice How You Come Across Somebody Once In A While You Shouldn't Have Messed With? That's Me.

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.

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!

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Let's Not Go And Ruin It By Thinking Too Much.

When You're Making A Film You Start Living With It, And I Find Myself Sitting Down And Figuring Out A Sound Or Melody That Would Go With A Film, Or A Particular Period. It's Not Brain Surgery, You Just Kind Of Feel It Along.

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

That's One Of The Actor's Secrets: With Everything You Do, Learn Something New About Yourself.

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

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

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

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?

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

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.

I Would Like To Be Interpreted As A Liberal Libertarian, Like Leave Everybody Alone And Let Them Do Their Own Thing.

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.

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.

Every Once And A While Somebody Writes A Script, But Even Regardless Of What Age You Are, Most Of The Actors Would All Agree That It's All Based Upon Material And The Material Has Got To Spark With You. It May Be Great Material But You Think It's Great Material For Somebody Else. Or It's Great Material And I'm Perfect For It. So, You Just Have To Make That Judgment And If You Feel In The Mood To Do It.

I'm Not A Chick-flick Enthusiast.

I've Taken Advantage Of A Few Breaks That Came Along And Moved Along With Them.

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.

When I Used To Be A Contract Player In 1954 At Universal, I Wasn't Getting Good Roles. I Was Getting One-liners, And Then I'd Be Gone. But I'd Hang Around; I'd Watch Guys. And When I Had Days Off, Which Was Most Days, I'd Go Down And Watch Other Sets While They Were Shooting. Watch Joan Crawford Or Whomever. Just Watch How They Worked And How The Director Handled Them. I Didn't Know Anything About Making Movies, And There's A Lot To Learn.

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.

When A Naked Man Is Chasing A Woman Through An Alley With A Butcher Knife And A Hard-on, I Figure He Isn't Out Collecting For The Red Cross.

I Believe That Everybody, Whether You Believe In The Afterlife Or The Chance Of A Near-death Experience And You Come Back And You See Someone [on The Other Side] - Whether That Has Happened Or Not, I Don't Know, But Certainly Everyone Has Thought About It At Some Point Or Another In Time. It's A Fantasy That If There Is Anything Out There Like That, It Would Be Just Terrific, But That Remains To Be Seen.

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.

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.

I Would Just Like To Say Something, Ladies And Gentlemen. Something That I Think Is Very Important. It Is That, You, We - We Own This Country. We - We Own It. It Is Not You Owning It, And Not Politicians Owning It. Politicians Are Employees Of Ours.

Aging Can Be Fun If You Lay Back And Enjoy It.

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.

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