Clint Eastwood Quotations | Page 4

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.

[FBI] philosophy is "Go ahead and make the story you want to make, and hopefully we'll love it." So that's that.

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.

Writing is a creative art form and the acting and directing is more of an interpretive art form.

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.

You have to be realistic about where you are in life and enjoy it.

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.

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.

You should just evaluate the work and make your judgments accordingly. That's the way you do it in life and every other subject.

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.

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'd say, go ahead, shoot your shot. More power to ya if you can come up with a different angle on the character.

I think great movies have to have some great moments in them to bring them up to that level.

Whatever the drama of the story is, you have to be true to 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.

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.

You spend your life training to be an actor, observing people's characteristics so that you can design characters around what you've seen.

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.

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.

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.

I've got to learn French because I've been going there for years and still, the only words I know are the swear words.

If you cast a film incorrectly, then you're going to be fighting an uphill battle.

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."

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.

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 was always annoyed by too much explaining.

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.

Everybody puts importance in money on a film set.

I just don't want to copy the current trends or do movies for teenagers. I want people to get more out of movies.

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.

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.

Take your work seriously, but don't take yourself seriously

Dying ain't much of a living, boy

Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn't have messed with? That's me.

One day we will look back and realize that the Barack Obama Presidency was the biggest fraud ever perpetrated on the American people.

The more time you have to think things through, the more you have to screw it up.

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.

It's a hell of a thing, killing a man. You take away all he's got and all he's ever gonna have.

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.

Improvise, Adapt and Overcome!

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.

These people who are making a big deal out of gay marriage? I don't give a f*** 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. They go on and on with all this bulls*** about "sanctity" - don't give me that sanctity crap! Just give everybody the chance to have the life they want.

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.

Let's not go and ruin it by thinking too much.

A good man always knows his limitations.

Nothing wrong with shooting...as long as the right people get shot.

It's what people know about themselves inside that makes them afraid.

Always keep your ego in check and not be afraid to listen. Listening is a great art form.

Go ahead, make my day.

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.

I know what you're thinking 'Did he fire six shots or only five?

When you hang a man, you better look at him.

I'm trying to preach the idea that if we don't pay attention to history we're destined to repeat it.

There's a rebel lying deep in my soul.

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.

You see, in this world, there's two kinds of people, my friend - those with loaded guns, and those who dig. You dig.

I haven't killed anybody all day. Help me keep it that way.

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.

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.

Opinions are like a**holes, everybody has one.

Tomorrow is promised to no one.

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.

Are you going to pull those pistols or whistle Dixie?

That's the secret to a movie career - just keeping an open mind.

Buzzards got to eat, same as the worms.

First, I blow a hole in your face; then I go back inside, and sleep like a baby... I guarantee you.

Do ya' feel lucky, punk?

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.

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.

This film cost $31 million. With that kind of money I could have invaded some country.

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.

The thing that haunts a man the most is what he isn’t ordered to do.

I'm always trying to tackle subjects that tax me and make me think. That's the key to staying young at heart. The brain has to be exercised the same as the rest of the body.

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.

Great stories teach you something. That's one reason I haven't slipped into some sort of retirement: I always feel like I'm learning something new.

Abuse of power isn't limited to bad guys in other nations. It happens in our own country if we're not vigilant.

Of course we all know Biden is the intellect of the Democratic Party. Kind of a grin with a body behind it.

It's always fun to talk about jazz.

Fate pulls you in different directions

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.

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.

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.

I've done a few special effects movies in my life, so I've gotten that out of my system.

When I was young there was no respect for the young, and now that I am old there is no respect for the old

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.

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.

Most people are afraid of change. But if you look at it as something you can always count on, then it can be a comfort.

There's nothing like a nice piece of hickory,

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 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.

To me cinema can be a much more friendly world if there's a lot of things to choose from.

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?

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.

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.

Libertarian: everyone leaves everyone else alone

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.

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 don't believe in pessimism.

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.

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.