John Wayne Quotations

Courage is being scared to death... and saddling up anyway.

Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday.

Never apologize, mister, it’s a sign of weakness.

Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday.

Everybody that I was in school with had an uncle or father in the law, and I started to realize that I was going to end up writing briefs for about ten years for these fellows who I thought I was smarter than. And I was kind of losing my feeling for that.

I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.

In westerns, you meet a hardy bunch of characters. There is no jealousy on such pictures.

I was sure I'd set the world on fire, and it was hard for a young feller like me to realize the truth - that I hadn't set the world on fire, and I was totally unprepared to handle the consequences if 'The Big Trail' had been a success and launched me as a star.

My folks always let me go to the movies every Saturday. We were really motion-picture goers.

Life is tough, but it's tougher if you're stupid.

I suppose my best attribute, if you want to call it that, is sincerity. I can sell sincerity because that's the way I am.

If everything isn't black and white, I say, 'Why the hell not?'

I'm not the sort to back away from a fight. I don't believe in shrinking from anything. It's not my speed; I'm a guy who meets adversities head on.

All the screen cowboys behaved like real gentlemen. They didn't drink, they didn't smoke. When they knocked the bad guy down, they always stood with their fists up, waiting for the heavy to get back on his feet. I decided I was going to drag the bad guy to his feet and keep hitting him.

Talk low, talk slow and don't say too much.

Real art is basic emotion. If a scene is handled with simplicity - and I don't mean simple - it'll be good, and the public will know it.

I never have really become accustomed to the 'John.' Nobody ever really calls me John... I've always been Duke or Marion or John Wayne. It's a name that goes well together, and it's like one word - John Wayne.

When I was a sophomore at USC, I was a socialist, pretty much to the left. But not when I left the university. I quickly got wise. I'd read about what had happened to Russia in 1917 when the Communists took over.

All I'm for is the liberty of the individual.

Nobody should come to the movies unless he believes in heroes.

I'd read up on the history of our country and I'd become fascinated with the story of the Alamo. To me it represented the fight for freedom, not just in America, but in all countries.

Nothing is so discouraging to an actor than to have to work for long hours upon hours in brightly lighted interior sets.

Get off your horse and drink your milk.

When you come to see a picture of mine, I want you to know that I'm not going to do anything that will make you uncomfortable. I want you to know that you won't be disappointed in me.

Get off your butt and join the Marines!

I was ashamed to admit I was hipped to the idea of acting. That's why I started in with the props.

Which would cause the fire to burn back on itself where there's no fuel since its already been burned.

the recipe was supposed to be from a chef on a location catering truck.

There's just sand. There's no fuel for it to burn.

There's no reason to have this amount of traffic coming through a private residence road.

If you've got them by the balls their hearts and minds will follow.

Never say sorry - it's a sign of weakness

I'll have you spread-eagled on a wagon wheel.

somewhat troubled by the absence of a consistent policy governing our willingness to permit the President to participate in these private, commercial tributes . . . .

It's such an adrenaline rush. It's America's most extreme sport.

There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves

All battles are fought by scared men who'd rather be some place else.

Very few of the so-called liberals are open-minded.... They shout you down and won't let you speak if you disagree with them.

I don't have to assert my virility. I think my career has shown that I'm not exactly a pantywaist. But I do take pride in my work, even to the point of being the first one on the set in the morning. I'm a professional.

Government has no wealth, and when a politician promises to give you something for nothing, he must first confiscate that wealth from you -- either by direct taxes, or by the cruelly indirect tax of inflation.

The reason there are so many stupid people is because it's illegal to kill them.

Women have the right to work wherever they want, as long as they have the dinner ready when you get home.

TRUE Courage is when you are scared to death and STILL saddle up and ride in!

Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave? Sure I love my country with all her faults. I'm not ashamed of that, never have been, never will be.

I believe in white supremacy, until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don't believe giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people ... I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from [the Native Americans] ... Our so-called stealing of this country from them was just a matter of survival. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.

I have found a certain type calls himself a Liberal...Now I always thought I was a Liberal. I came up terribly surprised one time when I found out that I was a Right-Wing Conservative Extremist, when I listened to everybody's point of view that I ever met, and then decided how I should feel. But this so-called new Liberal group, Jesus, they never listen to your point of view...

I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a-hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.

A friend of mine told me to shoot first and ask questions later. I was going to ask him why, but I had to shoot him.

A man's got to have a code, a creed to live by, no matter his job.

Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid.

I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to the point of responsibility. I don`t believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people.

I have tried to live my life so that my family would love me and my friends respect me. The others can do whatever the hell they please.

A man deserves a second chance, but keep an eye on him.

A man ought to do what he thinks is right

When the road looks rough ahead, remember the 'Man upstairs' and the word HOPE. Hang onto both and 'tough it out'.

I'd like to know why well-educated idiots keep apologizing for lazy and complaining people who think the world owes them a living.

Watergate is a sad and tragic incident in our history. They were wrong, dead wrong, those men at Watergate. Men abused power, but the system still works. Men abused money, but the system still works. Men lied and perjured themselves, but the system still .

The guy you see on the screen isn’t really me. I’m Duke Morrison, and I never was and never will be a film personality like JOHN WAYNE . I know him well. I’m one of his closest students. I have to be. I made a living out of him.

If you can't be thankful for what you have, be thankful for what you have escaped.

Male menopause is a lot more fun than female menopause. With female menopause you gain weight and get hot flashes. Male menopause ? you get to date young girls and drive motorcycles.

You're short on ears and long on mouth.

I've always followed my father's advice: he told me, first to always keep my word and, second, to never insult anybody unintentionally. If I insult you, you can be goddamn sure I intend to. And, third, he told me not to go around looking for trouble.

My hope and prayer is that everyone know and love our country for what she really is and what she stands for.

Life's hard. It's even harder when you're stupid.

True Grit is making a decision and standing by it, doing what must be done. No moral man can have peace of mind if he leaves undone what he knows he should have done.

When you stop fighting, that's death.

My favorite four-letter words are 'hard work'.

Oscar and I have something in common. Oscar first came to Hollywood scene in 1928. So did I. We're both a little weather-beaten, but we're still here and plan to be around for a whole lot longer.

I've had three wives, six children and six grandchildren and I still don't understand women

I figured I needed a gimmick, so I dreamed up this drawl, the squint and a way of moving meant to suggest that I wasn’t looking for trouble but would just as soon throw a bottle at your head as not. I practiced in front of a mirror.

Slap some bacon on a biscuit and let's go! We're burnin' daylight!

I am a demonstrative man, a baby picker-upper, a hugger and a kisser--that's my nature.

I never trust a man that doesn't drink.

There's right and there's wrong. You got to do one or the other. You do the one and you're living. You do the other and you may be walking around, but you're dead as a beaver hat.

You have to be a man before you can be a gentleman.

Wayne: I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them ..... the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves. .... I'm quite sure that the concept of a Government-run reservation .... seems to be what the socialists are working for now -- to have everyone cared for from cradle to grave ..... But you can't whine and bellyache 'cause somebody else got a break and you didn't, like those Indians are. We'll all be on a reservation soon if the socialists keep subsidizing groups like them with our tax money.

I read someplace that I used to make B-pictures. Hell, they were a lot farther down the alphabet than that . . . but not as far down as R and X. I think any man who makes an X-rated picture ought to be made to take his own daughter to see it.

Out here, due process is a bullet.

When you come slam bang up against trouble, it never looks half as bad if you face up to it.

Give the American people a good cause, and there's nothing they can't lick.

True grit is making a decision and standing by it, doing what must be done.

I want to play a real man in all my films, and I define manhood simply: men should be tough, fair, and courageous, never petty, never looking for a fight, but never backing down from one either.

I didn't vote for him, but he's my President, and I hope he does a good job.

We brought nothing into this world and it's certain we can carry nothing out.

Thanking people is dangerous business. A name always slips your mind.

In my acting, I have to identify with something in the character. The big tough boy on the side of right - that's me. Simple themes. Same me from the nuances. All I do is sell sincerity and I've been selling the hell out of that ever since I started.

Life is getting up one more time than you've been knocked down.

I am an old-fashioned, honest-to-goodness, flag waving patriot.

We’re burnin’ daylight.

The hyphenated American is ridiculous. But that's what we have to put up with. I think that any person that's in the United States is better off here than they would be where they came from.

One look that works is better than twenty lines of dialogue.

A long time ago, I made me a rule. I let people do what they want to do.

America is the land of freedom and that’s the way I enjoy living.

All men hate to hear "We need to talk about our relationship." These seven words strike fear in the heart of even General Schwartzkopf.

Getting rid of a man without hurting his masculinity is a problem. "Get out" and "I never want to see you again" might sound like a challenge. If you want to get rid of a man, I suggest saying, "I love you. . . . I want to marry you. . . . I want to have your children." Sometimes they leave skid marks.

I never killed a man I didn't have to.

I never shot nobody I didnt have to.

It rankles me when somebody tries to force somebody to do something.

I'm an American actor. I work with my clothes on. I have to. Riding a horse can be pretty tough on your legs and elsewheres.

Well, there are some things a man just can't run away from.