Top 483 Quotes & Sayings by Clint Eastwood - Page 2

Yes, I'm always - I'm always surprised when you make a film and you live with it a while and you put it out, you never dream that anybody is ever going to want to really see it.

I probably would have retired years ago if I hadn't found interesting things to do.

I have been trying to retire to the back of the camera for quite a few years, and in 1970, when I first started directing, I said, 'If I could pull this off, I can some day move to the back of the camera and stay there.'

My dad was fiscally conservative, and I was influenced by that. He didn't believe in spending more than you had because it gets you into trouble.

We are like boxers, one never knows how much longer one has.

The craving for information is so huge now, and it can be marketed at such a rapid rate.

Naturally, 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 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.

Everybody is idealistic when you're a kid.

Nowadays, politically, everybody is promising everything. That's the only way you can get elected.

If you ever go to a music session, you'll notice that the musicians can sit down and start playing right away, and everyone knows what to do. Of course they're reading it, but the conductor can tweak little things, and you can take that back to directing motion pictures.

People love westerns worldwide. There's something fantasy-like about an individual fighting the elements. Or even bad guys and the elements. It's a simpler time. There's no organized laws and stuff.

I have worked ever since I was 13.

When I was a kid, I thought movies just came from air. I thought they just appeared.

I like Italian movies. I was frequently there in the '60s, in Rome and the vicinity. It was a great period in life. I was very influenced by their stuff.

The innocence of childhood is like the innocence of a lot of animals.

I just don't like killing creatures.

I've always been very liberal when it comes to people thinking for themselves.

I think there is a lot made out of age, and what age you feel.

My grandfather lived to be late 90s on one side and on the other side, 70s or something. And my father died young, at 63. But he didn't take very good care of himself.

I kind of make a film for myself to sort of express myself.

I'm not really a Hollywood person. Not that I don't like L.A., but I'm just a Northern California guy.

I'm not a regrets-type person.

Prime time for men is, say, 35 to 45. Then they level off and fall off.

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.

Man becomes his most creative during war.

You are always hoping that movie audiences are interested in characters and interested in story values rather than just mindless special effects. But you never know.

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 not a chick-flick enthusiast.

When I do a picture and it's 90% black, like 'Bird,' I use 90% black people.

I haven't been very active in politics.

It's always fun to talk about jazz.

The country has come a long way in race relations, but the pendulum swings so far back. Everyone wants to be so sensitive.

A lot of people are realizing they had the wool pulled over their eyes by Obama.

My wife used to be an anchorwoman in Arizona, so she knew John McCain, and she liked him, and I kinda liked him.

I read every book there was on jazz, about the original players - King Oliver, Buddy Bolden and all those groups. At one time I was fairly well schooled in that... I could tell you who played where and when, historically, way before my time.

There's no real excuse for being successful enough as an actor to do what you want and then selling out. You do it pure. You don't try to adapt it, make it commercial.

I'd always tried to resist playing the supervirility thing. I liked showing the vulnerability of age.

A lot of dumb pictures have made a lot of money, but that doesn't mean they're going to be anything cinema students will revel over in the future.

In school, I could hear the leaves rustle and go on a journey.

Actors know what actors are insecure about - and they're all insecure.

A lot of people are bored of all the political correctness.

I think everybody has something that they've been obsessed about in their lifetime.

I've always been fascinated with the stealing of innocence. It's the most heinous crime, and certainly a capital crime if there ever was one.

I'm not one of these guys who sits around saying, 'Gee, I mean, the person had a strange childhood and that's why he's doing this horrible thing. Poor Jeffrey Dahmer. He's just had a bad childhood and that's why he's eating people.' Wait a second! This person should be removed from the planet.

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.

I was an Eisenhower Republican when I started out at 21 because he promised to get us out of the Korean War.

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.

Movies were invented for Jimmy Cagney, and he was invented for the movies. A perfect match.

Society has made us believe you should look like an 18-year-old model all your life.

I'm a mentor to anybody who's interested.

I love big business!

Movies are fun, but they are no cure for cancer.

Our modern society - especially in the West, and especially now - reveres youth.

I've always felt that if I examine myself too much, I'll find out what I know and don't know, and I'll burst the bubble. I've gotten so lucky relying on my animal instincts, I'd rather keep a little bit of the animal alive.

Overnight stardom can be harmful to your mental health. Yeah. It has ruined a lot of people.

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.

I think Pebble Beach is kind of a unique place on the planet.

I played characters with villainous aspect. But out-and-out villain? No.