Top 47 Quotes & Sayings by James Stewart

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American actor James Stewart.
Last updated on December 22, 2024.
James Stewart

James Maitland Stewart was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality he portrayed both on and off the screen, he epitomized the "American ideal" in the mid-twentieth century. In 1999, the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked him third on its list of the greatest American male actors.

I always stayed for the first curtain call and people always said, 'Who's that?' But this got me started in acting.
When it came to kissing, Harlow was the best.
I always watch Dean Martin's show... just to see if he falls down.
Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.
I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, and I'm happy, Doctor, I finally won out over it.
I always told Hitch that it would have been better to put seats around the set and sell tickets.
Well, I think one of the main things that you have to think about when acting in the movies is to try not to make the acting show.
I lasted one night. They said my playing spoiled people's appetites. — © James Stewart
I lasted one night. They said my playing spoiled people's appetites.
Frank called me one day and said, 'I have an idea for a movie, why don't you come over and I'll tell you?' So I went over and we sat down and he said, 'This picture starts in heaven'. That shook me.
I sort of got into Westerns... It was a sort of desperation move, really. I had several pictures that didn't go very well, and I just realised that I would have to try something else.
If I had my career over again? Maybe I'd say to myself, speed it up a little.
It's well done if you can do a part and not have the acting show.
I was going to be an architect. I graduated with a degree in architecture and I had a scholarship to go back to Princeton and get my Masters in architecture. I'd done theatricals in college, but I'd done them because it was fun.
It was amazing that a play that seems dated in this world... A man whose best friend is a six-foot white rabbit... But it caught on, especially with young people - they surprised me most of all.
One time they traded me for seven horses. Seven stunt horses.
We had an apartment on west side of Central Park. The rent was very reasonable. We found out later that it belonged to a gangster called Legs Diamond and it was a front to his headquarters. It was fine.
I'd like to do Harvey again. I did it two years ago with Helen Hayes in New York. It was a joy. I was so glad to do it again because I never thought I did it right the first time.
I don't need other people. I don't need help. I can take care of me.
I wouldn't give you two cents for all your fancy rules if, behind them, they didn't have a little bit of plain, ordinary, everyday kindness and a little looking out for the other fella, too.
My dogs have never been good at things like "sit," "stay," or even "come." I think that we've given the tourists a few laughs, especially when the dogs hit the end of their leashes hard enough to drag Gloria down the street.
I think one day youll find that you're the hero you've been looking for. — © James Stewart
I think one day youll find that you're the hero you've been looking for.
It's much easier, for example, to play a heroin addict and you're withdrawing - you tear the ceiling off - that's much easier than it is to come in and say, 'Hello.' Or, 'I love you'. When you judge it in that way, the heavy isn't as difficult.
After age 70, it's patch, patch, patch.
Bull markets are great, but they breed complacency. Bear markets can be energizing. Instead of fretting over the decline in your net worth, think opportunistically about all those bargains - and the potential gains when, inevitably, a bull market returns.
You know, people seldom go to the trouble of scratching the surface of things to find the inner truth.
The problem of evil is raised more often by spectators of life than the actual combatants. You will hardly ever find that the great sufferers are the great skeptics.
The great thing about the movies ... is-you're giving people little ... tiny pieces of time ... that they never forget. — © James Stewart
The great thing about the movies ... is-you're giving people little ... tiny pieces of time ... that they never forget.
It’s well done if you can do a part and not have the acting show.
Learn from the masters, learn from your contemporaries. Always try to update yourself.
We all look the same with our helmets on.
Animals give me more pleasure through the viewfinder of a camera than they ever did in the crosshairs of a gunsight. And after I've finished "shooting," my unharmed victims are still around for others to enjoy. I have developed a deep respect for animals. I consider them fellow living creatures with certain rights that should not be violated any more than those of humans.
The true Christian reaction to suffering and sorrow is not the attitude of self-pity, fatalism or resentment; it is the spirit which takes life's difficulties as a God given opportunity, and regards its troubles as a sacred trust, and wears the thorns as a crown.
To the man who prays habitually (not only when he feels like it-that is one of the snares of religion-but also when he does not feel like it) Christ is sure to make Himself real.
Having friends around for a pleasant evening is one of life's most cherished joys as far as I am concerned. But when those with me are fellow believers, how much greater that joy is, for we know that it's rekindled, one day in eternity.
It is the spectators, the people who are outside, looking at the tragedy, from whose ranks the skeptics come; it is not those who are actually in the arena and who know suffering from the inside. Indeed, the fact is that it is the world's greatest sufferers who have produced the most shining examples of unconquerable faith.
The truth is that it's just really hard for me to get to sleep without a dog in my bedroom. I once had a dog named Beau. He used to sleep in the corner of the bedroom. Some nights, though, he would sneak onto the bed and lie right between Gloria and me. I know that I should have pushed him off the bed, but I didn't. He was up there because he wanted me to pat his head, so that's what I would do.
I have my own rules and adhere to them. The rule is simple but inflexible. A James Stewart picture must have two vital ingredients. It will be clean and it will involve the triumph of the underdog over the bully.
It may sound corny, but what's wrong with wanting to fight for your country. Why are people reluctant to use the word patriotism? — © James Stewart
It may sound corny, but what's wrong with wanting to fight for your country. Why are people reluctant to use the word patriotism?
I have developed a deep respect for animals. I consider them fellow living creatures with certain rights that should not be violated any more than those of humans.
You must be oh-so smart, or oh-so pleasant. For years I was smart. I recommend pleasant...and you may quote me.
Mr. Hitchcock did not say actors are cattle. He said they should be treated like cattle.
You have to develop a style that suits you and pursue it, not just develop a bag of tricks.
Fear is an insidious and deadly thing. It can warp judgment, freeze reflexes, breed mistakes. Worse, it's contagious.
The difference between "trained OK" and "trained perfectly" doesn't really matter all that much to me. I once did a film with Lassie. When that dog got excited he jumped all over Rudd Weatherwax [Lassie's trainer]. Now that's the smartest dog in the world. If the world's best-trained dog can jump around to show he's happy then my dogs should be allowed to do the same.
Animals give me more pleasure through the viewfinder of a camera than they ever did in the crosshairs of a gunsight.
If a western is a good western, it gives you a sense of that world and some of the qualities those men had - their comradeship, loyalty, and physical courage.
Champagne's funny stuff. I'm used to whiskey. Whiskey is a slap on the back, and champagne's a heavy mist before my eyes.
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