Top 115 Quotes & Sayings by Judd Nelson

My closest friend is canine. I have precious few close friends, and most of them are not actors.

My Brat Pack buddies and I didn't exactly handle celebrity very well. Success at an early age is far more difficult to handle than failure.

It's great to work with people that you like, any job, no matter what you do.

Remember to be as smart as you are.

My first paid acting job was a movie called Fandango. It also starred Kevin Costner.

With failure, you just try again.

I took all the philosophy courses I could.

I went to acting school in New York City for two years. I studied with Stella Adler.

I love the rehearsal process in the theatre, and the visceral sense of contact and communication with a live audience.

I find it very difficult to relax. I find it increasingly difficult to find outlets for my frustration.

I don't know if it matters what country you're from, size of the city you're from, urban or rural, there are people that are hurting each other everywhere.

The movie that's had the most effect on me is Jaws. To this day when I'm in the ocean, I'm hearing that music.

All of the directors I've worked with I have loved and would work with again. I have no favorites.

It's still a bottom-line business. You can be out of control, and if they want you, they'll pick you. And you can be a mensch, and if you're not the product they want, you won't get it.

I put less stock in others' opinions than my own. No one else's opinions could derail me.

It's very easy to confuse Sean Connery with James Bond. Sometimes in the entertainment industry, people believe the cake is more real than the baker.

Young alienation, disappointment and heartache is all a part of the first real growing up that we do.

I like every single actor or actress in the world, because we never know what the conditions are like when they are working. I give everyone the benefit of the doubt and root for them like a psychotic sports fan.

A fancy watch, it's completely unnecessary. I just need a watch to tell the right time.

I have adopted clothes from all the projects I'm in. It's really been a while since I've bought anything myself.

Ice T was just a pleasure to work with. He was a smart gentleman.

Catcher in the Rye had a profound impact on me-the idea that we all have lots of dreams that are slowly being chipped away as we grow up.

It is a career of make-believe, of masks. We all have masks in life.

Death is not my best subject.

I always thought that the badge a cop has was more like the shield that Captain America has. It's an obvious sign of good and something you'll protect other people with, but it will also protect you.

I like the way the old Toyotas look.

I am very grateful to make my living doing what I would do for free.

I don't have any blindness when it comes to my money. As an actor, you can get distracted by your work. I do keep an eye on my nest egg, if you will.

As a kid I had a crush on Sophia Loren and Raquel Welch.

I'm involved with Recording Artists and Actors Against Drunk Driving. I'm also involved with most children's causes, because children can't help the environment they're in.

Almost anything makes me laugh, especially jokes at my own expense. And I will never, ever admit to being ticklish anywhere.

I like being a villain. Villains are more exciting.

When I was in college, all the pretty women were in the theatre, so I auditioned for a play.

My first love is acting on stage. A sitcom is a hybrid of stage and film.

You can be knocked down, but it doesn't mean you're out.

I just couldn't go back to Suddenly Susan after David Strickland's suicide. I didn't see how we could make the show light and funny any more.

Heroes always make the right decision; I find that seldom happens in my life.

While they would have provided financial support if I had needed it, the greatest support my parents gave was emotional, psychological.

I think that there's room for everyone. I don't think that if one person succeeds then another must fail. That's lunacy. I'm not sure what the reasons are for my philosophy, maybe it's the fact that if there are ten people doing the same job, we all know how we feel and what our high points and low points are.

I had to audition for Fandango. When I read the script, the role that was interesting - so everyone thought - was the role that Costner played. He was the cool guy. And I read the script, and my representation at the time said, "That's the role you should read for." And I was like, "Really? How about I read for this other role." And they went, "Well, you're not going to get that role."

My closest friend is canine. I have precious few close friends, and most of them are not actors

Just because you’ve only been alive for fifteen years doesn’t mean you’re less anything except old. That’s all it means. It doesn’t mean you’re less experienced. It doesn’t mean you’re less intelligent. It doesn’t mean you’re less sensitive. It doesn’t mean you take things less seriously. It’s like, these are younger human beings, meaning don’t, because they’re only ten, start thinking that they don’t know what you’re talking about -because they do. Don’t leave people out in the cold, and don’t talk down to people -don’t. It never works out.

I still think Brooke Shields is aces. She's really smart, interesting, doesn't feel that her time is more valuable than anyone else's. Really hardworking. And I knew that if she was the star of the show, it's going to be a good experience. And it was.

I like every single actor or actress in the world, because we never know what the conditions are like when they are working. I give everyone the benefit of the doubt and root for them like a psychotic sports fan

I was living in New York, so I just rode my motorcycle up to the set [of New Jack City]. So first day of work for me was kind of tough. I get ready to get off my bike, and I'm surrounded by the security guards, who were Louis Farrakhan's Nation Of Islam guys. Who had the double-breasted suits and guns. And this guy goes, "Where you goin'?" And I said, "I'm here to work." And they said, "No you're not." And I said, "Yeah. I'm here to work on the movie." And they said, "No you're not. Get on your bike."

I got offered to do Ben 10. Sue Blu was the [voice] director of that, and I had worked with her - I think she was on Transformers as well. And she was so great.

I enjoyed [playing lawyer in From The Hip] as an ode to my dad. My dad went to Harvard and Harvard Law School, so he had some friends that practiced in Boston. So, there was a big law firm that he hooked me up with the senior partner, then the senior partner hooked me up with a young lawyer who worked in the firm. And the young lawyer was married to a public defender. So I would hang out with them, and I could see both sides of it, those that are corporate attorneys and those that help the poor and the disenfranchised.

I think that sometimes you don't have the opportunities for some of the most A-list-type movies, big-budget movies. But I think it's important to keep working and make the best of what's available. Because otherwise, what? Are you just going to get bitter and moan? What does my mom always say? "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

You have to kind of roll with the punches. That's why I think work begets work to a certain degree. I just try and keep busy.

Though [John] Hughes did provide for us, if we wanted, to go to a local high school and try to blend in. Michael [Hall] and Molly [Ringwald ] already had school to go to with their tutors. Ally [Sheedy] wanted nothing to do with high school. She said, "I remember it fine. I don't want to go back." Which is great. So Emilio [Estevez] and I went. And Emilio lasted a couple hours because people recognized him from The Outsiders that had already been out, so his cover was blown.

Adam Sandler is a really funny guy in real life. Separate from all of the movies, that is a funny man.

Sweets, you couldn't ignore me if you tried.

Alien's a great one. That's a scary movie.

Stagecoach is really my first Western-Western, the whole horses and gunplay. It was really fun. We shot it fast, too. We got lucky with the weather. If it rained, I don't know if we would have been able to finish it. We had like 12 shooting days for the whole thing.

We worked six days a week [on the The Breakfast Club], so you have one day off. So on that Saturday night, it's not like we could all go out and have a drink because Molly [Ringwald ] and Michael [Hall] weren't old enough. And Ally [Sheedy] pretty much kept to herself. So Emilio and I, every Saturday night, would go into Chicago because we were shooting outside of Chicago in Des Plaines. It's so funny, because even though we might be adversaries in the film, we certainly weren't off-camera. He's a very funny guy.

We [ with Emilio Estevez] asked if we could take some things [ in Breakfast Club] that weren't in the shooting draft, but from earlier drafts, "Can we maybe use this?" And Hughes was very amenable to all that. And there was some stuff that I liked, and I said, "How about this?" And he went, "Well, we'll check with Molly [Ringwald]. Those scenes are with her. And if she likes it, fine." So it was just wonderful. It was great.

I did a Moonlighting episode because I was friends with Whoopi [Goldberg, who guest-starred in the same episode], and she asked me to do it and I did it. But yeah, that was my first regular on a series, and it's because I'd met Brooke Shields a number of years earlier at a charity event.

Screws fall out all the time, the world is an imperfect place.

Part of the reason I thought that I might do a series is, my dad has pretty much been on the same road to work for years and years. And it's like, "Could I do something like that? Am I so independent that I can't punch the clock at the same place?" So part of it was a kind of exercise. "Can I be responsible in this way?" And lo and behold, I could. Luckily. It'd be bad if I couldn't.

I went to acting school with Mario Van Peebles. For a little while, he was at the same school. So he asked me if I wanted to do [ New Jack City]. He said, "There's not really a role. We'll figure something out. But would you like to?" And I was like, "Sure." 'Cause he said it was Chris Rock and Ice T's first movie.