Top 100 Quotes & Sayings by Lorne Greene - Page 2

I don't care how big you are! Big bones don't weigh any more than small bones.

When NBC switched the series in September to Tuesday nights opposite 'Maude' it died. 'Bonanza' had become too familiar with a Sunday audience. Tuesday just wasn't the day for it.

I don't mind hard work.

Too many creative people never get to see the light of day because shows hang on too long.

There are many ways in which man thoughtlessly destroys wildlife habitat.

Bonanza' has given me the springboard to dive in so many other things. You'll hear no complaints from me. Certainly, there are times when I would like to have one spoonful of clam chowder before being asked to sign autographs, but that's part of the price.

When you have the top show your scripts have to be more than competitive. They should be the best.

Children are keenly aware of every situation where mother figuratively wears the pants in the home, and they're scornful of her for it. By the same token, the same attitude on the part of their father commands respect, even If it may at times engender fear.

Every once in a while I get a fan letter from someone about thinking he or she saw me in an episode of an old western or police series. The writers are probably right.

I am a man who likes work. It's not a matter of financial security.

What I'd really like to do is make maybe two or three movies a year.

Yes, 'Bonanza' has made me very comfortable. I have a big four-level contemporary house in West Los Angeles and a modest summer home in East Marion, LI.

I have always been interested in the whole spectrum of the outdoors.

Characters make a show.

It's not an easy job, but the satisfaction an actor feels when he has done a good job and the money make it worth while.

I look after my car very well.

The Smothers Brothers have a good show, bul CBS is going to have to spend an awful lot of money to keep it going with top guest stars. A variety show is very expensive.

If I were following trends, I would never have done 'Ringo.'

Slavery wasn't something that grew up in the American South. and black people were not the first to be slaves in America. Before them there were 'indentured laborers,' taken out of jails in England and Scotland and so forth and brought to the colonies to work out their terms in the fields and then be set free.

People go to see Shakespeare plays over and over, not because the story is new, but because they want to see how a certain actor will perform in a role that is familiar to the audience.

Ben Cartwright was patterned after my father, who never saw 'Bonanza.' In that sense, my father will live for a long time.

We're long on conversation in our house. Therefore, I don't like going to restaurants too much. There are too many distractions.

I learned then that an actor must always be himself, and must not be influenced by the people with whom he works.

I hope that people will watch 'Griff' to see how I handle a role like this.

I was typecast in 'Bonanza.' NBC officials - didn't realize this for about a year - had seen me in a 'Wagon Train' as a patriarch with a son. So when we started 'Bonanza,' they had me playing the father as a 65- year-old.

I felt that after 14 years we deserved more than just a day and a half's notice. There wasn't even a chance to wind up 'Bonanza' in a blaze of glory.

I was a Shakespearean actor, and a well-paid one.

For 14 years I had that run in Canada as a newscaster. When I decided to quit in 1953 I was making more money than the prime minister. Then I was a freelance actor for six years in Canada, the U.S., and England. Then 'Bonanza' came along and I had another 14 year run.

The woman who rules her roost is one of two things: she's illogical, therefore spoiling her children, or she's an iron-fisted disciplinarian, adopting the attitude that rightfully belongs to the man and losing the precious softness that is her birthright.

In my youth I wanted to be a concert violinist.

I played every kind of role In Canada except that of a villain.

A woman, by nature, is more emotional than a man and is not equipped to approach certain responsibilities with the authority that has been inherent in man.

A detective story is just the premise for conflict, as a Western is.

We still have slavery of all kinds - slavery of thought, slavery of ideas, slavery of cultureand I think 'Roots' exemplifies, in a very strong way, man's need to think for himself, feel for himself, do for himself.

Every actor - every human being - looks for security.

The average American husband has relinquished his responsibility as head of his household. Though the wife is partly at fault, he is mostly to blame. I'm not suggesting that women should return to the subservient position before their emancipation when they were virtually slaves of their husbands. But freedom for women can be overdone.

Bonanza' was on too long. I've never believed any TV show should go on that length of time.

It's a sad commentary when children feel they can talK to a stranger better than their own parents and ask him to solve their personal problems.

I never had even been on a horse and I thought guns were for the police until 'Bonanza' came along.

It's too bad that television needs so much material and does not leave time for quality writing. That's one of the things I have against television.