Top 127 Quotes & Sayings by Samuel L. Jackson

I'm not as angry as I used to be. But I can get in touch with that anger pretty quickly if I feel my space is being invaded or somebody is not treating me with the respect that I think I want.

I understood, through rehab, things about creating characters. I understood that creating whole people means knowing where we come from, how we can make a mistake and how we overcome things to make ourselves stronger.

I kind of realize that I have a tendency to choose the kind of films I watched when I was a kid and would go home and pretend with my friends that we were in those movies after we saw them.

We need to change America's image round the world. America has lost some lustre in terms of how folks aspire to be like us.

I'm a good son, a good father, a good husband - I've been married to the same woman for 30 years. I'm a good friend. I finished college, I have my education, I donate money anonymously. So when people criticize the kind of characters that I play on screen, I go, 'You know, that's part of history.'

I love comic books and I love anime.

I tend to play characters that I can infuse with certain kinds of humour. Even the baddest guy can be funny in his own particular way. I want the audience to engage with the character on some deeper level so that they leave the cinema still thinking about him.

People know about the Klan and the overt racism, but the killing of one's soul little by little, day after day, is a lot worse than someone coming in your house and lynching you.

I get paid all day, every day, which is almost too much for a sensitive artist.

I hope Obama gets scary in the next four years, 'cuz he ain't gotta worry about getting re-elected.

I guess the worst day I have had was when I had to stand up in rehab in front of my wife and daughter and say 'Hi, my name is Sam and I am an addict.'

The only thing I've kind of missed is finding a really good western that I want to do, because I watched westerns a lot.

I grew up watching those blaxploitation movies. Ron O'Neal, Richard Roundtree, Jim Brown, Pam Grier. For the first time, I saw 'The Negro' get one over on 'The Man.'

I just always knew that I lived in two worlds. There was the world of my house and community, but to make my way in that white world I had to modify the way I spoke and acted. I had to sometimes not make direct eye contact.

The best advice that was given to me was that I had to be 10 times smarter, braver and more polite to be equal. So I did.

It wasn't until I let go of the idea of the brass ring that it showed up, and fortunately for me, it coincided with getting clean.

People go to movies on Saturday to get away from the war in Iraq and taxes and election news and pedophiles online and just go and have some fun. I like doing movies that are fun.

Not everybody goes to movies to get their life changed.

I did 'Formula 51' because I got to run around Liverpool in a kilt, with golf clubs.

I walk the streets, take the train, it's real simple. Some actors create their own mythology: 'Oh, I'm so famous I can't go places, because I created this mythology that I'm so famous I can't go places.'

I look at myself as an audience member. I still love movies, and I still go and sit in the back of the big dark room with everybody else, and I want the same thrill.

I've never been to jail. I've never been arrested. I've never been locked up.

If you have an opportunity to use your voice you should use it.

I actually think I have an audience member's sensibility about going to the movies.

My dad was an absentee dad, so it was always important to me that I was part of my daughter's life, and she deserved two parents, which is part of the rationale behind us staying married for 30 years.

I've been fortunate to be in films that are classic, that are going to be around.

All movies aren't fun; some are hard work. You try to do something and convey a set of emotions that have to do with some real life kind of stuff.

Long Kiss Goodnight has a huge cult following. They could make another version of that movie right now and make a lot of money.

I never had one beer. If I bought a six-pack of beer, I kept drinking till all six beers were gone. You have to have that kind of understanding about yourself. I haven't had a drink now in 12 years.

We've come a long way in our thinking, but also in our moral decay. I can't imagine Dr. King watching the 'Real Housewives' or 'Jersey Shore.'

When I'm not working, I like to play golf.

I voted for Barack because he was black. 'Cuz that's why other folks vote for other people - because they look like them... That's American politics, pure and simple.

Because of where I come from, I never thought I'd see in my life a black candidate running for President.

If you are a Jedi, just understand something: people are going to be chasing you. The Jedi Council of every city you enter is going to be chasing you. I've been accosted by the Jedi Council in Rio and everywhere else.

I never did one thing right in my life, you know that? Not one. That takes skill.

I read, watch television, watch movies, hang out with family. I like my clothes and I have great cars, and I drive those. But for most people, it's like, "That's boring. You don't club? You don't party?"

If you do not have courage, you may not have the opportunity to use any of your other virtues.

The certainty that life cannot be long, and the probability that it will be much shorter than nature allows, ought to awaken every man to the active prosecution of whatever he is desirous to perform.

You know me. It's my duty to please that booty.

I don't run around shooting people. Much. I only shoot two people a year. Maybe.

Just because people don't trust people doesn't mean [they] don't like them. There are lots of paranoid people in the world. You figure out their personalities and make them work.

Girl, don't make me put my foot in your ass.

Anyone who tells you money can't buy happiness never had any.

I grew up in the South with guns everywhere and we never shot anyone. This [shooting] is about people who aren't taught the value of life.

Take a stand for what's right. Raise a ruckus and make a change. You may not always be popular, but you'll be part of something larger and bigger and greater than yourself. Besides, making history is extremely cool.

I trust most people. Not producers.

What kills me is that everybody thinks I like Jazz.

I don't understand how people live without creating.

You just let people do what they do and look at them and give them enough rope until they do what you thought they were going to do... which is screw you over.

Not everything's made to win an Academy Award.

I have a lot more energy than I used to have. I sleep better. I like the way I look in my clothes better. I don’t cramp as much. I exercise better. I think my circulation has gotten better.

You ain't got but one life. You ought to live it the way you want.

My ass may be dumb, but I ain't no dumbass.

Everybody has to learn that the world works in very specific ways, and you're not in charge of it.

There are some movies that deserve criticism. They want people to know that it's a great dramatic accomplishment and has some great performances in it. But, c'mon. Yes, you will have some fun if you go see 'Snakes on a Plane.' Snakes are biting people - and they're biting them right on screen. There's nothing to review. It's not 'Snakes on the Waterfront.' You don't have snakes going, 'I coulda been a constrictor.' No. Hell no. It's 'Snakes on a Plane.'

I'm as serious as a heart attack.

Painters get up and paint. Writers get up and write. I like to get up and act. It's not a big deal. It makes me happy.

Just 'cause you pour syrup on something doesnt make it pancakes

Those that have loved longest love best.

I walk the streets, take the train, it's real simple. Some actors create their own mythology: 'Oh, I'm so famous I can't go places, because I created this mythology that I'm so famous I can't go places.