154 Quotes by Brad Pitt

You must lose everything in order to gain anything.

In Missouri, where I come from, we don't talk about what we do - we just do it. If we talk about it, it's seen as bragging.

I embrace the messiness of life. I find it so beautiful actually.

Man, when I'm riding with the helmet on, I'm invisible. And people just deal with me as the guy on the bike... it gives you a chance to read 'em.

Gay marriage is inevitable. The next generation, they get it. It is just a matter of time before it becomes a reality.

I'm probably 20 percent atheist and 80 percent agnostic. I don't think anyone really knows. You'll either find out or not when you get there, until then there's no point thinking about it.

The things you own end up owning you.

Do you know how you tell real love? It's when someone else's interest trumps your own.

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Fatherhood is the best thing I ever did. It changes your perspective. You can write a book, you can make a movie, you can paint a painting, but having kids is really the most extraordinary thing I have taken on.

Stop being perfect, because obsessing over being perfect stops you from growing.

The best moments can't be preconceived. I've spent a lot of time in editing rooms, and a scene can be technically perfect, with perfect delivery and facial expression and timing, and you remember all your lines, and it is dead.

America is not a country, it’s a business.

Fame makes you feel permanently like a girl walking past construction workers.

You are not the car you drive.

I'm not a big proponent of happiness. I think it's highly overrated. I think misery is underrated. There's so much value in that. You can't have one without the other.

I've always believed happiness is overrated, you know? It’s those difficult times that inform the next wonderful time, and it’s a series of trade-offs, of events, of wins and losses.

I do not suffer from Autism, but I do suffer from the way you treat me.

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Hitting bottom isn't a weekend retreat, it's not a goddamn seminar. Stop trying to control everything and just let go!

The woman is the reflection of her man. If you love her to the point of madness, she will become it

I had a friend who worked at a hospice, and he said people in their final moments don't discuss their successes, awards or what books they wrote or what they accomplished. They only talk about their loves and their regrets, and I think that's very telling.

America is a country founded on guns. It's in our DNA. It's very strange but I feel better having a gun. I really do. I don't feel safe, I don't feel the house is completely safe, if I don't have one hidden somewhere. That's my thinking, right or wrong.

Let us be the ones who say we do not accept that a child dies every three seconds simply because he does not have the drugs you and I have. Let us be the ones to say we are not satisfied that your place of birth determines your right for life. Let us be outraged; let us be loud; let us be bold.

There's no right. There's no wrong. There's only popular opinion.

You make yourself what you are. You have control of your own destiny.

This idea of perpetual happiness is crazy and overrated, because those dark moments fuel you for the next bright moments; each one helps you appreciate the other.

I don't feel restless, I just like to travel.

My father came from a very poor background, but I was very fortunate in the sense that we were never in need. My dad was determined to make sure that we didn't want for things. He wanted to give us more opportunity than he had, a better shot at a better life.

A family is a risky venture, because the greater the love, the greater the loss... That's the trade-off. But I'll take it all.

I believe you make your day. You make your life.

By nature, I keep moving, man. My theory is, be the shark. You've just got to keep moving. You can't stop.

There's peace in understanding that I have only one life, here and now, and I'm responsible.

You dont know someone until you know what they want.

The last Bollywood movie I watched was 3 Idiots that featured Aamir Khan in it. It was impressive!

Actions speak louder than words, and it's no more true than with your kids.

Success is a beast. And it actually puts the emphasis on the wrong thing. You get away with more instead of looking within.

I'm drawn to furniture design as complete architecture on a minor scale.

You just have to get one misstep - that's an easy way to fall into caricature. Bad caricature.

You don't really get to choose who you fall in love with. Love chooses you. (Meaning)

When you first get opportunities, suddenly you get surrounded by a lot of people who want to make money off you but also are there to help. But they start telling you so much what you need to be and what you need to do to maintain some idea of career maintenance.

Cate Blanchett is mesmerizing. I don't know why. It's beyond my understanding. Why we all want to work with her is she elevates the rest of us. She's just got some ethereal grace and elegance that's beyond me, and an acute understanding of human nature. She's just exquisite. She's otherworldly.

What's valuable to me has become clearer as I've got older. To me, it's about the value of your time and your day and the value of the people you spend it with.

I could really try new things. That was satanism, it works really well, I made a pact.

The woman is the reflection of her man

I was very curious about the world even at a young age, and I don't know at what point I became aware that other cultures believed in different religions, and my question was, 'Well, why don't they get to go to heaven then?' And the answer was always, 'Well, everyone gets a chance - meaning at the word of God as it was described to me then. And that didn't sit well with me then. But in times of trouble or discord, it's a great comfort. And it wasn't till I left home that I really came to the conclusion that it didn't make sense to me for many other reasons.

Heartthrobs are a dime a dozen.

Equality, absolutely, that's what defines us. It's what makes us great. If it doesn't sit well with your religion, let your God sort it out in the end, but that's us. We're equal

Being married means I can break wind and eat ice cream in bed.

I don't want to die without scars.

Once you get older, you get a little closer to yourself, intimate. I've always been very aware of that, more conscious of who I am, how I fit in the thing as opposed to trying to emulate someone else. Though, sometimes I try to emulate De Niro all the time, who is someone I could never be.

Any love involves loss, and that's the risk you take. And the greater the love, the greater the loss. I certainly feel that now with the woman I'm with, and the children that I have. But whatever the course may be, this time together is extraordinary.

If someone wants to do drugs, as long as he or she isn't corrupting minors or driving under the influence or endangering others, shouldn't a person have that right?

I'm 48 now and whatever I get music-wise, I get from my kids and that's it. I don't think I'll ever be hip again!

You have to consider the possibility that God does not like you.

I'm one of those people you hate because of genetics. It's the truth.

Your shame will be your torture, and your torture will be your life. I wish it long.

I'm actually very snobbish about directors. I have to say no all the time. 'No' is the most powerful word in our business. You've got to protect yourself… To leave home, it's got to be worth leaving. It's got to be worth it.

A man inserted an 'ad' in the classifieds: "Wife wanted". Next day he received a hundred letters. They all said the same thing: "You can have mine."

I phoned my grandparents and my grandfather said 'We saw your movie.' 'Which one?' I said. He shouted 'Betty, what was the name of that movie I didn't like?

The gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment may be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.

My happiest moment is the day they call wrap and I'm free. I'm not looking back.

One of the greatest, smartest things I ever did was give my kids Angie as their mom. She is such a great mom. Oh, man, I'm so happy to have her.

By employing the intelligence of natural systems we can create industry, buildings, even regional plans that see nature and commerce not as mutually exclusive but mutually coexisting.

Within time, you get comfortable with yourself and with the unknown - that we're not going to know until that time comes. And that's enough for me. I wrestle with this a lot even now because I don't want to step on anyone's religion. My family is still very dedicated. At the same time, I take great issue with it when it starts defining policy or ultimately becomes separatist. It's been the basis of our main conflicts throughout history.

Self improvement is masturbation. Now self destruction.

I'd like to design something like a city or a museum. I want to do something hands on rather than just play golf which is the sport of the religious right.

Kids are dying from diarrhea ... that just shouldn't be in this day and age, and it's that kind of thing that needs to be changed. Enough is enough

Each misstep leads to the next correct step.

When you see a person, do you just concentrate on their looks? It's just a first impression. Then there's someone who doesn't catch your eye immediately, but you talk to them and they become the most beautiful thing in the world. The greatest actors aren't what you would call beautiful sex symbols.

It's a lovely experience walking around a museum by yourself.

We, in America, love a story - we need a story to get involved in. But then everything becomes more about how the story protects a certain perception as we pick sides.

When I received my first paycheck from my now known day job, I spent it on a period Craftsman chair and a Frank Lloyd Wright-wannabe lamp. With my second paycheck, I bought a stereo.

I'm gonna design my own fleet of trailers. No! I'm gonna record an album like Jennifer Lopez. It'll be an acoustic version of K.C. and the Sunshine Band. Then maybe I'll design a line of clothes like Puff Daddy, but all in synthetic fur.

For me a film is at its best when you can start filling in the story with your own life experience.

Where I grew up - we started out in Oklahoma and then moved to Missouri - it was considered hubris to talk about yourself. And the downside of that was that ideas rarely got exchanged, or true feelings.

By the time this concert ends this evening, 30,000 Africans will have died because of extreme poverty. By this time tomorrow evening, another 30,000. This does not make sense.

It is each American's constitutional right to marry the person they love, no matter what state they inhabit. No state should decide who can marry and who cannot. Thanks to the tireless work of so many, someday soon this discrimination will end and every American will be able to enjoy their equal right to marriage.

Without pain and suffering, we would be nothing

I don't want to waste time being angry at someone I love.

My family worry for me because I'm gonna burn in an eternal pit of fire.

Ideals are peaceful. History is violent.

Because no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn't harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8.

Most of the time is with the family. Most of the time, is all the time. When we work it's a very intensive chunk of time. We work for 12 hours a day, 14 hours a day is common. And we'll do that for a few months and then we get to relax a little bit.

I've been in these tabloids for 14 years now, and at some point you just become a Zen master of it all

With sons and fathers, there's an inexplicable connection and imprint that your father leaves on you.

There's nothing more life-changing than fatherhood.

Oh, I'll never leave Montana, brother.

No more excuses. I can't blame anything on my parents. I'm responsible for my mistakes and my choices.

So much of making movies is about discovery on the day, what you're figuring out. If you know everything going in, then it's not worth doing - it's already done. I'm interested in finding people who I think have a voice - and a very specific voice.

Democracy doesn't work unless people are well informed, and I don't know that we are. People just don't have the time. Most people's daily lives are just about surviving. Most people don't have time to really study [crucial] issues.

The greatest thing an actor can experience is discovery. The greatest thing an artist can walk away with is to learn something about themselves and the world and this was one of those.

Iliad by Homer is one of the great stories in literature. And I thought its themes really resonated today, whether that was my projection or Homer's intentions. It didn't seem like we had come very far.

There are no secrets at our house. We tell the kids, 'Mom and Dad are going off to kiss.' They go, 'Eww, gross!' But we demand it.

When I was a little kid we moved to Tulsa, then to St. Louis and, by the time I was in kindergarten, we lived in Springfield, Missouri. There I basically grew up.

The idea that marriage has to be for all time - that I don't understand.

Whilst acting is my career, architecture is my passion. Selecting this development as my first major construction project has been a simple decision. It will underpin not only my values for environmentally friendly architecture, but also embrace my career in entertainment

I keep hearing I'm a crazy party guy... I'm not. I'm boring... At least by party standards.

Crime is just unvarnished capitalism, after all.

Given a chance, I would like to work with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan because she's a versatile actor.

We're consumers. We are by-products of a lifestyle obsession.

You can’t trap justice. It’s an idea, a belief.

We made a plan at school to meet in her garage and kiss. It was like this little business deal. I kissed her and then I ran home

Mr. and Mrs. Smith. It's kind of a more of a comedic-actiony film. And then we just started Ocean's [12] Monday. Or I did anyways.

Same-sex marriage polls is our last chance to make a difference. If you're like me, you don't want to have to ask yourself on the day after the election, what else could I have done?

I've had the luxury of travel and, in the luxury of travel, I've seen the detriments of poverty and I've gone on to see how easy the cures can be - cures that cost cents to the richest nations in the world.

Once you hit 40, you start reexamining the math of it all. I'll trade wisdom for youth any day.

Yeah. And it was too much of what you shouldn’t be doing instead of what you should be doing. I get enraged when people start telling other people how to live their lives. It drives me mental. This Prop.8 thing just drives me mental

I haven't known life to be any happier.

Getting a burp out of your little thing when she needs it is probably the greatest satisfaction I've come across at this point in my life.

Democracy doesn't work unless the public is informed.

We had a work session [in "Moneyball"] where about 30 scouts came in and we're all riffing. And after it, [director] Bennett Miller said: Look at these faces and this is what we have to got to do. We got to get these guys in the scene.

Family comes first so I only have this specific window of time available to me and because of that I actually get more done.

I grew up very religious, and I don't have a great relationship with religion.

Having children takes the focus off yourself, which I'm really grateful for. I'm so tired of thinking about myself. I'm sick of myself. You feel you want to be there and not miss out on anything. It's a true joy and a very profound love. You can write a book, you can make a movie, you can paint a painting, but having kids is the most extraordinary thing I've ever taken on.

We are a generation of men raised by women. I'm beginning to wonder if another woman is what we really need.

New Orleans has a real spirit. It's the most authentic of all American cities.

Indian cinema seems to be growing very well at its own pace.

The Assassination of Jesse James' remains one of my favorite films that I've done. You know, it's still labeled a loser.

Religion works. I know there's comfort there, a crash pad. It's something to explain the world and tell you there is something bigger than you, and it is going to be alright in the end. It works because it's comforting. I grew up believing in it, and it worked for me in whatever my little personal high school crisis was, but it didn't last for me.

My kids are just waiting for me at home. I'm their father. They're wondering, 'When's Daddy coming home?'

I'm most comfortable with the Southern dialects, really. It's easy, for example, for me to do Irish because we've got Irish heritage where I come from.

Plan B is really a little garage band of three people, and our mandate has been to help get difficult material, that might not otherwise get made, to the screen and to work with directors we respect.

I didn't understand this idea of a God who says, "You have to acknowledge me. You have to say that I'm the best, and then I'll give you eternal happiness. If you won't, then you don't get it!" It seemed to be about ego. I can't see God operating from ego, so it made no sense to me.

I don't have a chance [on being elected Mayor of New Orleans]. I'm running on the gay marriage, no religion, legalization and taxation of marijuana platform.

I had a very supportive family environment that gave me room to explore and discover things about myself.

Perhaps we don't need these religious concoctions to pillow the fear of death. Just the fact that there is an unknown, and something greater, can bring a feeling of peace. That's enough for me.

Basically when you whittle everything away, I'm a grown man who puts on makeup.

I know some of these guys who are in that stalkerazzi world, and you really have to separate them from the paparazzi in our industry. This is another breed. And they have their heroes who got the big scandalous shot, and which just promotes more of that.

You know, you find that these stories ... will turn one of us into the good guy and one of us into the bad guy. If you look at it closely or even not that closely ... it's ridiculous.

We still check in with each other. She was a big part of my life, and me hers. I don't see how there cannot be [that]. That's life, man. That's life.

You know I've been in these tabloids for years now. And at some point you just become a Zen master of it all. Most of these stories, you get probably 2 percent real fruit juice and the rest is just garbage with no nutritional value.

I've always paid attention to religion because I grew up in a religious background, but I've never felt a part of any of them. I think there's something to be drawn from most of them - other than goat sacrificing.

It is an amazing fact of human nature that one year we can be chopping each other up and the next year we can be sharing a pint. We seem to often devolve into conflict no matter how much we evolve...

You hear stories of intense actors who can't shed their character and who don't know who they are for a week or two after. I'm not that guy, man.

The kids ask about marriage. It's meaning more and more to them. So it's something we've got to look at.

I spent the '90s trying to hide out, trying to duck the full celebrity cacophony.

It's boredom. No other reason than that.

When I first got out to Hollywood, they were pushing me for sitcoms, and I didn't really have an interest in them. I wanted to do films and slowly worked that way. And then it became, I guess, this curse of the leading man.

Man, if I can get a burp out of that little thing I feel such a sense of accomplishment.

How many stories have you read that aren't true, stories about me and Angie being married or fighting or splitting up? And when we don't split up, there's a whole new round that we've made up and we're back together again!

It may be a brief interruption - just a few seconds - but what if someone sitting near you is trying to make a decent bootleg? Did you ever think of that? Now all those street-corner copies are permanently defiled by your so-called 'emergency.' Don't be so damn selfish.

Deregulation created this epidemic of greed which according to the rules of capitalism was OK. Beyond that there was criminal behaviour. There have been no repercussions and it's hard to make your peace with.

You never know when I might decide to work in a Bollywood film and do one of those dance numbers with the whole crew in the backdrop.

The scouts [in "Moneyball"] could lend an authenticity that's even beyond what we had on the page.

I am very interested in architecture. I've been asked if I'd ever direct, but me, I'd rather build. It's very similar to directing, because you get to walk among this piece of art, to live in it, be surrounded by it, which is just thrilling.

We in America have some grand ideals - and some very strong ideals - but a lot of times, those ideals are used for marketing.

I dare make those comparisons, but we often said 'the making of' would be as interesting if not more interesting than the film.

Though 'Moneyball' had the talents of screenwriters Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin going for it, they weren't baseball insiders.

I had the luxury of working on the script with Andrew [Dominik] for a good year before the film started, so I was already intimate with the story [of The Assassination of Jesse James] and felt quite prepared walking into it.

There are certain aspects of celebrity that I understand, although that's not the main point of the story [in Assassination of Jesse James] , but it is one of the by products. I certainly understand what its like to be hunted and have a bounty on my head but at least nobody is pointing guns at me.

[Robert] Ford had the idea that through fame he would receive some personal validity, but he didn't. I feel that these are not the main themes, but certainly themes that are at play in this film [Assassination of Jesse James].

Jesse [James] was known as a kind of Robin Hood character and also it was known that his exploits were somewhat dubious - however, he perpetuated this myth. Our film [The Assassination of Jesse James] really takes place at the end of all that, the last year of his life, at the end of all that celebrity.

The choice or decision to take on a film certainly isn't calculated as far as doing something that will be successful against something that will have a smaller audience. It's all a gamble to me, I don't bet on the horses; I just go with the story that speaks to me and that I feel strongly about which is this one [The Assassination of Jesse James].