220 Quotes by Clint Eastwood

One day we will look back and realize that the Barack Obama Presidency was the biggest fraud ever perpetrated on the American people.

Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that's real power.

They say marriages are made in Heaven. But so is thunder and lightning.

Participating in a gun buy-back program because you think that criminals have too many guns is like having yourself castrated because you think your neighbors have too many kids.

Improvise, Adapt and Overcome!

A lot of people are realizing they had the wool pulled over their eyes by Obama.

Crimes against children are the most heinous crime. That, for me, would be a reason for capital punishment because children are innocent and need the guidance of an adult society.

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When a naked man is chasing a woman through an alley with a butcher knife and a hard-on, I figure he isn't out collecting for the Red Cross.

If you want a guarantee, buy a toaster.

We are like boxers, one never knows how much longer one has

You see, in this world, there's two kinds of people, my friend - those with loaded guns, and those who dig. You dig.

Extremism is so easy. You've got your position, and that's it. It doesn't take much thought. And when you go far enough to the right you meet the same idiots coming around from the left.

Take your work seriously, but don't take yourself seriously

You, me. We own this country. Politicians are employees of ours....And when somebody does not do the job, we got to let them go.

President Obama is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.

It's what people know about themselves inside that makes them afraid.

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Nothing wrong with shooting...as long as the right people get shot.

You have to feel confident. If you don't, then you're going to be hesitant and defensive, and there'll be a lot of things working against you.

There's only one way to have a happy marriage and as soon as I learn what it is I'll get married again.

Keep your eyes on the horizon and your nose to the wind.

The more time you have to think things through, the more you have to screw it up.

Always keep your ego in check and not be afraid to listen. Listening is a great art form.

Romney and Ryan would do a much better job running the country, and that's what everybody needs to know.

Sometimes if you want to see a change for the better, you have to take things into your own hands.

Let's not go and ruin it by thinking too much.

It's a hell of a thing, killing a man. You take away all he's got and all he's ever gonna have.

Go ahead, make my day.

There's a rebel lying deep in my soul. Anytime anybody tells me the trend is such and such, I go the opposite direction. I hate the idea of trends. I hate imitation; I have a reverence for individuality.

The guys who won World War II and that whole generation have disappeared, and now we have a bunch of teenage twits.

I try to stick to a vegan diet heavy on fruit and vegetables.

I'm interested in the fact that the less secure a man is, the more likely he is to have extreme prejudice.

A lot of people are bored of all the political correctness.

A good man always knows his limitations.

I tried being reasonable, I didn't like it.

I haven't killed anybody all day. Help me keep it that way.

There's a lot of great movies that have won the Academy Award, and a lot of great movies that haven't. You just do the best you can.

Secretly everybody's getting tired of political correctness, kissing up. That's the kiss-ass generation we're in right now. We're really in a pussy generation. Everybody's walking on eggshells. We see people accusing people of being racist and all kinds of stuff. When I grew up, those things weren't called racist.

I'm more focused on making a scene seem real as opposed to perfect.

Most people are afraid of change, but if you look at it as something you can always count on, then it can be a comfort.

Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn't have messed with? That's me.

An awful lot of good movies have gone unrecognized, and an awful lot of bad movies have had tremendous recognition. As long as you keep that in mind, you are never really disappointed.

I don't believe in pessimism. If something doesn't come up the way you want, forge ahead. If you think it's going to rain, it will.

There's a rebel lying deep in my soul.

I believe in my gut. Most people intellectualize their instincts away, but when you feel something, you have to go for it. A Fistful of Dollars was a great instinct for me, because here I was, a guy who's doing Rawhide.

Self-respect leads to self-discipline.

I'm not really conservative. I'm conservative on certain things. I believe in less government. I believe in fiscal responsibility and all those things that maybe Republicans used to believe in but don't any more.

Just trust your instincts. There's an old saying in golf, you've studied the swing many times, and you practice and practice, but when you stand over the ball, you just have to trust your swing. And you trust it. And if you don't trust it, you'll ruin it; your brain will take over.

When you're young, you're very reckless. Then you get conservative. Then you get reckless again.

I'm trying to preach the idea that if we don't pay attention to history we're destined to repeat it.

What I think the mentor gets is the great satisfaction of helping somebody along, helping somebody take advantage of an opportunity that maybe he or she did not have.

If you're afraid to take risks in anything in life, it's just boredom.

The most gentle people in the world are macho males, people who are confident in their masculinity and have a feeling of well-being in themselves. They don't have to kick in doors, mistreat women, or make fun of gays.

Abuse of power isn't limited to bad guys in other nations. It happens in our own country if we're not vigilant.

I've had moments when I've thought about somebody, picked up the phone to call them and they are on the line already, and I think that maybe there's some vibration, some connection.

Opinions are like a**holes, everybody has one.

I know what you're thinking 'Did he fire six shots or only five?

Directing is more like you're being a psychologist and you're kind of analyzing the situation and evaluating each person for their idiosyncrasies.

I take vitamins daily, but just the bare essentials not what you'd call supplements. I try to stick to a vegan diet heavy on fruit, vegetables, tofu, and other soy products.

My wife is my closest friend. Sure, I'm attracted to her in every way possible, but that's not the answer. Because I've been attracted to other people, and I couldn't stand 'em after a while.

I'd like to be a bigger and more knowledgeable person ten years from now than I am today. I think that for all of us as we grow older, we must discipline ourselves to continue expanding, broadening, learning, keeping our minds active and open.

Of course we all know Biden is the intellect of the Democratic Party. Kind of a grin with a body behind it.

I mean, I've always been a libertarian. Leave everybody alone. Let everybody else do what they want. Just stay out of everybody else's hair.

I'm always trying to tackle subjects that tax me and make me think. That's the key to staying young at heart. The brain has to be exercised the same as the rest of the body.

Nobody knows diddly. They just think they do. And the people that think they know the most know the least.

Being comfortable is over-rated.

What Trump is onto is, he's just saying what's on his mind. And sometimes it's not so good. And sometimes it's... I mean, I can understand where he's coming from, but I don't always agree with it.

Abuse of power isn't limited to 'bad guys' in other nations. It happens in our own country. Those in power get jaded, deluded, and seduced by power itself. I have a reverence for individuality. I've always considered myself too individualistic to be either right-wing or left-wing. I like the libertarian view, which is to leave everyone alone. People should be able to be what they want to be and do what they want - as long as they're not harming other people. I am a libertarian.

There are two kinds of actors -- one sits in a dressing room waiting for his call and the other gets out into the business and polishes his craft by absorbing everything. I don't know enough, I'll never learn everything I need to learn. When a guy thinks he's already learned it, he can only go backwards.

The casting is the most important thing. If you cast a picture really well a lot of things take care of themselves. You get actors that like to give a lot to the role and who appreciate the role on the same level that you do. If you miscast it, you're working an uphill battle a little bit and maybe you can come out okay but you can't always come out great.

Plagiarism is always the biggest thing in Hollywood.

Tomorrow is promised to no one.

I'm anti - the pussy generation. Not to be confused with pussy.

Hollywood seems to succumb to fads. Well, action films do well. Give me violence. Give me a scene where there's a couple of car chases or shooting and stuff like that. They're forgetting the fact that there's a basic structure to a story that is essential to making it really broad and appealing.

That's one of the actor's secrets: With everything you do, learn something new about yourself.

First, I blow a hole in your face; then I go back inside, and sleep like a baby... I guarantee you.

You have to teach yourself to act but Michael Chekhov will give you the necessary tools - and for me, Psychological Gesture and Centers are extremely valuable They work like a charm. I've used them all along and still do.

Kids piercing themselves, piercing their tongues, what kind of masochism is that? Is it to show you can just take it?

It takes tremendous discipline to control the influence, the power you have over other people's lives.

Fate pulls you in different directions

If a person is constantly evolving, constantly reading new material and being exposed to new material and growing in life, then you're becoming, hopefully, a more intelligent and well-rounded individual. If you're not then something's wrong and you're sliding back in the other direction.

I'd have to go for Donald Trump ... you know, 'cause Hillary Clinton is declared that she's gonna follow in Barack Obama's footsteps. There's been just too much funny business on both sides of the aisle. She's made a lot of dough out of being a politician.

My old drama coach used to say, 'Don't just do something, stand there.' Gary Cooper wasn't afraid to do nothing.

It's always fun to talk about jazz.

There was a stool there, and some fella kept asking me if I wanted to sit down. When I saw the stool sitting there, it gave me the idea. I'll just put the stool out there and I'll talk to Mr Obama and ask him why he didn't keep all of the promises he made to everybody.

I guess any movie actor can become a role model for audiences out there who enjoy him.

Don Siegel last advice to me was 'Don't short yourself.' He said the tendency is when an actor's directing is to kind of you want to work on everybody else but you're going to short yourself. He said, take the time to do a good job with yourself so that you're satisfied with it.

Once a man has some money, peace begins to sound good to him.

Great stories teach you something. That's one reason I haven't slipped into some sort of retirement: I always feel like I'm learning something new.

Every man has got to know his limitations.

You spend your life training to be an actor, observing people's characteristics so that you can design characters around what you've seen.

I'm a firm believer in research, but I'm also a firm believer in utilizing the instincts that are within your soul or in your body or in your stomach, wherever they reside.

Well, if you're waiting for a woman to make up her mind, you may have a a long wait.

The interesting thing with child actors is that kids are natural actors. They're wonderful actors, and most kids are acting all the time. They're imagining they're out in the yard playing. They're imagining that things happened, and they can get very vivid.

People love westerns worldwide. There's something fantasy-like about an individual fighting the elements. Or even bad guys and the elements. It's a simpler time. There's no organized laws and stuff.

That's the secret to a movie career - just keeping an open mind.

Every once and a while somebody writes a script, but even regardless of what age you are, most of the actors would all agree that it's all based upon material and the material has got to spark with you. It may be great material but you think it's great material for somebody else. Or it's great material and I'm perfect for it. So, you just have to make that judgment and if you feel in the mood to do it.

You have to be realistic about where you are in life and enjoy it.

When I was young there was no respect for the young, and now that I am old there is no respect for the old

There are two kinds of people in this world. 'I' people and 'we' people. I've always tried to be a 'we' person.

The prospect of dating someone in her twenties becomes less appealing as you get older. At some point in your fife, your tolerance level goes down and you realize that, with someone much younger, there's nothing really to talk about.

Music does have a very special place in my heart. I enjoy it very much. I suppose it is my first love and I do a lot of it. It seems to be when you are making a project it inspires you sometimes to jot down something that you think fits the situation.

The main thing is to do each project the way you want, and if they find an audience, that's terrific. And if they don't, there's nothing you can do anyway, so don't let it concern you that much. An awful lot of good movies have done badly and an awful lot of bad movies have done very well. There are no real rhymes or reasons for it. Sometimes the stars don't always align right. But if you've done the best you can, you feel pretty good about it.

I was always annoyed by too much explaining.

I'm just a kid. I've got a lot of stuff to do yet.

My father had a couple of kids at the beginning of the Depression. There was not much employment. Not much welfare. People barely got by. People were tougher then.

Today, the only thing Hollywood swears by is space adventures because that's what goes over well. For my part, I trust my instinct and I make the films I believe in. If the public follows me, that's wonderful. If it doesn't follow, "c'est la vie.

Everything that you do is a challenge. And acting is just building up your concentration and being able to listen and to do the ridiculous.

When you're making a film you start living with it, and I find myself sitting down and figuring out a sound or melody that would go with a film, or a particular period. It's not brain surgery, you just kind of feel it along.

When you're making a movie, you can't think anybody will ever see it. You've just got to make a movie for the values it has. The greatest films were made because someone really wanted to make them. And, hopefully, the audience will show up, too.

If you think it's going to rain, it will.

Overnight stardom can be harmful to your mental health. Yeah. It has ruined a lot of people.

Politicians have to make unpopular decisions. Schwarzenegger is going to understand the nature of his job. I wish him good luck, he's going to need it. It's going to be difficult for him.

You have to go with your instincts.

You're as young as you feel. As young as you want to be. There's an old saying I heard from a friend of mine. People ask him, "Why do you look so good at your age?" He'll say, "Because I never let the old man in." And there's truth to that. It's in your mind, how far you let him come in.

I am not a regret type person. I don't believe in regrets. Lots of things you would do differently if you'd do it again, but you don't do it again, so you don't think about it. But that goes for life in general. You're only dealing with the knowledge you have at that time.

I've never met a genius. A genius to me is someone who does well at something he hates. Anybody can do well at something he loves - it's just a question of finding the subject.

As you get older you try to do things that please you more. You get a little more selfish. You start thinking I want to do things where I enjoy myself.

Whether you like it or not, you're forced to come to the realization that death is out there. But I don't fear death, I'm a fatalist. I believe when it's your time, that's it. It's the hand you're dealt.

I keep working because I learn something new all the time.

Once you finish a film, it doesn't belong to you anymore - it belongs to the audience to interpret it the way they feel like interpreting.

I'm in the saddle every day playing a screwball. And then somebody comes along and says, "How would you like to go to Italy and Spain and do an Italian/Spanish/German co-production with an Italian director who's only directed one movie?" It wasn't like I was going there to be with Federico Fellini. But something was there, and I thought, Well, I loved this story when it was told by Akira Kurosawa; maybe this is a good idea. That's an instinctive moment. A Fistful of Dollars was made.

People have lost their sense of humor. In former times, we constantly made jokes about different races.

Hollywood, as everyone knows, glamorizes physical courage. . . . if I had to define courage myself, I wouldn't say it's about shooting people. I'd say it's the quality that stimulates people, that enables them to move ahead and look beyond themselves.

I pay tribute to the writing always. The writer is a creative artist and the director is an interpretive artist and the actors are interpretive. You take zero and make it into something, that's always amazing to me.

Acting to me is a very organic art form and you just go and do it. And I like to direct the same way that I like to be directed. Let me bring in what I want to bring in, and if something's wrong, just tell me about it and I'll make some corrections or adjustments. And that's what I do.

I always thought what an interesting idea because almost everybody's fascinated by the perpetrator of a crime; very few people study what happens to people for the rest of their lives, and how it affects not only that particular character but other characters around him as well.

It's much more fun to play something you're nothing like than what you are... It's much easier to hide yourself in a character.

The innocence of childhood is like the innocence of a lot of animals.

The thing that haunts a man the most is what he isn't ordered to do.

You should just evaluate the work and make your judgments accordingly. That's the way you do it in life and every other subject.

If you feel like you've got something to offer you should do it while the iron's hot.

I've got to learn French because I've been going there for years and still, the only words I know are the swear words.

I could be the driver - the Uber guy saying, "I used to be in films years ago... ."

If you cast a film incorrectly, then you're going to be fighting an uphill battle.

Writing is a creative art form and the acting and directing is more of an interpretive art form.

That's why I don't rehearse a lot and why I shoot a lot immediately. I have ideas of where I'd like to take the character, but we both end up going together.

Libertarian: everyone leaves everyone else alone.

Pose? I don't pose. What am I? Paris Hilton or something?

Everybody is looking for a reason to not to take responsibility for their own actions in hand.

I am sort of anti-hunting. I don't put down what anyone wants to do, but it seems to me that killing a creature for fun is not a progressive idea.

Instead of calling everybody names, start being more understanding.

I don't wanna need you because I can't have you.

Nowadays, politically, everybody is promising everything. That's the only way you can get elected.

Aging can be fun if you lay back and enjoy it.

Westerns. A period gone by, the pioneer, the loner operating by himself, without benefit of society. It usually has something to do with some sort of vengeance; he takes care of the vengeance himself, doesn't call the police. Like Robin Hood. It's the last masculine frontier. Romantic myth. I guess, though it's hard to think about anything romantic today. In a Western you can think, Jesus, there was a time when man was alone, on horseback, out there where man hasn't spoiled the land yet.

As you get older, you're not afraid of doubt. Doubt isn't running the show. You take out all the self-agonizing.

I just think it is important that you realize, that you're the best in the world. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican or whether you're libertarian or whatever, you are the best. And we should not ever forget that. And when somebody does not do the job, we got to let them go.

You have to trust your instincts. There is a moment when an actor has it, and he knows it.

I had three points I wanted to make. That not everybody in Hollywood is on the left, that Obama has broken a lot of promises he made when he took office, and that the people should feel free to get rid of any politician who's not doing a good job. But I didn't make up my mind exactly what I was going to say until I said it.

If a person is confident enough in the way they feel, whether it's an art form or whether it's just in life, it comes off---you don't have anything to prove; you can just be who you are.

If a person doesn't change, there's something really wrong with him.

A talented executive would be somebody who knows how to surround themselves with a lot of people that will make him look good. You could say that about a politician or you could say that about a head of a major corporation or what have you. The people you surround yourself with it's very important.

If somebody's dumb enough to ask me to go to a political convention and say something, they're gonna have to take what they get.

If I'd had good discipline, I might have gone into music.

If anybody asks me what I attribute the longevity of my career to, then I say it's because I was never satisfied with being a cowboy in the plains of Spain and later I was never satisfied with just playing a detective in San Francisco, and constantly just pushing the envelope.

In recent times it just seems that women have been relegated to either romantic roles or fluff pieces. So the appeal, for me, is to make a picture about a real woman.

I was kind of a little disappointed when they started building a competition between Marty (Martin Scorsese) and me. I have the greatest respect for him and all the films he's done over the years.

The reason I don't retire is that I learn something new every day. The brain has to be exercised the same as the rest of the body. It's about expanding, constantly pushing yourself.

Most people who'll remember me, if at all, will remember me as an action guy, which is okay. There's nothing wrong with that. But there will be a certain group which will remember me for the other films, the ones where I took a few chances. At least, I like to think so.

Children teach you that you can still be humbled by life, that you learn something new all the time. That's the secret to life, really: never stop learning. It's the secret to career. I'm still working because I learn something new all the time. It's the secret to relationships. Never think you've got it all.

Everybody has certain things they wish they hadn't done in life. They wish they hadn't kicked their dog when they were ten or something. There are many things you can go back and have regrets about. I don't like doing that. But by the same token I do agree that when you get to a certain stage in life, you change. And you should change.

Pay attention to the work you want to do and everything'll work out fine. If you're in it for the ego, you might be successful but at a limited level.

I'd say people get to work and start being more understanding of everybody - instead of calling everybody names, start being more understanding. But get in there and get it done. Kick ass and take names. And this may be my dad talking, but don't spend what you don't have.

When I used to be a contract player in 1954 at Universal, I wasn't getting good roles. I was getting one-liners, and then I'd be gone. But I'd hang around; I'd watch guys. And when I had days off, which was most days, I'd go down and watch other sets while they were shooting. Watch Joan Crawford or whomever. Just watch how they worked and how the director handled them. I didn't know anything about making movies, and there's a lot to learn.

Drama usually has some sort of intense conflict.

I think being able to age gracefully is a very important talent. It is too late for me.

Casting a film is to me one of the most important things next to the writing. If you cast it properly everything takes place very easily. If you cast it improperly you're fighting an uphill battle.

When I see a story, I ask: is this something I'd like to be in? Is this something I'd like to see? And if I'd like to see it, would I like to tell it?

You have to steal a lot. You have to have a criminal mentality to be a film director.

I've always told my son Scott the same thing: Don't rush into anything, because there's gonna be a lot of fish in the sea. You can be one of the people that's lucky enough not to become a loser two and three and four times over like people do, just by being a little more patient.

I like the inspiration of the first take.

You definitely do not do films for that particular reason. You do them for yourself, for your satisfaction of creating this thing with characters and watching these characters take on real life - that's all you care about.

You know when you're young and you see a play in high school, and the guys all have gray in their hair and they're trying to be old men and they have no idea what that's like? It's just that stupid the other way around.

I became a Republican in 1951, the first year I could vote.

Every movie I make teaches me something. That's why I keep making them.

Everybody thinks making films back to back is a big deal but they did it all the time in the old days.

I've done a few special effects movies in my life, so I've gotten that out of my system.

I don't look at my life too much. I'm always looking forward, not backward.

There's nothing like a nice piece of hickory.

Hillary Clinton has made a lot of dough out of being a politician. I gave up dough to be a politician. I'm sure that Ronald Reagan gave up dough to be a politician.

There are a lot of conservative people, a lot of moderate people, Republicans, Democrats, in Hollywood. It is just that the conservative people by the nature of the word itself play closer to the vest. They do not go around hot dogging it.

I do believe in self-help.

Things always look different from higher up.

The country has come a long way in race relations, but the pendulum swings so far back. Everyone wants to be so sensitive.

To me cinema can be a much more friendly world if there's a lot of things to choose from.

You know I've had people come up and ask me to sign their guns. Sign my name on gun handles and holsters and stuff. I've done it once or twice for law enforcement officials, but when people do that -- and there have been quite a few of them lately -- I always tell them no. I don't want to do that. I don't want my name on that and I hope you use this gun, whatever its purpose is, I hope it's used wisely.

Nobody looks like they did when they were 20, so why not take advantage of the fact that you're changing, emotionally as well as physically?

I was always respectful of people who were deeply religious because I always felt that if they gave themselves to it, then it had to be important to them. But if you can go through life without it, that's OK, too. It's whatever suits you.

I found out that a lot of my liberal friends weren't liberal because they weren't liberal about approaching anybody else's ideas, or at least standing for it. They started getting really animalistic about, "I can't even associate with this guy. He's stupid. He's an idiot."

I had always planned when I started directing in 1970 that after a few years I'd get tired of looking at myself on the screen and say: "Hey, let's not do that any more." But then every once in a while something pops up. I'm not saying it won't happen again but probably the odds get less as you set yourself for roles that fit your age group.

If you don't pay attention to history, you're destined to repeat it.

I love every aspect of the creation of motion pictures and I guess I am committed to it for life.

I'm thinking, That's Barack Obama. He doesn't go to work. He doesn't go down to Congress and make a deal. What the hell's he doing sitting in the White House? If I were in that job, I'd get down there and make a deal. Sure, Congress are lazy bastards, but so what? You're the top guy. You're the president of the company. It's your responsibility to make sure everybody does well. It's the same with every company in this country, whether it's a two-man company or a two-hundred-man company... . And that's the pussy generation - nobody wants to work.

You can't stop everything from happening. But we've gotten to a point where we're certainly trying. If a car doesn't have four hundred air bags in it, then it's no good.

I like to direct the same way that I like to be directed.

Men must know their limitations.

At certain points if your life, you like doing more. I'm not sure what causes it or for what reasons; you just do it.

I couldn't tell you exactly what I like about golf. Just when you think you've got it mastered it lets you know you haven't. I'm just crazy enough to do it.

Let's take the work seriously, and not ourselves seriously.

I guess a great movie would be one that has the most great moments in it.

I don't know how everybody else feels, but I just long for reality rather than these made-up things.

Everybody wants to make something they think is a surefire winner, though nobody knows what a surefire winner is, in my opinion.

You change as the years go by. The more knowledge you get, the more things change in your life and circumstances change.

If you've done what you intended and if nobody tampered with it, then it's yours. And if people don't like it, then they just don't agree with you on that subject matter, and that's life.

The best part of aging in this business is losing that obsession about work and being able to spend a little more time with family.

The cruelty of nature is you have to work out harder when you get older ... It should be the other way around: Work out hard when you're a kid you should be able to coast when you get older. But unfortunately you have to do more to stay in the same position.

Our modern society - especially in the West, and especially now - reveres youth.

Everybody's got a right to be a sucker ... once.

I had one well known director who kept saying, "Now Clint, this is what ...." And I'd say, "I know. I read the script. I'm the one who cast you as the director. Let me show you and you'll correct me if I'm wrong."

I was drafted during the Korean War.

Everybody always feels that they're right even if they're wrong and that's what a whole actor's career is built around rationalizing your way into whatever character you're playing.

I'm suffering from oxygen deprivation. It's overwhelming watching your career go by.

There's a lot of young guys coming along, but I'd like to say to the various financiers, don't forget the senior guys. The senior guys and gals are there, willing to do their best work for you.

If you read any of the biographies on J. Edgar Hoover, you find that they contradict each other more than they agree. Often times, they're often told from a political perspective.

I'm past doing one chin-up more than I did the day before. I just kind of do what I feel like.

A Love like this happens but once in a lifetime

A man's just gotta know his limits.