100 Quotes by John Wayne
John Wayne, often referred to as "The Duke," was an iconic American actor known for his rugged persona and roles in countless Western films. Born in 1907, Wayne became a symbol of American masculinity and frontier spirit on the silver screen. With his distinctive voice, commanding presence, and strong on-screen charisma, he epitomized the archetypal cowboy and became a symbol of American ideals. His collaborations with acclaimed director John Ford, such as in "Stagecoach" and "The Searchers," solidified his status as a cinematic legend. Beyond his Western roles, Wayne's filmography spanned various genres, including war films like "The Longest Day" and "The Green Berets." Wayne's contributions extended beyond acting; he also directed and produced several films. Despite criticisms of his acting range, his impact on popular culture and the Western genre is immeasurable. His legacy endures not only in his films but also as a representation of a bygone era of Hollywood and a symbol of the rugged individualism that defines American mythology.
John Wayne Quotes
Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid. (Meaning)
Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday. (Meaning)
Courage is being scared to death... and saddling up anyway. (Meaning)
You have to be a man before you can be a gentleman. (Meaning)
I never trust a man that doesn't drink. (Meaning)
A man's got to do what a man's got to do. (Meaning)
Out here, due process is a bullet. (Meaning)
When you stop fighting, that's death. (Meaning)
Get off your horse and drink your milk. (Meaning)
If everything isn't black and white, I say, 'Why the hell not?' (Meaning)
We're burnin' daylight! (Meaning)
Republic. I like the sound of the word. (Meaning)
I'm the stuff men are made of! (Meaning)
Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid.
Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave? Sure I love my country with all her faults. I'm not ashamed of that, never have been, never will be.
The reason there are so many stupid people is because it's illegal to kill them.
Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday.
TRUE Courage is when you are scared to death and STILL saddle up and ride in!
All battles are fought by scared men who'd rather be some place else.
Very few of the so-called liberals are open-minded.... They shout you down and won't let you speak if you disagree with them.
I'd like to know why well-educated idiots keep apologizing for lazy and complaining people who think the world owes them a living.
A friend of mine told me to shoot first and ask questions later. I was going to ask him why, but I had to shoot him.
Government has no wealth, and when a politician promises to give you something for nothing, he must first confiscate that wealth from you -- either by direct taxes, or by the cruelly indirect tax of inflation.
I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a-hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.
I have tried to live my life so that my family would love me and my friends respect me. The others can do whatever the hell they please.
Male menopause is a lot more fun than female menopause. With female menopause you gain weight and get hot flashes. Male menopause ? you get to date young girls and drive motorcycles.
Women have the right to work wherever they want, as long as they have the dinner ready when you get home.
Courage is being scared to death... and saddling up anyway.
"When the road looks rough ahead, remember the 'Man upstairs' and the word HOPE.
Hang onto both and 'tough it out'."
True grit is making a decision and standing by it, doing what must be done.
I didn't vote for him, but he's my President, and I hope he does a good job.
Watergate is a sad and tragic incident in our history. They were wrong, dead wrong, those men at Watergate. Men abused power, but the system still works. Men abused money, but the system still works. Men lied and perjured themselves, but the system still .
Life is getting up one more time than you've been knocked down.
I never trust a man that doesn't drink.
Out here, due process is a bullet.
My hope and prayer is that everyone know and love our country for what she really is and what she stands for.
Slap some bacon on a biscuit and let's go! We're burnin' daylight!
A man deserves a second chance, but keep an eye on him.
Get off your horse and drink your milk.
A man's got to have a code, a creed to live by, no matter his job.
Screw ambiguity. Perversion and corruption masquerade as ambiguity. I don`t trust ambiguity. John Wayne
We brought nothing into this world and it's certain we can carry nothing out.
Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid.
Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday.
I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to the point of responsibility. I don`t believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people.
When you come slam bang up against trouble, it never looks half as bad if you face up to it.
If you can't be thankful for what you have, be thankful for what you have escaped.
I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.
I've always followed my father's advice: he told me, first to always keep my word and, second, to never insult anybody unintentionally. If I insult you, you can be goddamn sure I intend to. And, third, he told me not to go around looking for trouble.
You're short on ears and long on mouth.
The guy you see on the screen isn’t really me. I’m Duke Morrison, and I never was and never will be a film personality like JOHN WAYNE . I know him well. I’m one of his closest students. I have to be. I made a living out of him.
Life is tough pilgrim, it is even tougher if you're stupid
You don't have to fight to be brave. Millions of good, fine, decent folks show more bravery than heavyweight champs just by getting out of bed every morning, going out to do a good day's work and living the best life they know how against the law of odds.
A man ought to do what he thinks is right
It's kind of a sad thing when a normal love of country makes you a super patriot. I do think we have a pretty wonderful country, and I thank God that He chose me to live here.
Nobody ever saw a cowboy on the psychiatrist's couch.
Getting rid of a man without hurting his masculinity is a problem. "Get out" and "I never want to see you again" might sound like a challenge. If you want to get rid of a man, I suggest saying, "I love you. . . . I want to marry you. . . . I want to have your children." Sometimes they leave skid marks.
Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave?
I've had three wives, six children and six grandchildren and I still don't understand women
Republic. I like the sound of the word. It means people can live free, talk free, go or come, buy or sell, be drunk or sober, however they choose. Some words give you a feeling.
Give the American people a good cause, and there's nothing they can't lick.
When you stop fighting, that's death.
My favorite four-letter words are 'hard work'.
You have to be a man before you can be a gentleman.
The hyphenated American is ridiculous. But that's what we have to put up with. I think that any person that's in the United States is better off here than they would be where they came from.
True Grit is making a decision and standing by it, doing what must be done. No moral man can have peace of mind if he leaves undone what he knows he should have done.
Life's hard. It's even harder when you're stupid.
I want to play a real man in all my films, and I define manhood simply: men should be tough, fair, and courageous, never petty, never looking for a fight, but never backing down from one either.
I am an old-fashioned, honest-to-goodness, flag waving patriot.
I am a demonstrative man, a baby picker-upper, a hugger and a kisser--that's my nature.
If everything isn't black and white, I say, 'Why the hell not?'
Never apologize, mister, it’s a sign of weakness.
There's right and there's wrong. You got to do one or the other. You do the one and you're living. You do the other and you may be walking around, but you're dead as a beaver hat.
Senator Joseph McCarthy was one of the greatest Americans who ever lived.
A long time ago, I made me a rule. I let people do what they want to do.
You're going to think I'm being corny, but this is how I really feel: I hope my family and my friends will be able to say that I was an honest, kind and fairly decent man.
Courage is being afraid and going on the journey anyhow.
Every country in the world loved the folklore of the West--the music, the dress, the excitement, everything that was associated with the opening of a new territory.
I don't have to assert my virility. I think my career has shown that I'm not exactly a pantywaist. But I do take pride in my work, even to the point of being the first one on the set in the morning. I'm a professional.
A man's got to do what a man's got to do.
Men forget everything; women remember everything.
The fire is not discriminating. It burns anything in its path for whatever reason.
Ahh, women! I never met one yet that was half as reliable as a horse!
America is the land of freedom and that’s the way I enjoy living.
Most men hate to shop. That's why the men's department is usually on the first floor of a department store, two inches from the door.
If a man says, "I'll call you," and he doesn't, he didn't forget. . . . he didn't lose your number. . . . he didn't die. He just didn't want to call you.
Well, there are some things a man just can't run away from.
That's why men need instant replays in sports. They've already forgotten what happened.
Republic. I like the sound of the word.
In my acting, I have to identify with something in the character. The big tough boy on the side of right - that's me. Simple themes. Same me from the nuances. All I do is sell sincerity and I've been selling the hell out of that ever since I started.
There's been no top authority saying what marijuana does to you. I really don't know that much about it. I tried it once but it didn't do anything to me.
One look that works is better than twenty lines of dialogue.
I read someplace that I used to make B-pictures. Hell, they were a lot farther down the alphabet than that . . . but not as far down as R and X. I think any man who makes an X-rated picture ought to be made to take his own daughter to see it.
Hell, the truth is that I was named after a dog!
Contrary to what people think, I'm no politician, and when I have something to say I say it through my movies.
The West - the very words go straight to that place of the heart where Americans feel the spirit of pride in their western heritage - the triumph of personal courage over any obstacle, whether nature or man.
I believe humor nullifies violence.
It rankles me when somebody tries to force somebody to do something.
We built your fort. We will not have it used against us.
I figured I needed a gimmick, so I dreamed up this drawl, the squint and a way of moving meant to suggest that I wasn’t looking for trouble but would just as soon throw a bottle at your head as not. I practiced in front of a mirror.
Get off your butt and join the Marines!
I eat as much as I ever did, I drink more than I should, and my sex life is none of your goddamned business.
I'm a greedy old man. Life's been good to me, and I want some more of it.
Communism is quite obviously still a threat. Yes, they are human beings, with a right to their point of view . . .
My main object in making a motion picture is entertainment. If at the same time I can strike a blow for liberty, then I'll stick one in.
Oscar and I have something in common. Oscar first came to Hollywood scene in 1928. So did I. We're both a little weather-beaten, but we're still here and plan to be around for a whole lot longer.
I would think somebody like Jane Fonda and her idiot husband would be terribly ashamed and saddened that they were a part of causing us to stop helping the South Vietnamese. Now look what's happening. They're getting killed by the millions. Murdered by the millions. How the hell can she and her husband sleep at night?
I never shot nobody I didn't have to.
Out here a man settles his own problems.
courage is being scared to death - and saddling up anyway" "A goal, A love and A dream give you total control over your body and your life
Sometimes I wonder whose side God's on.
I'm the stuff men are made of!
A man is no better than he has to be.
Any man who'd make an X-rated movie ought to have to take his daughter to see it.
I never killed a man I didn't have to.
Let's say I hope that I appeal to the more carefree times in a person's life rather than to his reasoning adulthood. I'd just like to be an image that reminds someone of joy rather than of the problems of the world.
I play John Wayne in every part regardless of the character, and I've been doing okay, haven't I?
Thanking people is dangerous business. A name always slips your mind.
I drink for comradeship, and when I drink for comradeship, I don't bother to keep count.
Life's tough. It's even tougher when you are stupid.
I don't want ever to appear in a film that would embarrass a viewer. A man can take his wife, mother, and his daughter to one of my movies and never be ashamed or embarrassed for going.
But don't get me wrong. As far as a man and a woman is concerned, I'm awfully happy there's a thing called sex. It's an extra something God gave us. I see no reason why it shouldn't be in pictures. Healthy, lusty sex is wonderful.
If I depended on the critics' judgment and recognition, I'd never have gone into the motion-picture business.
I'm sure we can talk things out like civilized people.
Of course I know who you are. You're my girl. I love you.
Cowboys, just like the word says.
Paul Newman would have been a much more important star if he hadn't always tried to be an anti-hero, to show the human feet of clay.
Westerns are closer to art than anything else in the motion picture business.
― John Wayne Quotes
Chief Editor
Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.
