Film Director Quotes

“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.”

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

“I just don't want to copy the current trends or do movies for teenagers. I want people to get more out of movies.”

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

“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.”

“My dad was a big admirer of Sergeant York stories from the First World War.”

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

“Nobody, I mean nobody, puts ketchup on a hot dog.”

“My dad was fiscally conservative, and I was influenced by that. He didn't believe in spending more than you had because it gets you into trouble.”

“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.”

“What happened is I was going to college in 1950. L. A. City College. A guy I knew was going to an acting class on Thursday nights. He started telling me about all the good-lookin' chicks and said, "Why don't you go with me?" So I probably had some motivation beyond thoughts of being an actor. And sure enough, he was right. There were a lot of girls and not many guys. I said, "Yeah, they need me here." I wound up at Universal as a contract player.”

“You have to go with your instincts.”

“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.”

“I was always annoyed by too much explaining.”

“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.”

“Alfred Hitchcock once told me, when I was analyzing a lot of things about his pictures, 'Clint, you must remember, it's only a movie.'”

“You take the work seriously, you don't take yourself seriously. You keep that straight and you'll do well the rest of your life.”

“Prime time for men is, say, 35 to 45. Then they level off and fall off.”

“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?”

“We boil at different degrees.”

“Every picture has its own demands, and every picture stimulates something within you to tell it a certain way. I don't know what that is; I don't think too much about that.”

“I haven't been very active in politics.”

“Acting is an animal thing, not an intellectual thing.”

“And I think it's that time. And I think if you just step aside and Mr. Romney can kind of take over. You can maybe still use a plane. Though maybe a smaller one. Not that big gas guzzler you are going around to colleges and talking about student loans and stuff like that.”

“A war is a horrible thing, but it's also a unifier of countries.”