Clint Eastwood Quotes

A career spanning five decades, including acting, direction, filmmaking, and politics justifies the depth of experience from which he speaks. Clint Eastwood, the essential 'real salt of the earth' American, is known for his perceptive, no-nonsense, and direct remarks. Here are some of his quotes.

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

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

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

• "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."

• "My father used to say to me, Show 'em what you can do, and don't worry about what you're gonna get. Say you'll work for free and make yourself invaluable."

• "Life is a constant class, and once you think you know it all, you're due to decay. You're due to slide. I have to keep challenging myself and try something I haven't done before. "

• "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. I got where I am, by coming off the wall. I've always considered myself too individualistic to be either right-wing or left-wing."

• "You have to trust your instincts. There's a moment when an actor has it, and he knows it. Behind the camera you can feel the moment even more clearly. And once you've got it, once you feel it, you can't second-guess yourself...

...You can find a million reasons why something didn't work. But if it feels right, and it looks right, it works. Without sounding like a pseudo-intellectual dipshit, it's my responsibility to be true to myself. If it works for me, it's right."

• "The less secure a man is, the more likely he is to have extreme prejudice."

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

• "If you want a guarantee, buy a toaster."

• "I like working with actors who don't have anything to prove."

• "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."

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

• "I think kids are natural actors. You watch most kids; if they don't have a toy they'll pick up a stick and make a toy out of it. Kids will daydream all the time."

• "I never considered myself a cowboy, because I wasn't. But I guess when I got into cowboy gear I looked enough like one to convince people that I was."

• "We boil at different degrees."

• "A good man always knows his limitations"

• "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."

• "I have a very strict gun control policy: if there's a gun around, I want to be in control of it."

• "This film cost $31 million. With that kind of money I could have invaded some country."

• "The clock's ticking, Pops, and I'm only getting older."

These were some gems of wisdom from the man himself.