Clint Eastwood quotes:

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.

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

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

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.

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.

I was an Eisenhower Republican when I started out at 21 because he promised to get us out of the Korean War.

My grandfather lived to be late 90s on one side and on the other side, 70s or something. And my father died young, at 63. But he didn't take very good care of himself.

My uncle played rugby, and my dad played football, and they used to argue which game was the roughest - and everybody agreed rugby was. It's a great team sport, and to be successful, every person has to play in the same level.

I'm not a New Age person, but I do believe in meditation, and for that reason I've always liked the Buddhist religion. When I've been to Japan, I've been to Buddhist temples and meditated, and I found that rewarding.

If you ever go to a music session, you'll notice that the musicians can sit down and start playing right away, and everyone knows what to do. Of course they're reading it, but the conductor can tweak little things, and you can take that back to directing motion pictures.

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.'

I've always felt that if I examine myself too much, I'll find out what I know and don't know, and I'll burst the bubble. I've gotten so lucky relying on my animal instincts, I'd rather keep a little bit of the animal alive.

I think Pebble Beach is kind of a unique place on the planet.

When I do a picture and it's 90% black, like 'Bird,' I use 90% black people.

There are certain age limits on police officers. They'd have retired me out at 65.

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

God gave you a brain. Do the best you can with it. And you don't have to be Einstein, but Einstein was mentally tough. He believed what he believed. And he worked out things. And he argued with people who disagreed with him. But I'm sure he didn't call everybody jerks.

I read every book there was on jazz, about the original players - King Oliver, Buddy Bolden and all those groups. At one time I was fairly well schooled in that... I could tell you who played where and when, historically, way before my time.

When I was born, the economy wasn't in a great state; it was the Depression, and my father had to be quick to try and find work.

Whether you like it or not, you're forced to come to the realisation 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.

Let's put it this way: there wouldn't be much point in me attending a high-school reunion now because there wouldn't be anybody there. We'd struggle to raise a quorum.

I've had no problem harnessing anger.

In school, I could hear the leaves rustle and go on a journey.

It's always appealing to play a character that has to overcome himself as well as an obstacle. It makes the drama so much deeper.

I'm not one of these guys who sits around saying, 'Gee, I mean, the person had a strange childhood and that's why he's doing this horrible thing. Poor Jeffrey Dahmer. He's just had a bad childhood and that's why he's eating people.' Wait a second! This person should be removed from the planet.

In my career as a director, there's always been some point where you get halfway through it, or three-quarters, and you go: 'What is this thing all about, and why am I telling the story? Does anybody really care about seeing this?' At that time you have to say: 'OK, forget that and just go ahead.'

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

My mother always told me it wasn't polite to ask what people make.

I just make the pictures and where they fall is where they fall. If somebody likes them, that's always nice. And if they don't like them, then too bad.

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

I like working. That's when I'm feeling my best. And the people around me know that. My wife knows that.

Governor Romney has a great business background. He is extremely well educated. He has several degrees from Harvard, including, you know, business and including a law degree.

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

Politicians love regulating. That's part of the whole power structure.

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

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

Movies were invented for Jimmy Cagney, and he was invented for the movies. A perfect match.

I don't mind telling a dark side.

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

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

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

I do believe in self-help.

You should never give up your inner self.

When you work with kids, especially, you want to be ready to turn the camera on at a moment's notice.

Movies are fun, but they are no cure for cancer.

I guess I'm living in the present more than the past.

I just don't like killing creatures.

Naturally, 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.

It would be great to be 105 and still making films.

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

You hear about actors being late and all that sort of stuff, but you never find that with an actor who's directed, because an actor who's directed understands all the problems your production is going through.

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.

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

I love big business!

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

Winning the election is a good-news, bad-news kind of thing. Okay, now you're the mayor. The bad news is, now you're the mayor.

The stronger the participation of the female characters, the better the movie. They knew that in the old days, when women stars were equally as important as men.

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.

I'm not a reality-TV kind of guy. But it's almost like we're living in a reality show. Every day in this country, everybody keeps worrying about the deterioration of America, and it's like a big reality show.

I'm not afraid to look bad on the screen.

I always thought of myself as a character actor. I never thought of myself as a leading man.

Everybody accuses me of moving fast when I direct a picture. I don't move fast, but I just keep moving.

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.

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'm a movie maker, but I have the same feelings as the average guy out there.

I love stories about women.

I've taken advantage of a few breaks that came along and moved along with them.

As I get older, I tend to put more into family than I used to.

I grew up with J. Edgar Hoover. He was the G-man, a hero to everybody, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation was the big, feared organization. He was ahead of his time as far as building up forensic evidence and fingerprinting. But he took down a lot of innocent people, too.

I am a good listener. I think that came from my schooling.

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

They say all marriages are made in heaven, but so are thunder and lightning.

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

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.

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.

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

Go ahead, make my day.

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

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

Buzzards got to eat, same as the worms.

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.

I'm not a chick-flick enthusiast.

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

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.

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.

I have great respect for the FBI, and I know that there have been some rumors lately that the FBI was disenchanted because of what we were doing in story, or doing a certain take: that's not true. Actually the FBI was tremendously enthusiastic about us doing [ J. Edgar Hoover ] film.

Are you going to pull those pistols or whistle Dixie?

What do you want me to tell Romney? I can't tell him to do that. I can't tell him to do that to himself. You're crazy. You're absolutely crazy. You're getting as bad as Biden.

I always like to try different things, different genres; stories that have a dramatic element and can generate conflict which I find appealing; where the characters have to overcome obstacles. That kind of thing is challenging.

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

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.

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

Even people on the liberal side are starting to worry about going off a fiscal cliff.

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.

I guess it's like trying to put through the flat tax, which is probably my favorite one of all.... if we did pass it, all of a sudden, what do you have? You have the whole tax system run by a little old lady on a home computer, doing the work of all these thousands of bureaucrats and accountants. Passing that would be amazing, wouldn't it?

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.

When anybody gives you an award, it could be wrong. You've just got to bear that it mind and go ahead and enjoy it. Like Morgan [Freeman] says, it's a pat on the back, so great you'll take it and then move on.

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

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

I had three points I wanted to make: That not everybody in Hollywood is on the left, that Obama has broken a lot of the 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.

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

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

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

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.

[ J. Edgar]Hoover, I'm sure, felt that he was right in everything he did and even the things that we don't like about his character.

There are so many parallels in society today [with era of J. Edgar Hoover ] that you can use, whether it's the head of a studio or the head of an organization, a major newspaper, a major factory or company, of people who stay too long, maybe, and overstay their usefulness.

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

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

Over my career I played some badass characters. So, people sometimes think I should have a .44 magnum. But that's not true, I don't have that. But I do fire them and I do enjoy target shooting and all that sort of thing. I'm not much of a hunter. I don't like killing animals, but I love to shoot.

Historically, actors have been made very famous for roles that were something that was far - - Richard Widmark comes to mind (playing Tommy Udo in "Kiss of Death") or something like that, where you do some famous role and everybody imitates you for the rest of your life. But obviously it's much more fun to play something you're not than it is to play something you are.

I was drafted during the Korean War.

I would just like to say something, ladies and gentlemen. Something that I think is very important. It is that, you, we - we own this country. We - we own it. It is not you owning it, and not politicians owning it. Politicians are employees of ours.

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

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 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.

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

You are always hoping that movie audiences are interested in characters and interested in story values rather than just mindless special effects. But you never know.