Quotes

Somebody's gonna give you some money to perform a job, you do your best to make 'em a good hand...

It's no mean calling to bring fun into the afternoons of large numbers of people. That too is part of my job, and I'm happy to serve when called on.

My thanks to the Academy for the very finest, greatest award that any actor can ever receive. The only thing a man can say at a time like this is -- I am not really bald.

I do not have a sense of humor of any recognizable sort.

[on how he learned to direct] I've worked with more than 50 directors and I've paid attention since day one. That's pretty much been my education, apart from studying art history and shooting with my own cameras. I've seen 50 different sets of mistakes and 50 different ways of achieving. You just leave the bad part out.

I really enjoyed a remark that Howard Hawks once made. He said the most important thing is not to ask an actor to do anything he can't do. Same thing goes for horses.

[on working with famous movie stars] I feel pretty lucky. Those guys, they know my name. They know who I am. Not bad for a little Indian boy. Not bad.

You just look for good parts and good stories and a good company to work with. Characters with no integrity are just as interesting as characters with lots of integrity.

I love cinema, and I love agriculture.

[regarding the furor over the violence in Natural Born Killers (1994)] Those who say that a work of art is an invitation to violent anti-social behavior are not very bright.

It's been said, truthfully, that every actor has a moment in every year, at least, when he knows for sure that he'll never work again. That's a more or less humorous way to point to the insecurity that comes with the job. I think that's why [Laurence Olivier] said, "If you have any choice at all, don't be an actor".

I bear no resemblance to Douglas MacArthur whatsoever. But a campaign hat, some aviator glasses and a corncob pipe go a long way.

[on Will Smith] Will is more generous than anyone, and he spreads joy. He walks into a studio, walks onto a set, and he makes certain that everybody's happy. He can't help himself.

Harrison [Harrison Ford] is probably the best physical actor working today. I don't simply mean hanging on to the hood of a Nazi truck as it zooms around the desert. He has a way of running that's quite articulate. He uses his body very, very well.

[observation, 2014] The quality of one's emotional life changes over the years, doesn't it? But the basic instincts and desires, greed and hope, seem to remain constant. In the larger scope of things, there's a sense of fulfillment to living a creative life. So I guess that's what keeps me going.

[on his film, The Homesman (2014)] I don't even know what a western is. I'm interested in making films about the history of my country. I think 'western' means the story has horses and big hats. That's about as descriptive as the term can be. What I'm trying to indicate is that I don't think in terms of genre. And yet I will admit that I've made three movies that had horses and big hats, so there must be something there.