Clint Eastwood

If you think it's going to rain, it will.

Its a very confusing era that were in.

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

You know when you're young and you see a play in high school, and the guys all have gray in their hair and they're trying to be old men and they have no idea what that's like? It's just that stupid the other way around.

I don't like to see a president who is just out campaigning all year long or for the last four years. I'd like to see somebody who's going in the office. In fact, I'd like to not see them because that way you'd be sure that they'd be working.

A lot of dumb pictures have made a lot of money, but that doesn't mean they're going to be anything cinema students will revel over in the future.

You always want to quit while you are ahead. You don't want to be like a fighter who stays too long in the ring until you're not performing at your best.

I just think it is important that you realize, that you're the best in the world. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican or whether you're libertarian or whatever, you are the best. And we should not ever forget that. And when somebody does not do the job, we got to let them go.

I tried being reasonable, I didn't like it.

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.

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

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.

I have a very strict gun control policy if theres a gun around I want to be in control of it.

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

In past generations, people would try to play younger than they really are. My trick is, I don't try to play younger than I really am.

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

If you're doing a biography, you try to stay as accurate as possible to reality. But you really don't know what was going on in the person's mind. You just know what was going on in the minds of people around him.

There has to be something in every role that interests you.

If you want a guarantee, buy a toaster.

I was always respectful of people who were deeply religious because I always felt that if they gave themselves to it, then it had to be important to them. But if you can go through life without it, that's OK, too. It's whatever suits you.

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

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

Every story has its demands.

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.

Why am I a star? It can't be because of looks.

When I'm a director, I look at myself the actor as a completely different person. It's somebody else up there, an actor playing a role. I keep myself out of it.

Actors know, with me they aren't going to be allowed to rehearse a scene for a couple of hours and then get away with doing 25 takes before we get it right. So they come with their full bag of tricks.

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 have been trying to retire to the back of the camera for quite a few years, and in 1970, when I first started directing, I said, 'If I could pull this off, I can some day move to the back of the camera and stay there.'

The only black battalion on Iwo Jima was a small munitions supply unit that came to the beach.

I hate to see anybody sink. I hate to see anybody lose their dream, lose their home, something like that.

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

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

Aging can be fun if you lay back and enjoy it.

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

I loved the fact that Obama is multi-racial. I thought that was terrific, as my wife is the same racial make-up.

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.

A lot of people are bored of all the political correctness.

I always liked characters that were more grounded in reality.

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

Hoover was a patriot in his heart, but he definitely exceeded his power.

When you're young, you're very reckless. Then you get conservative. Then you get reckless again.

I was drafted during the Korean War.

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.

We boil at different degrees.

I do believe in self-help.

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

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.

I've always been fascinated with the stealing of innocence. It's the most heinous crime, and certainly a capital crime if there ever was one.

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

If somebody's dumb enough to ask me to go to a political convention and say something, they're going to have to take what they get.

In 'Gran Torino,' I play a guy who's racially offensive. But he learned. It shows that you're never too old to learn and embrace people that you don't understand to begin with. It seems like nobody else got that message, I guess.

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 still work out on a daily basis.

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.

Always keep your ego in check and not be afraid to listen. Listening is a great art form.

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

The fact is, violence is not only not a beautiful thing, but it's also very painful and not without consequences for the perpetrator as well as the victim.

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.

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

I've always said the one advantage an actor has of converting to a director is that he's been in front of the camera. He doesn't have to get in front of the camera again, subliminally or otherwise.

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.

Stage actors are usually much more conscious of speaking up and making sure that everyone can hear in the back of the theatre; a film actor probably thinks of that a little less.

I think our politicians could learn a lot from Mandela.

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

My mother knew how to read music and everything. But I just kinda learned off of records. And so, I was listening to records and I'd play 'em over and over.

In 'Changeling,' I tried to show something you'd never see nowadays - a kid sitting and looking at the radio. Just sitting in front of the radio and listening. Your mind does the rest.

I just don't like killing creatures.

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

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

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.

My wife used to be an anchorwoman in Arizona, so she knew John McCain, and she liked him, and I kinda liked him.

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.

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 want the troops from Great Britain and the U.S. to be successful, but by the same token, Afghanistan has always been a screw-up.

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

As we grow older we must discipline ourselves to continue expanding broadening learning keeping out minds active and open.

I'd always tried to resist playing the supervirility thing. I liked showing the vulnerability of age.

There's no real excuse for being successful enough as an actor to do what you want and then selling out. You do it pure. You don't try to adapt it, make it commercial.

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

I don't think I've met anyone with a stronger work ethic than Ray Charles.

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

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

I try to stick to a vegan diet heavy on fruit and vegetables.

I knew Billy Wilder socially and would have loved to work with him.

I don't mind telling a dark side.

Yeah... youre a legend in your own mind.

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

My whole life has been one big improvisation.

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

If you consider film an art form, as some people do, then the Western would be a truly American art form, much as jazz is.

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

I kind of make a film for myself to sort of express myself.

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

I was drafted during the Korean War. None of us wanted to go... It was only a couple of years after World War II had ended. We said, 'Wait a second? Didn't we just get through with that?'

I've always been very liberal when it comes to people thinking for themselves.

Keep your eyes on the horizon and your nose to the wind.

Just try not to ingest a lot of fats, and just try to eat carefully.