James Garner

I think people like to see a little larceny in their heroes.

My goal has always been longevity. Not fame and fortune, just get a job and keep it.

I've been on the wrong end of violence, and I've done violence myself... I refuse to glorify violence in my movie and television roles.

It wasn't until I'd turned 50 and had been in the business 25 years that I realized I might actually have a career as an actor.

I've done a lot of casual work, and acting is a lot easier than laying carpets.

I'm working out every day. I'm in very good shape.

Acting is just common sense. It isn't hard if you put yourself aside and just do what the writer wrote.

Marriage is a lot like the army, everyone complains, but you'd be surprise at the large number that re-enlist.

Ronald Reagan wasn't qualified to be governor, let alone president.

Yeah, I don't have a whole lot of problems.

I never finished the ninth grade.

Too many actors have run for office. There's one difference between me and them: I know I'm not qualified.

I don't take success very well, because I know it's fleeting. And the next day, it can all fall apart. I know that, too. So I don't get too high, and I don't get too low. You get through the world a lot easier that way.

Everybody wants blockbusters. I like to see a few pictures now and then that have to do with people and have relationships, and that's what I want to do films about. I don't want to see these sci-fi movies, and I don't want to do one of those. I don't understand it.

An hour series is a killer. It's hard on you physically.

What was I qualified to do to make a living? Nothing. You don't need qualifications as an actor or a politician. And I didn't want to be a politician.

The characters I've played, especially Bret Maverick and Jim Rockford, almost never use a gun, and they always try to use their wits instead of their fists.

I think my attitude has always been to put food on the table.

The only reason I'm an actor is that a lady pulled out of a parking space in front of a producer's office.

When I started working, I didn't have a clue what I was doing, in that I was just wandering around, hoping that I could succeed. Then after I got a little under my belt, it took me about 25 years to feel like I knew what I was doing.

I was a Depression kid, growing up in Oklahoma.

You can never have too many friends.

People who don't know me think I'm easy-going, but I'm a pessimist by nature and an old curmudgeon.

There's a lot of room for error with a wound in the rear. It's a wide target.

I saw my wife at a pool, flipped over her, and 14 days later we were married.

I never wanted to be an actor. I got stuck in it and kind of liked what I was doing.

In my opinion, Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't qualified to be governor of California.