John Wayne Quotations

Courage is being scared to death... and saddling up anyway.

Never apologize, mister, it’s a sign of weakness.

Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday.

Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday.

Everybody that I was in school with had an uncle or father in the law, and I started to realize that I was going to end up writing briefs for about ten years for these fellows who I thought I was smarter than. And I was kind of losing my feeling for that.

I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.

In westerns, you meet a hardy bunch of characters. There is no jealousy on such pictures.

I was sure I'd set the world on fire, and it was hard for a young feller like me to realize the truth - that I hadn't set the world on fire, and I was totally unprepared to handle the consequences if 'The Big Trail' had been a success and launched me as a star.

My folks always let me go to the movies every Saturday. We were really motion-picture goers.

Life is tough, but it's tougher if you're stupid.

I suppose my best attribute, if you want to call it that, is sincerity. I can sell sincerity because that's the way I am.

If everything isn't black and white, I say, 'Why the hell not?'

I'm not the sort to back away from a fight. I don't believe in shrinking from anything. It's not my speed; I'm a guy who meets adversities head on.

All the screen cowboys behaved like real gentlemen. They didn't drink, they didn't smoke. When they knocked the bad guy down, they always stood with their fists up, waiting for the heavy to get back on his feet. I decided I was going to drag the bad guy to his feet and keep hitting him.

Talk low, talk slow and don't say too much.

Real art is basic emotion. If a scene is handled with simplicity - and I don't mean simple - it'll be good, and the public will know it.

I never have really become accustomed to the 'John.' Nobody ever really calls me John... I've always been Duke or Marion or John Wayne. It's a name that goes well together, and it's like one word - John Wayne.

When I was a sophomore at USC, I was a socialist, pretty much to the left. But not when I left the university. I quickly got wise. I'd read about what had happened to Russia in 1917 when the Communists took over.

All I'm for is the liberty of the individual.

Nobody should come to the movies unless he believes in heroes.

I'd read up on the history of our country and I'd become fascinated with the story of the Alamo. To me it represented the fight for freedom, not just in America, but in all countries.

Nothing is so discouraging to an actor than to have to work for long hours upon hours in brightly lighted interior sets.

Get off your horse and drink your milk.

When you come to see a picture of mine, I want you to know that I'm not going to do anything that will make you uncomfortable. I want you to know that you won't be disappointed in me.

Get off your butt and join the Marines!

I was ashamed to admit I was hipped to the idea of acting. That's why I started in with the props.

Which would cause the fire to burn back on itself where there's no fuel since its already been burned.

the recipe was supposed to be from a chef on a location catering truck.

There's no reason to have this amount of traffic coming through a private residence road.

There's just sand. There's no fuel for it to burn.

somewhat troubled by the absence of a consistent policy governing our willingness to permit the President to participate in these private, commercial tributes . . . .

There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves

It's such an adrenaline rush. It's America's most extreme sport.

Never say sorry - it's a sign of weakness

If you've got them by the balls their hearts and minds will follow.

I'll have you spread-eagled on a wagon wheel.

Hell, the truth is that I was named after a dog!

Jesus Christ! I would crawl over the mountains of Beverly Hills on my hands and knees if I could do a movie with Doris Day!

Healthy, lusty sex is wonderful.

I play John Wayne in every part regardless of the character, and I've been doing okay, haven't I?

COWBOYS, just like the word says.

I would like to be remembered, well... the Mexicans have a phrase, 'Feo fuerte y formal'. Which means; he was ugly, strong and had dignity.

General MacArthur told me, "You represent the American serviceman better than the American serviceman himself."

Cause even grown men need understanding.

I'm sure we can talk things out like civilized people.

But you know, I'm very conscious that people criticize Hollywood. Yet we've created a form, the Western, that can be understood in every country. The good guys against the bad guys. No nuances. And the horse is the best vehicle of action in our medium. You take action, a scene, and scenery, and cut them together, and you never miss.

Sometimes I wonder whose side God's on.

I don't want ever to appear in a film that would embarrass a viewer. A man can take his wife, mother, and his daughter to one of my movies and never be ashamed or embarrassed for going.

courage is being scared to death - and saddling up anyway" "A goal, A love and A dream give you total control over your body and your life

Screw ambiguity. Perversion and corruption masquerade as ambiguity. I don`t trust ambiguity. John Wayne

I eat as much as I ever did, I drink more than I should, and my sex life is none of your goddamned business.

Senator Joseph McCarthy was one of the greatest Americans who ever lived.

Republic . . . it means people can live free, talk free, go or come, buy or sell, be drunk or sober, however they choose.

If a man says, "I'll call you," and he doesn't, he didn't forget. . . . he didn't lose your number. . . . he didn't die. He just didn't want to call you.

We built your fort. We will not have it used against us.

The only thing they can get me for is running a funeral parlor without a license.

Men forget everything; women remember everything.

If I depended on the critics' judgment and recognition, I'd never have gone into the motion-picture business.

That's why men need instant replays in sports. They've already forgotten what happened.

Westerns are closer to art than anything else in the motion picture business.

Most men hate to shop. That's why the men's department is usually on the first floor of a department store, two inches from the door.

I believe humor nullifies violence.

I've made over 250 pictures and have never shot a guy in the back. Change it.

You're going to think I'm being corny, but this is how I really feel: I hope my family and my friends will be able to say that I was an honest, kind and fairly decent man.

It's kind of a sad thing when a normal love of country makes you a super patriot. I do think we have a pretty wonderful country, and I thank God that He chose me to live here.

I drink for comradeship, and when I drink for comradeship, I don't bother to keep count.

This kind of war, you've gotta believe in what you're fighting for.

Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave?

I would think somebody like Jane Fonda and her idiot husband would be terribly ashamed and saddened that they were a part of causing us to stop helping the South Vietnamese. Now look what's happening. They're getting killed by the millions. Murdered by the millions. How the hell can she and her husband sleep at night?

Don't ever for a minute make the mistake of looking down your nose at westerns. They're art - the good ones, I mean. They deal in life and sudden death and primitive struggle, and with the basic emotions - love, hate, and anger - thrown in. We'll have westerns films as long as the cameras keep turning. The fascination that the Old West has will never die. And as long as people want to pay money to see me act, I'll keep on making westerns until the day I die.

You don't have to fight to be brave. Millions of good, fine, decent folks show more bravery than heavyweight champs just by getting out of bed every morning, going out to do a good day's work and living the best life they know how against the law of odds.

My main object in making a motion picture is entertainment. If at the same time I can strike a blow for liberty, then I'll stick one in.

Paul Newman would have been a much more important star if he hadn't always tried to be an anti-hero, to show the human feet of clay.

The West - the very words go straight to that place of the heart where Americans feel the spirit of pride in their western heritage - the triumph of personal courage over any obstacle, whether nature or man.

I'm a greedy old man. Life's been good to me, and I want some more of it.

Of course I know who you are. You're my girl. I love you.

A man is no better than he has to be.

Life's tough. It's even tougher when you are stupid.

Ahh, women! I never met one yet that was half as reliable as a horse!

Let's say I hope that I appeal to the more carefree times in a person's life rather than to his reasoning adulthood. I'd just like to be an image that reminds someone of joy rather than of the problems of the world.

Contrary to what people think, I'm no politician, and when I have something to say I say it through my movies.

Communism is quite obviously still a threat. Yes, they are human beings, with a right to their point of view . . .

Any man who'd make an X-rated movie ought to have to take his daughter to see it.

But don't get me wrong. As far as a man and a woman is concerned, I'm awfully happy there's a thing called sex. It's an extra something God gave us. I see no reason why it shouldn't be in pictures. Healthy, lusty sex is wonderful.

Life is tough, but if you are stupid, it's a lot tougher.

Republic. I like the sound of the word.

Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid.

There's been no top authority saying what marijuana does to you. I really don't know that much about it. I tried it once but it didn't do anything to me.

Nobody ever saw a cowboy on the psychiatrist's couch.

Out here a man settles his own problems.

Life is tough pilgrim, it is even tougher if you're stupid

Every country in the world loved the folklore of the West--the music, the dress, the excitement, everything that was associated with the opening of a new territory. It took everybody out of their own little world. The cowboy lasted a hundred years, created more songs and prose and poetry than any other folk figure. The closest thing was the Japanese samurai. Now, I wonder who'll continue it.

The fire is not discriminating. It burns anything in its path for whatever reason.

Courage is being afraid and going on the journey anyhow.

I'm the stuff men are made of!

A man's got to do what a man's got to do.

I stick to simple themes. Love. Hate. No nuances. I stay away from psychoanalyst's couch scenes. Couches are good for one thing.

Well, there are some things a man just can't run away from.

I'm an American actor. I work with my clothes on. I have to. Riding a horse can be pretty tough on your legs and elsewheres.

It rankles me when somebody tries to force somebody to do something.