John wayne quotes

Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave? Sure I love my country with all her faults. I'm not ashamed of that, never have been, never will be. I was proud when President Nixon ordered the mining of Haiphong Harbor, which we should have done long ago, because I think we're helping a brave little country defend herself against Communist invasion. That's what I tried to show in The Green Berets and I took plenty of abuse from the critics.

Women have the right to work wherever they want, as long as they have the dinner ready when you get home.

I don't have to assert my virility. I think my career has shown that I'm not exactly a pantywaist. But I do take pride in my work, even to the point of being the first one on the set in the morning. I'm a professional.

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

Republic. I like the sound of the word. It means people can live free, talk free, go or come, buy or sell, be drunk or sober, however they choose. Some words give you a feeling.

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

I never killed a man I didn't have to.

We're burnin' daylight!

TRUE Courage is when you are scared to death and STILL saddle up and ride in!

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

I am a demonstrative man, a baby picker-upper, a hugger and a kisser--that's my nature.

Out here, due process is a bullet.

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

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

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

In my acting, I have to identify with something in the character. The big tough boy on the side of right - that's me. Simple themes. Same me from the nuances. All I do is sell sincerity and I've been selling the hell out of that ever since I started.

The reason there are so many stupid people is because it's illegal to kill them.

When the road looks rough ahead, remember the 'Man upstairs' and the word HOPE. Hang onto both and 'tough it out'.

I am an old-fashioned, honest-to-goodness, flag waving patriot.

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

I've always followed my father's advice: he told me, first to always keep my word and, second, to never insult anybody unintentionally. If I insult you, you can be goddamn sure I intend to. And, third, he told me not to go around looking for trouble.

I didn't vote for him, but he's my President, and I hope he does a good job.

A friend of mine told me to shoot first and ask questions later. I was going to ask him why, but I had to shoot him.

You have to be a man before you can be a gentleman.

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

A long time ago, I made me a rule. I let people do what they want to do.

We brought nothing into this world and it's certain we can carry nothing out.

My hope and prayer is that everyone know and love our country for what she really is and what she stands for.

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

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

I have found a certain type calls himself a Liberal...Now I always thought I was a Liberal. I came up terribly surprised one time when I found out that I was a Right-Wing Conservative Extremist, when I listened to everybody's point of view that I ever met, and then decided how I should feel. But this so-called new Liberal group, Jesus, they never listen to your point of view.

America is the land of freedom and that’s the way I enjoy living.

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

There's right and there's wrong. You got to do one or the other. You do the one and you're living. You do the other and you may be walking around, but you're dead as a beaver hat.

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.

Slap some bacon on a biscuit and let's go! We're burnin' daylight!

The hyphenated American is ridiculous. But that's what we have to put up with. I think that any person that's in the United States is better off here than they would be where they came from.

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.

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.

Republic. I like the sound of the word.

Courage is being afraid and going on the journey anyhow.

When you stop fighting, that's death.

Men forget everything; women remember everything.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

I want to play a real man in all my films, and I define manhood simply: men should be tough, fair, and courageous, never petty, never looking for a fight, but never backing down from one either.

I never shot nobody I didnt have to.

Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave? Sure I love my country with all her faults. I'm not ashamed of that, never have been, never will be.

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

When you come slam bang up against trouble, it never looks half as bad if you face up to it.

A man's got to have a code, a creed to live by, no matter his job.

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.

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

If you can't be thankful for what you have, be thankful for what you have escaped.

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

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.

I read someplace that I used to make B-pictures. Hell, they were a lot farther down the alphabet than that . . . but not as far down as R and X. I think any man who makes an X-rated picture ought to be made to take his own daughter to see it.

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

Thanking people is dangerous business. A name always slips your mind.

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

Get off your horse and drink your milk.

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.

I believe humor nullifies violence.

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

True Grit is making a decision and standing by it, doing what must be done. No moral man can have peace of mind if he leaves undone what he knows he should have done.

Out here a man settles his own problems.

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

I'm the stuff men are made of!

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.

I believe in white supremacy, until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don't believe giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people ... I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from [the Native Americans] ... Our so-called stealing of this country from them was just a matter of survival. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.

All battles are fought by scared men who'd rather be some place else.

Wayne: I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them ..... the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves. .... I'm quite sure that the concept of a Government-run reservation .... seems to be what the socialists are working for now -- to have everyone cared for from cradle to grave ..... But you can't whine and bellyache 'cause somebody else got a break and you didn't, like those Indians are. We'll all be on a reservation soon if the socialists keep subsidizing groups like them with our tax money.

I'd like to know why well-educated idiots keep apologizing for lazy and complaining people who think the world owes them a living.

Life is getting up one more time than you've been knocked down.

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.

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.

True grit is making a decision and standing by it, doing what must be done.

Government has no wealth, and when a politician promises to give you something for nothing, he must first confiscate that wealth from you -- either by direct taxes, or by the cruelly indirect tax of inflation.

Getting rid of a man without hurting his masculinity is a problem. "Get out" and "I never want to see you again" might sound like a challenge. If you want to get rid of a man, I suggest saying, "I love you. . . . I want to marry you. . . . I want to have your children." Sometimes they leave skid marks.

I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a-hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.

I never trust a man that doesn't drink.

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!

Male menopause is a lot more fun than female menopause. With female menopause you gain weight and get hot flashes. Male menopause ? you get to date young girls and drive motorcycles.

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.

Give the American people a good cause, and there's nothing they can't lick.

My favorite four-letter words are 'hard work'.

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

You're short on ears and long on mouth.

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

Oscar and I have something in common. Oscar first came to Hollywood scene in 1928. So did I. We're both a little weather-beaten, but we're still here and plan to be around for a whole lot longer.

A man is no better than he has to be.

Sometimes I wonder whose side God's on.

A man deserves a second chance, but keep an eye on him.

I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to the point of responsibility. I don`t believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people.

A man ought to do what he thinks is right

One look that works is better than twenty lines of dialogue.

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

Life's hard. It's even harder when you're stupid.

Very few of the so-called liberals are open-minded.... They shout you down and won't let you speak if you disagree with them.

I figured I needed a gimmick, so I dreamed up this drawl, the squint and a way of moving meant to suggest that I wasn’t looking for trouble but would just as soon throw a bottle at your head as not. I practiced in front of a mirror.

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

I've had three wives, six children and six grandchildren and I still don't understand women

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.

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

I have tried to live my life so that my family would love me and my friends respect me. The others can do whatever the hell they please.

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.

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

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

Get off your butt and join the Marines!

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.

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?

Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid.

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

The guy you see on the screen isn’t really me. I’m Duke Morrison, and I never was and never will be a film personality like JOHN WAYNE . I know him well. I’m one of his closest students. I have to be. I made a living out of him.

Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday.

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

Watergate is a sad and tragic incident in our history. They were wrong, dead wrong, those men at Watergate. Men abused power, but the system still works. Men abused money, but the system still works. Men lied and perjured themselves, but the system still .

Cause even grown men need understanding.

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.

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