Matthew mcconaughey quotes

Life is not fair, it never was and it is now and it won't ever be. Do not fall into the trap. The entitlement trap, of feeling like you're a victim. You are not.

Sure, I can get a little bit jealous. The good part about jealousy is that it comes from passion. It's also the dangerous part and it's an ugly emotion that hurts.

I don't mind assholes. It's the dork I don't trust. The dork is the one who's trying to be whatever he thinks you want him to be. I trust the asshole cause you know where he's gonna stand.

The older you get, the more rules they’re gonna try to get you to follow. You just gotta keep livin’ man, l-i-v-i-n’

Don't play an attitude; don't play a guy who's negative. Play a guy who's not trying to sell anybody on anything, he's just saying how it is and if you want to come by what he's thinking, you're welcome. If you do not, then do not.

See, 'A Time to Kill' was the one I got famous off of. Big ka-boom, over one weekend. After that, I did films that I really wanted to do.

The male is always the pawn in a romantic comedy. Come together, break up, go chase her, get her, roll credits. That's what happens in all of them.

Africa is probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

I believe in living in the present and making each day count. I don't pay much attention to the past or the future.

We are things that labor under the illusion of having a self, a secretion of sensory experience and feeling, programmed with total assurance that we are each somebody, when in fact everybody's nobody.

My best quality is that I'm a big hearted person. I'm resilient, too. My worst quality is selfishness, although everyone is guilty of that to an extent. Everyone should be, I think - you need to respect yourself.

I've been in a couple of weddings where the coolest people that were the most day before so mellow and then the day of the wedding freaking out.

The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

I'm not trying to put on airs for anybody. I'm only trying to impress myself by doing the best job I can do.

Yes, it is the Big Easy, home of the shortest hangover on the planet, where libation can greet you on Monday morning with the same smile as it did on Saturday night.

There's a gap between what I want to do, what I do on camera, and what gets edited. Right? So the goal is to try and close the gaps. What's the biggest compliment is if I read a review and it's exactly what I wrote down in my diary before ever filming it. That's really cool. That's the biggest signifier of closing the gaps.

I like having my hands in the clay. I like the movie-making process.

I love it. It's silly to say that it is a world of false and stupid people. Sure there are witches and swindlers, but you can meet there many creative, talented and generous persons too. Hollywood is a pleasant place, when you are hip to the game and you enjoy it for what it is really.

I'm not arrogant enough to look back on my career and criticize my choices. It's really not my place.

I don't know how to work a room. It's a real skill.

I was raised on, 'You go get a nine-to-five job, earn your pay and work your way up.

For me, one of the toughest things about Valentine's Day is that it gets geared up as the day to profess your love. See, T-E-S-T - that's a bad word that doesn't go with L-O-V-E.

Life is not a popularity contest. Take the hill, but first answer the question: What is my hill?.

I like to be able to wear something that is appropriate for wherever the day takes me: to work, on a hike and then out to dinner. I like to take the formality out of the day’s schedule and be ready for any off-road detour.

By their fruits ye shall know them.

I think the discipline comes with turning that cellphone and Blackberry off and unplugging completely. You do that and you go through some withdrawals in the beginning. You start thinking, 'Oh, do I need to do this? Do I need to do that?' You forget that we were doing just fine with the payphone.

You want to be a writer? Start writing. You want to be a filmmaker? Start shooting stuff on your phone right now.

I think most defense attorneys know, to some extent, their clients are guilty.

The challenge for me as an actor is if you become a celebrity, you don't meet strangers anymore. And strangers are where we have our anonymity. And I believe it's essential for the soul to be anonymous, especially if you're going to be an actor.

Maybe the honorable thing for our species to do is deny our programming, stop reproducing, walk hand in hand into extinction, one last midnight, brothers and sisters opting out of a raw deal.

A creep is someone who claims he's one thing but he's actually another.

When you have good friends you've been around, every time they talk, you don't give them your full attention. You don't look them in the eye and stop. Half the time, you're listening, half the time, you are ignoring them.

Cameras aren't guns. They can't really hurt you.

My lawyer has been a good friend of mine for a long time. He and I continuously have conversations.

My father – who I know is up there right now, with a big pot of gumbo, he’s got a lemon meringue pie, he’s probably in his underwear, and he’s got a cold can of Miller Lite – and he’s dancing.

I'm obsessed with trying to understand what somebody is talking about and trying to get them to understand me.

I've never been a jealous person, and I've never felt built up by someone else's failure - that's a cheap thrill.

I'm a football fan, a sports fan, a fan of competition.

The tree is known by his fruit.

Each of the films, whether it’s Magic Mike or Dallas Buyers Club, was a challenge for me. I had to dig deeper. Also, my decision to shake things up came after my first child was born. I had taken nearly two years off and I thought that I would enjoy my time as a dad and wait until something interesting came along.

I like to customize things. I customized the back of old Lincoln to be my mobile office. I had one of those little laptop desks like in a police car, and I had a cooler in there, so that was my mobile office.

I like to be directed, but when I'm flying and I'm on fire, I don't want someone coming and getting in my way just because they feel like they need to.

There's two sorts of fear: one you embrace and one you should listen to and turn the other way.

Try not to make a straight line crooked.

First off I want to thank God, because he's the one I look up to, he's graced my life with opportunities that I know are not of my hand or any other human kind. He has shown me that it's a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates. In the words of the late (British actor) Charlie Laughton, who said, 'When you got God, you got a friend and that friend is you.'

The dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.

What I always look for is someone that really knew how to lean up against a bar, get a drink, sit on a barstool. When people are in bars they're relaxed. No real right angles - it's slow moves, it's slow conversations. You can tell a loud joke, but everyone's very relaxed. I never would pick somebody nervous or twitchy. If I found guys with beards, I'd ask them, don't trim the edges, don't go in and manicure yourself up. I always look for people that look like they're comfortable in their own skin, that wouldn't feel like it was the first time they were ever in a bar.

The best advice comes from people who don't give advice.

If you can be mentally stimulated by the workout and find out how to get through it, it's more fun.

I know when I grew up, it was, if it was daylight outside, get outside. Well, now, with the technological age of computers and everything, everyone's inside virtually going everywhere they want to go, virtually having relationships, virtually traveling across the neighborhood, virtually going to that island.

Traveling is a great love of mine. I love South America and Africa. I'm your ultimate backpacker when I'm away. It's just me and my backpack. It's good for getting away from the industry.

My experience in work, even going to work with Scorsese, is that people always think there's some magic trick. There's no magic trick. The people who are really good at what they do do simple things really, really well.

There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?

We dissect failure a lot more than we dissect success.

The unsaid rule for living in a trailer park is: 'If the door's shut, don't come a-knockin.' But if it's open and you're walkin' by, feel free to say, 'Hello.'

Now, you lose something in your life, or you come into a conflict, and there's gonna come a time that you're gonna know: There was a reason for that. And at the end of your life, all the things you thought were periods, they turn out to be commas. There was never a full stop in any of it.

A coach, especially at a college level - much more at a college or high school level, than at a pro level - you're more of a teacher than an actual coach.

No computer, no gadget, no trickery. I am an animal, it is a plant. I will beat the weed!

Give thanks. Appreciate what you DO have ... the more we give thanks, the more we receive to be thankful for. Gratitude is the gift that always gives back.

If you want your hair to be thicker, cut it when the moon is about to be full - a heavy, full, waxing moon. Do not cut it when the moon's waning.

I personally don't like to go see romantic comedies. But people do want to see them, and they seem to want to see me in them.

I’m a fan of the word selfish. Self. Ish. When I say I have gotten a lot more self-ish, I mean I am less concerned with what people think of me. I’m not worried about how I’m perceived. Selfish has always gotten a bad rap. You should do for you.

When I see grace in a woman, that's very sexy. You can tell by how someone moves or their rhythm.

I've never been a manipulator, even in my bachelor days. I never wanted to do things to people that could catch up with me later on.

When thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what they right hand doeth.

Vanity is great motivation, to be fair.

I like quips. I like whiffs of cynicism and I think they can be witty. But I don't really know where wittiness is constructive.

I have some good friends of my own who happen to be gay, and when it comes to gay, straight, or whatever, I’m for anything life-affirmative. I’m for gay power, straight power, male power, female power; everybody should feel empowered without oppressing anyone who’s different.

I think it's because we're looking for the meaning. Where is the meaning? We have mindless jobs, we take frantic vacations, deficit finance trips to the mall to buy more things that we think are going to fill these holes in our lives. Is it any wonder that we've lost our sense of direction?

Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

What the heck is true love? I remember feeling, back when I was 12 and 'going' with this girl, 'Is this true love?'

I think 'unbelievable' is an unbelievably stupid word.

I don't want to just revolve. I want to evolve. As a man, as a human, as a father, as a lover.

There are three things, to my account, that I need each day. One of them is something to look up to, another is something to look forward to, and another is someone to chase.

Absolutely not. I have no problem with commitment. In fact, I love having someone in my life.

I never go online on my iPhone. Sometimes I'm tempted but I remind myself and the kids - it's a tool. Use it as a tool. You're not the tool. My iPhone, 85% of the time I'm writing down ideas.

Starting at about, I guess, forever, I've always looked forward to getting older. When I was 14, I couldn't wait to be 16 and get a driver's license.

My last name is originally Irish. I'm not exactly sure whereabouts it's from, but I've got family branches that were traced back there.

One of the great pleasures of going to see a Daniel Day-Lewis film: you haven’t seen him in five years. Where have you been? So, it’s a special event, right? Well, if you want to go see a movie that I’m in, it still may be a special event for you, but, you don’t feel like you don’t know where I’ve been.

I have my own vocabulary. I love linguistics. That surprises people.

The law says you cannot touch, but I see a lot of lawbreakers up in this house.

A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.

When I first starting making money, when I first made my first six-digits, I was - my big thing was I went to put super unleaded in my truck for the first time.

Cynicism can be funny. But it's the easy way. You'll forget to enjoy anything. I try to make the evolving choice, the forward-moving, life-giving choice. Just keep living, man.

I say to the paparazzi, 'Fellas, take your shot and go.' It's just they usually find me on a beach.

Good ideas are free - or at least they should be.

It's a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates.

Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

We have a big appetite for putting people down but, at the heart of everyone, there's enough room for all of us to succeed.

Some things, you just like what you like and you stick to it. Other things, you like what you like, but the things that come with celebrity or success comes more options. There's was nine, all of the sudden there's ninety-nine things to say "yes" to, which you didn't have the option to say "yes" to yesterday.

I think human consciousness is a misstep in evolution. We became too self-aware, nature created an aspect of nature separate from itself. We are creatures that should not exist by natural law.

I go on The Daily Beast. The Daily Beast is one of the websites that I check out.

I love having my hands in the dirt. It is never a science and always an art. There are no rules. And if it comes down to me versus that weed I'm trying to pull out of the ground that doesn't want to come out? I know I'll win.

Bringing a baby into the world is something I've always wanted, and now I'm completely ready for my life to start revolving around another human being.

I'm one of the most adaptable guys I know in as much as travelling is my favourite thing to do in life. With every place I go, I try to stay there long enough to do it justice, long enough so that I can at least imagine what it would be like to live there. Once I imagine that, then it's OK for me to return home.

As an actor for hire, my job is to do some pre-production work for myself. Then my job is to show up and give the best performance I can.

When I'm surfing, I'm sure not thinking about the paparazzi. I guess if they start getting on floaties and coming out there in the water, then I might be a little upset.

Man shall not live by bread alone.

The first step that leads to our identity in life is usually not 'I know who I am,' but rather 'I know who I am not.'

I don’t dabble and spend much mind or time dealing with, I don’t know, people’s perceptions of me. I truly don’t.

We found a great rhythm. Contractions started kicking in. I sat there with her, right between her legs. We got tribal on it, we danced to it! I was DJ-ing this Brazilian music.

Directors like William Friedkin (Killer Joe), Steven Soderbergh (Magic Mike) and Lee Daniels (The Paperboy) got in touch with me and wanted me to be part of their films. That was a whole new chapter for me. I didn’t chase any of those films and it made me think that I was right to take a chance, say no to the kind of thing I had grown tired of doing, and wait until something good came around. And it did.

I hated repeating myself. The last films I've done - not once did I ever have the feeling that I was dialing it in.

When you've got God, you got a friend. And that friend is you.

I want to thank God because that's who I look up. He's graced my life with opportunities. He's shown me that it's a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates.

If happiness is what you’re after, then you are going to be let down frequently and be unhappy much of your time. Joy, though, is something else. It’s not a choice, not a response to some result, it is a constant. Joy is “the feeling we have from doing what we are fashioned to do,” no matter the outcome.

They eat, they crap, they sleep, and if they're crying they need to do one of the three and they're having trouble doing it. Real simple.

I think I can keep a rhythm to a beat, but there are quite a few people who would argue with me.

I know who I am. And after all these years, there's a victory in that.

I've been wanting to have my own family since I was young. It just took me a while to find the perfect woman.

That's what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age.

Life is a series of commas, not periods.

Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you get good at.

Every hero doesn't do this great big hero thing. They do the simple thing over and over... and they stick to it.

I've got a great sense of humor, and if I'm able to say or do something in a movie that people feel like they want to repeat, that's hugely flattering.

There aren't many things that are universally cool, and it's cool not to litter. I'd never do it.

A foolish man... built his house upon the sand.

So to any of us, whatever those things are: whatever it is we look up to, whatever it is we look forward to, and whoever it is we're chasin'. To that I say: Amen. To that I say: Alright, alright, alright. To that I say: Just keep livin'. Thank you.

There's a difference in thinking you are a champion and knowing that you are.

You know who it is? It's me in 10 years. So I turned 25. Ten years later, that same person comes to me and says, 'So, are you a hero?' And I was like, 'not even close. No, no, no.' She said, 'Why?' I said, 'Because my hero's me at 35.' So you see every day, every week, every month and every year of my life, my hero's always 10 years away. I'm never gonna be my hero. I'm not gonna attain that. I know I'm not, and that's just fine with me because that keeps me with somebody to keep on chasing.

My life is the road, man. I need to keep moving.

I tell myself I bear witness. The real answer is that it's obviously my programming. And I lack the constitution for suicide.

My favorite dish is cleaning out the fridge on Sunday night and improvising a great medley.

Man who invented the hamburger was smart; man who invented the cheeseburger was a genius.