Quotes on Has Beens

The sweetest hunts are stolen. To steal a hunt, either go far into the wilderness where no one has been, or else find some undiscovered place under everybody's nose

Life is very fleeting. It’s important to be gentle and optimistic. We look behind and think what we’ve done in this life has been good. It was simple; it was modest. Everyone creates their own story and moves on. That’s it. I don’t feel particularly important. What we create is not important. We’re very insignificant.

The best time of my life has been the three instances where I have been there for the birth of my children. That is, nothing [else] has ever come close.

Everything happens kind of the way it's supposed to happen, and we just watch it unfold. And you can't control it. Looking back, you can't say, "I should've..." You didn't, and had you, the outcome would have been different.

I am certain that the Lord, who notes the fall of a sparrow, looks with compassion upon those who have been called upon to part, even temporarily, from their precious children.

Sometimes I feel my whole life has been one big rejection.

I’m beginning to understand myself. But it would have been great to be able to understand myself when I was 20 rather than when I was 82.

We’re face to face with images all the time in a way that we never have been before... Young people need to understand that not all images are there to be consumed like fast food and then forgotten – we need to educate them to understand the difference between moving images that engage their humanity and their intelligence, and moving images that are just selling them something.

Let us solemnly remember the sacrifices of all those who fought so valiantly, on the seas, in the air, and on foreign shores, to preserve our heritage of freedom, and let us reconsecrate ourselves to the task of promoting an enduring peace so that their efforts shall not have been in vain.

I’m not religious in the normal sense. I believe the universe is governed by the laws of science. The laws may have been decreed by God, but God does not intervene to break the laws.

I totally believe in magic. Because my life, I think, has been very magic, and magical things have come true for me time after time after time.

My desire for the part of Mammy was not dominated by selfishness for Hollywood has been good to me and I am grateful

My films are expressive of a culture that has had the possibility of attaining material fulfillment while at the same time finding itself unable to accomplish the simple business of conducting human lives. We have been sold a bill of goods as a substitute for life. What is needed is reassurance in human emotions; a re-evaluation of our emotional capacities.

But I'm very happy with my life the way it has been turning out. A little time in the country, a little time with the animals and working on behalf of them.

My parents believed in education and economic security, and I thank them for it. Because I think that's part of what's made my life stable. It was instilled in me. You have to be able to pay your bills. You do not get into debt. And I never have been.

My chief consolation in this year of living dyingly has been the presence of friends.

As a rule, panics do not destroy capital; they merely reveal the extent to which it has been destroyed by its betrayal into hopelessly unproductive works.

I'm gay and always have been, even when I was David Jones.

The Sopranos all came down to the writing. I wouldn't have been on for as long as I was if the writing weren't so good.

The things that have been most valuable to me I did not learn in school. Traditional education is based on facts and figures and passing tests - not on a comprehension of the material and its application to your life.

My mother always told me, even if a song has been done a thousand times, you can still bring something of your own to it. I'd like to think I did that.