Jack Lemmon Quotations

If you think it's hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball.

It's hard enough to write a good drama, it's much harder to write a good comedy, and it's hardest of all to write a drama with comedy. Which is what life is.

I have lost someone I loved as a brother, as a closest friend, and a remarkable human being. We have also lost one of the best damn actors we'll ever see.

I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day.

Failure seldom stops you. What stops you is the fear of failure.

If you really do want to be an actor who can satisfy himself and his audience, you need to be vulnerable.

Stay humble. Always answer your phone - no matter who else is in the car.

When I'm reading material, if I'm a little bit afraid of a part and I'm willing to admit that to myself, then I'll do it, definitely. If I'm worried about being able to do it, to get it -I absolutely just love it.

I won't quit until I get run over by a truck, a producer or a critic.

Nobody deserves this much money - certainly not an actor.

I'd rather make the cut in the Crosby than win another Oscar.

I would rather play Hamlet with no rehearsal than TV golf.

It can be a simple sentence that makes one single point, and you build for that. You zero in on one moment that gets that character, you go for it, that's it, man, and if you fail the whole thing is down the drain, but if you make it you hit the moon.

I think whatever you do, if you are going to do it well or even if you don't do it well, you have to have a passion for it, and I am passionate about it. I love it. I respect it and it gets me. I get off on acting,

Stay humble. Always answer the phone -- no matter who else is in the car.

You can get material that has a point of view, like a 'Missing' or a 'China Syndrome' or 'Wine and Roses,' whatever it might be, 'Save the Tiger.' You don't have to agree with the point of view that the author had, but if it makes you think, then it has moved you, and made you do something you wouldn't do if you had not seen it,

We're doing very serious stuff. But some of the stuff we pull with each other in between is not serious at all, and also not repeatable.

We're doing very serious stuff, ... But some of the stuff we pull with each other in between is not serious at all, and also not repeatable.

I had no desire to be in the movies. All my training had been in the theater, thank God.

It can be a simple sentence that makes one single point and you build for that. You zero in on one moment that gets that character, you go for it, that's it, man, and if you fail the whole thing is down the drain, but if you make it you hit the moon.

Everything that is truly worthwhile - I think passion is involved in your approach to it. No matter what it is.

If you've been fortunate enough to live out your dream in the profession of your choice, then you have an obligation to send the elevator back down.

I was lying ten and had a thirty-five foot putt. I whispered over my shoulder: "How does this one break?" And my caddie said, "Who cares?"

She has never messed up a single take yet. Recently I was in a scene and there was a table covered with a cloth. When the director said cut, I saw a black nose and two paws inching out from under the cloth. She had hidden there without making a sound until we were done with the scene. She wanted to be nearer to me.

how she moves. That's just like Jell-O on springs. She must have some sort of built-in motors. I tell you, it's a whole different sex! Joe: What are you afraid of? Nobody's asking you to have a baby.

People are probably correct when they see me as the so-called Everyman. I'm attracted primarily to contemporary characters. I understand them and their frustrations.

I have never lost a total passion for my work.

I think whatever you do, if you are going to do well or even if you don't do it well, you have to have a passion for it, and I am passionate about it. I love it. I respect it and it gets me. I get off on acting.

I was born in an elevator, and - as my mother said - naturally it was going down. She said, "All I remember is telling your father, 'That's it! Never again!'" That's why I'm an only child.

Part of an actor's job is to actually adopt the world-view of the character she is playing and to tell the story from that vantage point. If an actor represses large aspects of their personality, they will have a severely limited range and castability. Great actors cultivate effortless access to their subpersonalities. Many acting teachers call this 'freeing your instrument.'

Dying is not a sin. Not living is.

How do you know that God didn't speak to Charles Darwin?

Success is always somebody else's opinion of you; but it doesn't amount to a damn compared to your own opinion of yourself.

My career has been full of remarkable coincidences that have nothing to do with me.

No matter how successful you get, always send the elevator back down.

Acting doesn't have anything to do with listening to the words. We never really listen, in general conversation, to what the other person is saying. We listen to what they mean. And what they mean is often quite apart from the words. When you see a scene between two actors that goes really well you can be sure they're not listening to each other - they're feeling what the other person is trying to get at. Know what I mean?

Anything truly worthwhile does not come easy. If it did, it would not be all that worthwhile.

Death ends a life, not a relationship.