Gary Sinise Quotations

You learn from things that don't go well, and you try to capitalize when they do. You build on those strengths and try to make your weaknesses stronger.

I have veterans in my family. But I didn't know anything about DAV, Disabled American Veterans.

It's always been my dream to do a dance scene with Anthony Hopkins.

I've worked with a lot of really fine actors, both on stage and on screen. The level of their game lifts me up and brings the level of my game up to theirs. Always. It's like a constant upgrade.

I can honestly say that I've done everything I've wanted to do, always. Not without difficulty. But every time I wanted to do something, I just did it, from the age of 18 when I started my own theater with my friends. When I decided I wanted to act. I just bit the bullet.

The wonderful drama teacher at my high school, Barbara Patterson, saw me standing in the hall and told me I should audition for 'West Side Story.' I guess she thought I looked like a gang member.

Careers, like rockets, don't always take off on time. The trick is to always keep the engine running.

I think you're lucky if you discover what you really love at a young age. College wasn't something I was going to do. I wanted to keep acting, and I didn't want to go to New York or California and pound the pavement.

Wherever I go for the military, they always call me Lt. Dan. They just can't help it.

I have a band that I started with a buddy of mine, a Vietnam veteran pal named Kimo Williams from Chicago.

I started a theater called Steppenwolf. We've been very supportive of the veterans there.

If you're missing three or four limbs, you have special challenges going forward. And the last thing you want is to not be independent in your home.

Being able to act for a living is a blessing. I have a great theater company that's almost 40 years old.

My wife's a loving, funny, Irish-spirited person, and I'm still surprised at some of the things she says. She makes me laugh every day.

Well, I've been to Iraq twice now. I was in Baghdad in June and then north of Baghdad in November.

Yeah, I volunteered to support the troops, and get out there and show them that we care about them.

Before discovering theater, I was sloughing off and didn't have any passion for school. Then I couldn't get enough. All of a sudden, I was getting good parts in all of these plays. I just loved it. I started getting A's in acting, directing and technical theater. I found something that clicked.

The University of Southern California has a wonderful social work department, and I was thrilled to find out that they have a whole veterans' initiative program there. They approached me, and I set up a scholarship that would go to a military-oriented person to learn techniques and skills to better help veterans.

I save money when I'm working so that I never have to take a role simply to pay the bills.

I study to learn, to be an educated person.

You've got to keep taking certain risks, because my priority is in acting, it's not in movie stardom.

I'm not registered to any party. I don't really play in the political world. I'm really more interested in getting things done.

There's always the ongoing actor frustration of finding the great role to do next. I don't go to work a lot. I wait as long as I can until the money runs out or a great part comes along.

But I've got more to learn, too. I don't feel like I'm done or I know it all.

I played a character in 'Ransom' who was as evil as they come.

I started as an actor. I started directing because Steppenwolf needed another strong director.

Since I've had kids I haven't read a huge lot of classics. I've been too busy. It now takes me about a year to read a book.

I am deeply moved to have been asked to participate in this absolutely necessary memorial, ... I can only hope that my participation will help draw attention to the cause and ensure its successful fruition as the nation's first and only such tribute built specifically to these courageous men and women.

I go into military communities and do fundraisers and that kind of thing with the band, because I know that the music can help do a lot of things. It can bring communities together, it can raise awareness... and it entertains.

Have I done more business-related things to help my career grow? Yeah. I took the business end more seriously, hooked up with a manager, got some help, because at a certain point, you get frustrated when you go do auditions, and people say you did a great job, and then you don't get he part.

He's blasting away, rocking out. Something happens backstage just outside the theater, and of course we find a dead body out there, so we've got to start investigating.

Well, you're not incorrect on either front, because absolutely, there are children here in this country that need help as are everywhere in the world.

My mission is to support our service members. They're volunteers, and if they're going to go to a hostile place like Afghanistan, I think we owe it to them to back them up and try to help them get through it.

Mice And Men was only the third movie I had acted in and since then I've done more television and bigger, more demanding roles.

Whether I ever meet these kids or not, it doesn't matter, ... I know that we're doing something that's positive.

Unless you have a long-running series, most actors just go job to job if you're lucky to keep working. You just do a movie or a play or a TV thing, and it's over at some point.

I've never had to compromise myself for a job, ever.

It would be an incredible blessing if we could transform one of the worst events in our history into a day where all Americans come together to volunteer their time in honor of those lost and injured.

These soldiers over there and these Marines are very special people, ... They care about these people.

'The Stand' came out in May of '94 and was seen by 60 million people a night for four nights, and then two months later, 'Forrest Gump' opened. So within a very short time, I went from being depressed about not getting any work to being in two of the most popular shows of the year.

It's a way for you to support the children by sending pencils, beanie babies or soccer balls. That all started because of one of those convoys I was on.

It's a wonderful way to help the little kids over there who really have nothing, ... They've lived in an oppressed society for many, many years. We're actually providing supplies for these little kids to have a better life.

It's a Hollywood creation - part actual research, development, and science, and part movie.

I'm thrilled I can make a living doing something I enjoy.

I just feel like every time you get a part that's going to stretch you as an actor, you're going to grow by doing it.

I'm not like one of those actors who's a frustrated director.

The actors I was most impressed with and who were influencing my taste were all movie actors, so I always wanted to do movies but I didnt want to go to Hollywood and become a waiter in the meantime. The chances are really slim that an actor will be discovered in Hollywood. ... Ive never had to compromise myself for a job, ever.

Sometimes you're in great demand. Then suddenly your career hits the breaks.

Its a way for you to support the children by sending pencils, beanie babies or soccer balls. That all started because of one of those convoys I was on.

Well, youre not incorrect on either front, because absolutely, there are children here in this country that need help as are everywhere in the world.

I've directed enough in the theatre and a couple of films to know that - to feel fairly secure that if I find a story that I really like I can probably get it done somewhat.

I was always fascinated with rock 'n' roll, or girls, or something like that when I was a kid.

While we can never do enough to show gratitude to our nation's defenders, we can always do a little more.

Freedom and security are precious gifts that we, as Americans, should never take for granted. We must do all we can to extend our hand in times of need to those who willingly sacrifice each day to provide that freedom and security. While we can never do enough to show gratitude to our nation's defenders, we can always do a little more.

When I think of work, it's mostly about having control over your destiny, as opposed to being at the mercy of what's out there.

So for, you know, for a good 20 years now I've been involved with veterans and soldiers and in support of them no matter what they're doing.

Careers, like rockets, don't always take off on schedule. The key is to keep working the engines.

I do spend a lot of weekends on the road. I have to pace myself. It can be pretty busy, but I'm not out in the Afghan desert with 70 pounds on my back, away from my family for a year at a time. I keep a good perspective on it.

The chance to play a romantic character who kisses somebody onscreen was one of the elements that made me want to do 'The Stand.' The more you can do, the better, and I've been known as a character actor.