James Garner Quotations

I don't take success very well, because I know it's fleeting. And the next day, it can all fall apart. I know that, too. So I don't get too high, and I don't get too low. You get through the world a lot easier that way.

Everybody wants blockbusters. I like to see a few pictures now and then that have to do with people and have relationships, and that's what I want to do films about. I don't want to see these sci-fi movies, and I don't want to do one of those. I don't understand it.

My goal has always been longevity. Not fame and fortune, just get a job and keep it.

I never wanted to be an actor. I got stuck in it and kind of liked what I was doing.

When I started working, I didn't have a clue what I was doing, in that I was just wandering around, hoping that I could succeed. Then after I got a little under my belt, it took me about 25 years to feel like I knew what I was doing.

What was I qualified to do to make a living? Nothing. You don't need qualifications as an actor or a politician. And I didn't want to be a politician.

There's a lot of room for error with a wound in the rear. It's a wide target.

Ronald Reagan wasn't qualified to be governor, let alone president.

I saw my wife at a pool, flipped over her, and 14 days later we were married.

I've had to work hard at that easy-going manner you see on screen.

People who don't know me think I'm easy-going, but I'm a pessimist by nature and an old curmudgeon.

It wasn't until I'd turned 50 and had been in the business 25 years that I realized I might actually have a career as an actor.

The characters I've played, especially Bret Maverick and Jim Rockford, almost never use a gun, and they always try to use their wits instead of their fists.

I think people like to see a little larceny in their heroes.

I'm working out every day. I'm in very good shape.

In my opinion, Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't qualified to be governor of California.

The only reason I'm an actor is that a lady pulled out of a parking space in front of a producer's office.

I was a Depression kid, growing up in Oklahoma.

Too many actors have run for office. There's one difference between me and them: I know I'm not qualified.

When people see me in something and say, 'That's just you - that's not acting,' it's the best compliment I can get.

Yeah, I don't have a whole lot of problems.

Acting is just common sense. It isn't hard if you put yourself aside and just do what the writer wrote.

An hour series is a killer. It's hard on you physically.

When we go home, we're not off work.

There are younger directors, and anybody over 30 is ancient to them, because they're not that old.

I don't have any theories about acting, and I don't think about how to do it, except that an actor shouldn't take himself too seriously, and shouldn't try to make acting something it isn't.

I have a tough enough time running my own house -- and my wife does that anyway.

I said, 'Well, I'll give myself five years to see if I can make a living at it.' And after five years I was 30 and I said, 'Yeah, I can go another five years on just the reputation I have now' and then I went another five, and another five, and another five, and finally -- at 50 years old -- I said 'You know, I think I have a career,'

I think my attitude has always been to put food on the table.

We worked very hard to get this for the retirees.

We basically each had our own opinion about what they bid,

We cannot keep that department if it continues to run in the red,

We feel like they're going to get a good product with AARP,

At the beginning of the meeting it looked like Scribner Place was dead,

There's not any profitability there, ... Those two stores were probably not going to come back to profitability. In small business, you can't gain that business back.

I spent most of my time playing pool instead of studying.

I've been on the wrong end of violence, and I've done violence myself... I refuse to glorify violence in my movie and television roles.

These are the nicest people. From the producers and writers on down. The actors are just wonderful. ...They take care of the old man.

I've always wanted to work with Gena because she's such a wonderful actress. She's one of the elite in this business.

It was a marvelous script. ... It's a beautifully framed movie, it's beautifully cast and wonderfully acted.

I've done a lot of casual work, and acting is a lot easier than laying carpets.

It will force our agreement with the county to be written a certain way,

I'll still watch even though Earnhardt isn't in it.

In the near term we expect excitement to be driven by cross-border M&A and further material restructuring initiatives. Let the M&A dance begin.

You can never have too many friends.

I'm a Methodist, but not as an actor.

We know what the surface of the moon is better than we know what the surface of the sea floor is.

I don't want to know what's good, or bad, or true. I let God worry about the truth. I just want to know the momentary fact about things. Life isn't good, or bad, or true. It's merely factual, it's sensual, it's alive. My idea of living sensual facts are you, a home, a country, a world, a universe, in that order.

You don't need qualifications as an actor or a politician. And I didn't want to be a politician.

The greatest challenge Internet users face is information overload.

Cause my wife gets up and goes shopping.

I did a little bit of cocaine in the Eighties, courtesy of John Belushi, but fortunately I didn’t like it. But I smoked marijuana for 50 years and I don’t know where I’d be without it. It opened my mind and now it eases my arthritis. After decades of research I’ve concluded that marijuana should be legal and alcohol illegal.

With the exception of my wife and children, there's nothing I value more than my Oklahoma heritage.

I'm a 'bleeding-heart liberal,' one of those card-carrying Democrats that Rush Limbaugh thinks is a communist. And I'm proud of it.

Marriage is a lot like the army, everyone complains, but you'd be surprise at the large number that re-enlist.

You put on a face for the public. The face isn't false; it's just another side of you. If it were false, you couldn't last. People want something real and natural, and if they catch you acting, you're dead. It has to look real. In order to look real, it has to be real, and I've always thought of the characters I've played as real people.

Learning is a gift, even if pain is the teacher

There's one difference between me and them: I know I'm not qualified. In my opinion, Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't qualified to be governor of California. Ronald Reagan wasn't qualified to be governor, let alone president. I was a vice president of the Screen Actors Guild when he was its president. My duties consisted of attending meetings and voting. The only thing I remember is that Ronnie never had an original thought and that we had to tell him what to say. That's no way to run a union, let along a state or a country.

I smoked marijuana for 50 yearsIt opened my mind to a lot of things, and now its active ingredient, THC, relaxes me and eases my arthritis pain. I've concluded that marijuana should be legal

I called the chief and asked if I need to be concerned about this,

I don't like the crowds, I don't like to get out of the house if I don't have to.

I don't like to watch me on the screen. I don't think I'm very good. I just don't have a lot of confidence in me, I guess. I've probably seen about a fourth of the things I've done ... I cringe when I see it. I might be a little picky.

The union could put a bid in if they choose to,