Kevin Costner Quotations | Page 2

I think religion is a funny thing because, when you see somebody who can really break it down, sometimes it feels foolish what you believe.

When you try to portray people's lives, you try to make sure you don't portray them as clowns and that you give them a level of dignity. You don't try to change their persona, but you try to understand that they had unique problems, set in a century that you don't live.

I think that you try to raise the bar on whatever you do because you know, in this day of having to deal with a lot of reality TV, people say that scripted programming is dying, so you have to try to create something that can live in people's minds, long after they see it.

I don't read as much as I'd like. I've been writing a lot. I've been doing a lot of music, but I don't read as much as I should. I just don't.

I want to be a part of something, and when we define movies now based on how they do on the weekend. We live in a society of "thumbs up, thumbs down."

If it's fifty years from now and it still has the same value, that's a movie.

I think I just wanted to work when I finally came to Hollywood. That's what it was. I wanted to get a job, and then I wanted to get the second one.

The movies helped define how I should be as a person.

I deal with pressure. I have a tendency to probably be at my best under pressure.

It's never bothered me to work hard. I've probably worked on some of the longest schedules in movie history.

Sometimes it takes a partner to say, "What is it you want?" because I think we operate in life and sometimes we don't know. We're all in some kind of maze going after the cheese at the end, and we get it and we go, "What is it that we want?"

Sometimes we worry about the things that you know that matter the least and don't focus on the things that matter the most.

When I read a story that I think has value and I want to be in it, that doesn't change for me. It doesn't fall out of favor for me. I might have to move on because the universe is saying you can't make this right now. But I'm going to circle back and make it.

I would hate to see a UFO. Because it would ruin my life. I would have to talk about it the rest of my life, and everybody in the room would go, "Poor Kevin." Because you could not turn your back on the idea that you saw it.

I'd like to put on buckskins and a ponytail and go underwater with a reed, hiding from the Indians... To me, that's sexy!

I like four-hour movies.

The truth is, I just want do things that are original and throw an original spin on them.

I think I'm a pretty right down the middle guy. I just think that's kind of who I am. I'm not afraid of my own journey.

I am a really writer-oriented actor.

I like American history.

We recognize ourselves in Westerns, ... I believe the Western can orchestrate moments around reality. The reality can be as entertaining to us as the lie.

I don't go against the grain because I'm a contrary person.

Conventional wisdom can get us into so much trouble, especially as artists.

You know, what if everybody's wrong in life? And so you have to live your life yourself.

Conventional wisdom is so scary because what if everybody's wrong?

When you draw a western correctly, you create such drama, such dilemma that you think you almost don't want to admit who you might have been.

If I had a choice of having a woman in my arms or shooting a bad guy on a horse, I'd take the horse. It's a lot more fun

Life's better when it's fun. Boy, that's deep, isn't it?

It was an experience of a lifetime to sit only a few feet away from him [Castro] and watch him relive an experience he lived as a very young man.

I didn't realize Toronto was so beautiful. Everywhere you go you see beautiful architecture.

I will never forget what happened here tonight.people I went to school with will never forget.

I don't take much stock in other people's opinions if I think something's good.

In my younger days, I used to pick up sluts, and I don't mean that nastily. It's more a term of endearment, really, for girls who know how to speak their minds.

I've always felt that failure was a completely underrated experience.

You can be as you choose to be. It's an act of discipline sometimes, but it can be done.

Cowboy movies aren't supposed to be in vogue. I still like them. You know, I'm still out there pitching the hell out of them.

I'm not defining my band by other people's music, but by my own.

When you start searching for your name, you might be thrilled with what a lot of people say and it just takes one person. And it can hurt your feelings, but I have been aware of the fan bases and stuff like that and realize how deeply involved they are.

The western will always be here. And it just depends on how good you make one. And one movie doesn't kill it. And one movie doesn't preserve it. It's storytelling. It's a very American thing. I'll continue to do it.

We really don't rest if we think our kids are drifting, or if we think they don't have the right work ethic. It drives us crazy. Because we ultimately want them to succeed and, until they do, we feel in some way that something is not complete.

I think one of the first things to go as people's lives start to go down is their dreams. Dreams should be the last thing to go - dreams are the things you go down with. If you're left clinging to a piece of driftwood in the middle of the ocean, I'd put on it the word dreams.

I just tried to build on my failures.

Westerns aren't about the gunfight, even though it has to be there at one point. It's not what they're about, at least the good ones. It's about the drama. It's about the resourcefulness of men and women.

I've never had that fear of going against the grain.

I have seen soldiers panic at the first sight of battle, and a squire pulling arrows from his body to fight and save his dying horse. Nobility is not a birthright, but is defined by one's actions.

If somebody said my wife's not beautiful, I'd go, she is. I wouldn't say, really? No, she is. I know she is. In my mind, you know.

I can't say I really see much difference between my son and daughters except that my girls will occasionally make me a sandwich and my son won't.

I was in the show for 21 days once-the 21 greatest days of my life. You know, you never handle your luggage in the show, somebody else carries your bags. It was great. You hit white balls for batting practice, the ballparks are like cathedrals, the hotels all have room service, and the women all have long legs and brains.

A good idea is something like an emotion, you just can't keep it in.

Audiences trust Westerns when you hit the right tone. I think they're not in vogue, but they will always be in vogue when you hit the right note.

I think if you want to make a good sports movie, you've got to cut down on the sports. You have to make it about people. You can't try to impress people with your knowledge and the X and O's and all the details and the technicalities.

We're at a point in history where everyone needs to pay attention to politics. Too much is at stake for us to be apathetic.

I believe in the soul ... the small of a woman's back, the hanging curveball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve, and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.

I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.

I have instinctually thought I could do things in my life, and I followed that up by sometimes putting everything I have at risk - my money, my house - to make a movie.

True movies will never be measured by how much they make - they'll be measured by how they make you feel.

There's nothing more noble than a father and mother making an opportunity for their child, knowing that their life is gonna be hard. There's something incredibly heroic about that.

I have a tremendous belief in people, not that people don't let me down, not that I haven't maybe let some people down. But I have a tremendous belief in people and in the common experience.

Sex and golf are the two things you can enjoy even if you're not good at them.

I dream of big things. I work for the small things. If you're going to dream, you might as well dream big. A lot of that came from my mother. She was adamant about the work ethic---about how you can't just dream things.

I wouldn't do the movie unless I thought it had a chance to be good.

When a defining moment comes along, you define the moment, or the moment defines you.

It sounds vain, but I could probably make a difference for almost everyone I ever met if I chose to involve myself with them either professionally or personally.

I'm a 'what if' person. I have always felt that failure was a completely underrated experience. I have taken blows. I have had high moments. But I don't think the blows have ever hardened me. My enthusiasms are still big.

You're just as good, and if you work harder, you can be better and you can be more than you think you can.

It's such a cool thing in life to get what it is you want. Most of the time we don't, but occasionally we do.

Real heroes are men who fall and fail and are flawed, but win out in the end because they've stayed true to their ideals and beliefs and commitments.

Broken people say awful things and do incredibly absurd things.

And I know that in times like now that we live in, sometimes you got to find a code of honor.