Kevin Costner Quotes

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. -- Interview with David Giammarco, Cigar Aficionado Magazine, Nov/Dec 2000

I`m happy about the things I`ve done. Not always happy about the results, but happy about the decisions, because I made them myself. And I think that`s an important way to go through life. -- Interview with David Giammarco, Cigar Aficionado Magazine, Nov/Dec. 2000

This is a bonding film for all. You could put it anywhere in history--the Berlin Wall, Kuwait. -- On Dances with Wolves (1990)

My first introduction to English football was in 1990 when I was over here making Robin Hood and I got invited to an Arsenal game. Having watched sports all my life in America, there was no comparison in terms of the emotion that was in the stadium that day. And I really never forgot it. - On being an Arsenal Fan.

I`m really aware of my disappointments, what movies I didn`t like when I was done. I`m not so sure they line up with public or critical disappointments. But if I have to reduce my life to the box office, I can see what the up-and-down thing is. Popularity now is cultural achievement. If you can be popular, you actually can make a living out of being popular. It`s not my way. Other actors might have made Bull Durham 2,Tin Cup 2, Dances 2 and Bodyguard 2. But I don`t think repeating yourself is very good.

I put on 20 pounds for the film. I drank whole milk with sugar, bananas and ice cream. And chocolate and cookies. -- On gaining weight for The Upside of Anger (2005).

I`m not into plugs, rugs or drugs to correct this problem and would rather just shave it off. -- on going bald

I registered as a Republican when I was twenty-one. My parents were Republicans. But as I`ve gotten older I`ve questioned my whole conservative background ... I think you should be fair about how you treat people.

I don`t want to turn my back on that (Bush) family. They`ve been gracious to me. We`re supposed to evolve from frontier justice. I think that the old west mythology is a good thing to have in your spine. But it shouldn`t operate your brain. It`s nice to know that you are willing to fight, but it`s good to know how smart you are about not fighting. -- On the Iraq War.

The fact that I was 5ft 2 as a sophomore didn`t help. I`m 6ft 1 now but still relate to those feelings. I didn`t date in high school and didn`t get my growth until college. I never got over being short.

It`s awfully hard if you`re his children, his wife, his mother, his dad; there`s a certain thing we can`t lose as human beings, which is empathy for maybe the hardest job in the world. Whether we think it`s being performed right or not we can`t, like, wish ... or think that`s even cute. - On Death of a President (2005)

don`t mind Hollywood. After all, I don`t make movies that are like avant garde or not understandable. I just like to make a mainstream movie with all the edges that existed in the writing and I don`t like to see it flattened out in order to cater to audiences. I don`t really give a shit what people think about my movie after watching it and giving it a test score, but I really care about what you think about it when you see it in its purity, because I don`t feel like I`m going to lose you. I don`t feel like my movies are going to be for everyone because they`re not, because sometimes they`re more adult and that eliminates kids.

I`m a hunter, I hunt but I think there should be gun laws. I think there should be a lot of gun laws. I don`t want to lose my shotgun but there`s a real good reason why I use my shotgun. It came from my grandpa. His cheek was on it. My dad`s cheek was on it and I go out and hunt with my dogs. My gun`s an heirloom to me and my son, one day, when I`m gone, is gonna know, `Your dad hunted with that.` But, even though with the connection that I have to my gun, can I look at the NRA and say, `I think you`re out of line?`. I can say that.

I think you have to look at screenwriting as an art form because it`s not all that easy to do. Not all that many people can do it. So you have to go out and find the material, or develop it from scratch, and I`m one of the handful or people who actually spends his own money on developing and producing projects I like.

Everyone feels like they could have done things differently in life. But I`m happy about the things I`ve done. Not always happy about the results, but happy about the decisions, because I made them myself. And I think that`s an important way to go through life. -- Interview with David Giammarco, Cigar Aficionado Magazine, Nov/Dec. 2000

You know, the Kennedys have endured such a large amount of tabloidism over the last twenty years. But my feeling is that no matter what anybody thinks about the Kennedys, in those thirteen days they were absolutely golden. And if other individuals had been in that position, I think the legacy we would have been sharing in the year 2000 - instead of all the bright lights and parties when we hit the Millennium - would be 150 million people dead. It would make the Vietnam War pale in comparison. And if other men had been in power, they would have swallowed hook, line and sinker the recommendations of the military. -- Interview with David Giammarco, Cigar Aficionado Magazine, Nov/Dec. 2000

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 am not a cynic.

You have to decide if you`re going to wilt like a daisy or if you`re just going to go forward and live the life that you`ve been granted.

We stand our best chance of leaving a legacy to those who want to learn, our children, by standing firm. In matters of style, hey, swing with the stream. But in matters of principle, you need to stand like a rock.

I`m proud of all the movies I`ve made. They`re not sequels, they`re not franchises. And the reason I pick my films carefully is that I don`t want to spit on my life. I like to think of myself as more than that.

I don`t think I`d have been as good as Bruce was. He was a better JFK than I would have been.

I stand up for what I believe. I don`t know if it`s always paid off for me, because I`ve been ridiculed and humiliated.

When I played Robin Hood, I knew the great role was Alan Rickman`s and it didn`t bother me. I always think that leading actors should be called the best supporting actors.

I work for the public, for the people who are paying to go to the cinema, rather than for the critics.

What are we blaming? Is this Vietnam? We made a movie, it didn`t make much money. I`m gonna be really happy if somebody watches it in 10 years` time and really enjoys it.

Being a celebrity is probably the closest to being a beautiful woman as you can get.

I like when my face tingles, when the hair on the back of my neck stands up.

I`ve been around where I knew other actors were going to steal the scene, and I don`t compete with them.

I`m glad movies aren`t going to please everybody, they can`t. But what they have to be is recognisable. I don`t equate myself with a master painter, but I think you can recognise my films.

Field of Dreams is probably our generation`s It`s A Wonderful Life.

We still live with this unbelievable threat over our heads of nuclear war. I mean, are we stupid? Do we think that the nuclear threat has gone, that the nuclear destruction of the planet is not imminent? It`s a delusion to think it`s gone away.

If you don`t understand your limitations you won`t achieve much in your life.

I`m really aware of my disappointments, what movies I didn`t like when I was done. I`m not so sure they line up with public or critical disappointments. But if I have to reduce my life to the box office, I can see what the up-and-down thing is. Popularity now is cultural achievement. If you can be popular, you actually can make a living out of being popular. It`s not my way. Other actors might have made "Bull Durham 2","Tin Cup 2","Dances 2" and "Bodyguard 2". But I don`t think repeating yourself is very good.

There are a lot of things that come to bear on movies now that I don`t think are good for movies. They`re trying to appeal to the biggest demographic and, when they do that, you sometimes flatten out.

I`m only interested in being a good actor and in being remembered for my best films, not for the way I look. But it seems inevitable in this line of work that I have to care about the way I look without getting obsessed about it.

I believe people who go into politics want to do the right thing. And then they hit a big wall of re-election and the pettiness of politics. In the end, politics gets in the way of the business of people.

In America, politicians do whatever to get re-elected, and a lot of decisions that were being made at that time by Kennedy were certain not to get him re-elected.

I think these movies are as much for people of that time as for people who weren`t born. For people who weren`t born, they see how leaders must act under a crisis situation, not trying to be re-elected or not trying to check polls, that they go from their gut check.

I don`t think I ever take huge risks, though I`m not scared of doing so.

I`m a pretty convenient foil for a lot of people.

I`m not into plugs, rugs or drugs to correct this problem and would rather just shave it off. - on going bald

You have to pick the stories that you want to be involved with and the end game is you`d like to be a part of a hit. But I think your moral obligation is to follow your own heart.

I don`t want to turn my back on that (Bush) family. They`ve been gracious to me. We`re supposed to evolve from frontier justice. I think that the old west mythology is a good thing to have in your spine. But it shouldn`t operate your brain. It`s nice to know that you are willing to fight, but it`s good to know how smart you are about not fighting. - On the Iraq war

If it`s going to be wrecked, I want to make sure I wreck it.

One person doesn`t have to shoulder all the responsibility for why a film does or doesn`t do well.

I don`t mind Hollywood. After all, I don`t make movies that are like avant garde or not understandable. I just like to make a mainstream movie with all the edges that existed in the writing and I don`t like to see it flattened out in order to cater to audiences. I don`t really give a shit what people think about my movie after watching it and giving it a test score, but I really care about what you think about it when you see it in its purity, because I don`t feel like I`m going to lose you. I don`t feel like my movies are going to be for everyone because they`re not, because sometimes they`re more adult and that eliminates kids.

I haven`t tried to buffer myself. I like rolling the dice.

I wanted very much to do Traffic and at one point it looked like I was going to work on it. And then, of course, Catherine Zeta-Jones had her relationship with Michael Douglas and it suddenly didn`t happen.

If you think of `Liberty Valance` or `The Searchers,` there are moments in there that you`ll never, ever forget... And it does not matter what century you are from.

Money isn`t a major motivating force in my life. Nor is my profession. There are other things that I care more about than being an actor.

I don`t feel the need to direct. I tried to get other people to direct Dances, but they wouldn`t do it. They all thought it was too long. One director wanted to cut the Civil War sequence. Another thought the white woman was very cliched.

I think there are good men and women in all decades. We`ve grown cynical. And look at what we do to all our heroes: Churchill, FDR, Kennedy, they all had affairs. But heroic things happen every day.

Failure doesn`t kill you... it increases your desire to make something happen.

(On Dances with Wolves (1990)) "This is a bonding film for all. You could put it anywhere in history--the Berlin Wall, Kuwait".

My first introduction to English football was in 1990 when I was over here making Robin Hood and I got invited to an Arsenal game. Having watched sports all my life in America, there was no comparison in terms of the emotion that was in the stadium that day. And I really never forgot it. - on being an Arsenal fan

I`m a big fan of dreams. Unfortunately, dreams are our first casualty in life - people seem to give them up, quicker than anything, for a `reality.`

I put on 20 pounds for the film. I drank whole milk with sugar, bananas and ice cream. And chocolate and cookies. - On gaining weight for The Upside of Anger (2005).

President Kennedy was willing to go to war. He was not a coward. The man had been in war and so had Ken O`Donnell. He was ready to protect this nation, but he was not ready for a military solution just because it was being rammed down his throat.

I`ve had some movies that have been ridiculed, but that`s OK with me. I don`t feel that really defines me. Should I change who I am to be popular?

When I read Thirteen Days I was moved by it. It was just a great time for the world, in terms of looking back in history and seeing how we got ourselves into trouble and how we got ourselves out of trouble.

When I make a film I`m away from home for two to three months. So I want my kids to look at my films one day and say, I love his movies, I love his choices-because he loved them.

I`m getting those familiar feelings, and I`m just going to enjoy the process of getting to know someone again.

I enjoy sports. I get a real joy from playing sports but I don`t look for those movies. Oliver Stone wanted to know if I would do Any Given Sunday and it just didn`t appeal to me.

Lincoln was the greatest speaker and he was ridiculed for how he looked, you know?

We all have that burning question about what happens if we lose somebody we love, especially if we lose them tragically. We wonder what fear was going on, we wonder if we could have reached out and touched them, held their hand, looked in their eyes, been there.

I wanted to see the debates and I believe in the quality of the argument. I don`t vote party line. I vote for the best person. I am a purist.

It`s awfully hard if you`re his children, his wife, his mother, his dad; there`s a certain thing we can`t lose as human beings, which is empathy for maybe the hardest job in the world. Whether we think it`s being performed right or not we can`t, like, wish ... or think that`s even cute. - On Death of a President (2006)

You can learn a lot more by what a man does than by what he says. I just watched how my father did things. He worked for the Southern California Edison company, and often when it stormed, the lines would go down. The phone would ring at two in the morning. And my mom, knowing that he'd been out working for two straight nights, would tell him, "I can say you're not back yet." And he'd say, "No, hand me the phone."

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People see me as very successful now. They aren't willing to put my life in reverse. They don't want to know that on the construction site I had to choose between the Ding Dongs and the chocolate milk. Every day the lunch truck came by when I was framing houses. I wanted the chocolate milk. But it cost more than the plain milk. So if I chose the chocolate milk, I didn't have enough money to get the Ding Dongs. If I have one carryover from those days, it's about food and having to choose based on money. Somebody I'm dining with will look at the menu and not be sure which of two entrées to order, and I'll say, "Why don't you try them both?

I like the fat in life, not just the lean storytelling. I think the fat gets you through the winter. I love subplot. I love extra rabbit holes you can go down. Sometimes, if we give things time, they reveal themselves to us. Look, everyone has sat around the campfire and seen somebody talk too long and not get to the point, and there's this silent humph. But there are other people who talk around that campfire, and right at the end of their story it all ties together. And you think, My God, that was a story! And I needed to go to every place the storyteller took me to get the full impact.

See that Jacuzzi over there? I used to sit in that Jacuzzi at night and look out at those oil rigs in the ocean. I'd look at those oil rigs, but I didn't see oil rigs. I saw an armada. Knowing that tomorrow they're going to land and we're going to have to fight.

If you're going to tear down a hero, you should never forget that you're tearing down someone else's hero. You're tearing down somebody else's son. You might have to face her one day.

I'm in a position where whatever I do, I can get my head handed to me. I'm in a position to fail because there is a whole group of people out there who want me to fail. It's a weird vibe.

You have to try to dismiss the loudness of cynicism. It's certainly going to come.

Your dad knows everything. Then, somewhere along the line, you inherit that manner. Your kids think you know everything. And everybody ends up with this deep, dark secret that there are so many things you don't know.

I know what I know and it's not enough. I know that when I die, I'm going to miss a lot of great books and a lot of great music that I'll never hear. I'm going to miss seeing my children's children. I'll miss boyfriends and husbands who I'm going to be absolutely dependent on to treat my children with respect and grace, and take care of them and honor them. That's what I'm going to miss.

How the West Was Won was very important to me. It was a four-hour movie. I didn't think it was too long. I didn't think it was long enough. I didn't leave my seat during intermission because the overture was playing.

If six executives read something, and the rumor going around town is it's not very good, then no one thinks it's good. If I think something's good, I don't fall out of love with it.