American Quotes

William Holden and I weren't just good friends. He was my very best friend. I feel his loss very much still.

One thing led to another and I didn't have to take tickets any more because I now worked for Mr. Rogers. He said if I was going to take care of his horses than I'd better learn how to ride. He was very kind to me.

Nothing ever changes as far as Westerns are concerned. They are the same today as they were years ago.

It really doesn't matter whether it's the villain or the hero. Sometimes the villain is the most colorful. But I prefer a part where you don't know what he is until the end.

I was making a film called The White Tower at the foot of Mont Blanc - the one thing I learned from that experience was that it's more difficult to go down a mountain than to go up. A lot of people don't realize that.

I think the director is becoming more important. To work under rushed conditions, you need to have an extremely professional director. If the director's good than the end result will be good.

I suddenly realized that the fellow who didn't show up was getting about fifty-times more money than I was getting. So I thought, 'this is silly,' and became an actor. I certainly never thought I'd wind up in motion pictures. That was far beyond anything I'd ever dreamed of.

I don't know how it is now but the assistant stage manager had to understudy several parts. You had to be ready to go on at any time if the actor couldn't make it to the play. I didn't think anything of it.

I can't frankly see much difference in the film industry at all. The only difference might be that they don't take as much time as they used to. For example, they'll do in one day what we used to take a week to do.

He was very commanding, and you had to know what you were doing to work for Mr. Rogers. I learned how to ride very quickly with him as my riding teacher.

An actor would be foolish to do something that might hold up the picture, or more importantly incapacitate him. If an actor does do a stunt he needs to make sure a stunt man stands by to see that it's done correctly.

An actor should be ready to play any role within reason. For example, I think the most ridiculous thing for me to do would be to try and play Shakespeare.

If they try to rush me, I always say, I've only got one other speed and it's slower.

It's the quality of the ordinary, the straight, the square, that accounts for the great stability and success of our nation. It's a quality to be proud of. But it's a quality that many people seem to have neglected.

I would hope that understanding and reconciliation are not limited to the 19th hole alone.

I have had a lot of adversaries in my political life, but no enemies that I can remember.

I am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your President by your ballots, so I ask you to confirm me with your prayers.

I am a Ford, not a Lincoln.

For millions of men and women, the church has been the hospital for the soul, the school for the mind and the safe depository for moral ideas.

An American tragedy in which we all have played a part.

The political lesson of Watergate is this: Never again must America allow an arrogant, elite guard of political adolescents to by-pass the regular party organization and dictate the terms of a national election.

Teddy Roosevelt... once said, 'Speak softly and carry a big stick.' Jimmy Carter wants to speak loudly and carry a fly swatter.

I had pro offers from the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers, who were pretty hard up for linemen in those days. If I had gone into professional football the name Jerry Ford might have been a household word today.

I had a lot of experience with people smarter than I am.

I cannot imagine any other country in the world where the opposition would seek, and the chief executive would allow, the dissemination of his most private and personal conversations with his staff, which, to be honest, do not exactly confer sainthood on anyone concerned.

Tell the truth, work hard, and come to dinner on time.

In all my public and private acts as your president, I expect to follow my instincts of openness and candor with full confidence that honesty is always the best policy in the end.

If Lincoln were alive today, he'd be turning over in his grave.

I love sports. Whenever I can, I always watch the Detroit Tigers on the radio.

History and experience tell us that moral progress comes not in comfortable and complacent times, but out of trial and confusion.