Ernest Borgnine Quotes & Sayings

I've been to a number of places and seen for myself the caliber of people who are in the Navy today - in all the services for that matter. This is an altogether different bunch. These people of today are really bright, young, good people. — Ernest Borgnine

I don't chart out the life histories of the people I play. If I did, I'd be in trouble. I work with my heart and my head, and naturally emotions follow. — Ernest Borgnine

My mother made me do all the housework as a boy. I still do it, even in hotels. — Ernest Borgnine

I think we all have the urge to be a clown, whether we know it or not. — Ernest Borgnine

To this day I clean better than most maids. — Ernest Borgnine

It was my mom who told me, "Ernie, if you make even one person happy with your smile or a funny thing you did every day, you'll have accomplished a great deal." And that's all I've ever tried to do. — Ernest Borgnine

I just want to do more work. Every time I step in front of a camera I feel young again. I really do. It keeps your mind active and it keeps you going. — Ernest Borgnine

I'm what you call a Depression sailor. — Ernest Borgnine

I got a job immediately after leaving high school; I was lucky - three dollars a week and all I could eat, working on a vegetable truck. — Ernest Borgnine

Writers used to make such wonderful pictures without all that swearing, all that cursing. And now it seems that you can't say three words without cursing. And I don't think that's right. — Ernest Borgnine

You get kicked around long enough, you become a professor of pain. — Ernest Borgnine

The Navy has changed a great deal. Not that the officers of my day were bad, because I served under a lot of good officers, believe me. But there were a few bad ones, too. — Ernest Borgnine

The Oscar made me a star, and I'm grateful. But I feel had I not won the Oscar I wouldn't have gotten into the messes I did in my personal life. — Ernest Borgnine

If John Wayne were alive, he'd be rolling over in his grave! — Ernest Borgnine

I don't care whether a role is 10 minutes long or two hours. And I don't care whether my name is up there on top, either. Matter of fact, I'd rather have someone else get top billing; then if the picture bombs, he gets the blame, not me. — Ernest Borgnine

It's not your word that matters, it's who you give it too. — Ernest Borgnine

I wouldn't trade those 10 years for anything. The Navy taught me a lot of things. It molded me as a man, and I made a lot of wonderful friends. — Ernest Borgnine

Everything I do has a moral to it. — Ernest Borgnine

The trick is not to become somebody else. You become somebody else when you're in front of a camera or when you're on stage. There are some people who carry it all the time. That, to me, is not acting. — Ernest Borgnine

Fathers and mothers are just people, which means they make mistakes. Don't hold that against them. Whatever flaws they may have, they created you in a moment of love, and are among the few who knew you when. When they're gone, there won't be anyone to take their place. — Ernest Borgnine