John Ford Quotes & Sayings

Revenge proves itself to be its own executioner. — John Ford

Who better than an Irishman can understand the Indians, while still being stirred by tales of the US cavalry? — John Ford

Let them fear bondage who are slaves to fear; the sweetest freedom is an honest heart. — John Ford

Melancholy Is not, as you conceive, indisposition Of body, but the mind's disease. — John Ford

He hath shook hands with time. — John Ford

I like, as a director and a spectator, simple, direct, frank films. Nothing disgusts me more than snobbism, mannerism, technical gratuity ... and, most of all, intellectualism. — John Ford

Love is dead; let lovers' eyes,
Locked in endless dreams,
The extremes of all extremes,
Ope no more, for now Love dies. — John Ford

Contentment gives a crown, where fortune hath denied it. — John Ford

Alas, poor gentleman,
He look'd not like the ruins of his youth
But like the ruins of those ruins. — John Ford

Honour, How much we fight with weakness to preserve thee! — John Ford

Lost, I am Lost! My fates have doomed my death.
The more I strive, I love; the more I love,
The less I hope. I see my ruin, certain.
What judgement or endeavors could apply
To my incurable and restless wounds
I throughly have examined, but in vain.
Oh, that it were not in religion sin
To make our love a god and worship it!
I have even wearied heaven with prayers, dried up
The spring of my continual tears, even starved
My veins with daily fasts; what wit or art
Could counsel, I have practiced. But, alas,
I find all these but dreams and old men's tales
To fright unsteady youth; I'm still the same.
Or I must speak or burst. Tis not, I know,
My lust, but tis my fate that leads me on.
Keep fear and low fainthearted shame with slaves!
I'll tell her that I love her, through my heart
Were rated at the price of that attempt. — John Ford

You can speak well if your tongue can deliver the message of your heart. — John Ford

Revenge proves its own executioner. — John Ford

Affections injured by tyranny, or rigor of compulsion, like tempest-threatened trees, unfirmly rooted, never spring to timely growth — John Ford

Most of the good things in pictures happen by accident — John Ford

Sister, look ye, How, by a new creation of my tailor's I've shook off old mortality. — John Ford

How did I get to Hollywood? By train. — John Ford

I love making pictures but I don't like talking about them. — John Ford

Why, I hold fate Clasped in my fist, and could command the course Of time's eternal motion, hadst thou been One thought more steady than an ebbing sea. — John Ford

Titles of honor add not to his worth, who is himself an honor of his titles. — John Ford

When in doubt, make a western. — John Ford

It is easier to get an actor to be a cowboy than to get a cowboy to be an actor. — John Ford

Electronics is clearly the winner of the day. — John Ford

The joys of marriage are the heaven on earth, Life's paradise, great princess, the soul's quiet, Sinews of concord, earthly immortality, Eternity of pleasures. — John Ford

Love is the tyrant of the heart; it darkens
Reason, confounds discretion; deaf to Counsel
It runs a headlong course to desperate madness. — John Ford

A bachelor May thrive by observation on a little, A single life's no burthen: but to draw In yokes is chargeable, and will require A double maintenance. — John Ford

Whilst we strive To live most free, we're caught in our own toils. — John Ford

Truth is child of Time. — John Ford

I didn't show up at the ceremony to collect any of my first three Oscars. Once I went fishing, another time there was a war on, and on another occasion, I remember, I was suddenly taken drunk. — John Ford

To be quite blunt, I make pictures for money, to pay the rent.There are some great artists in the business. I am not one of them. — John Ford

Anybody can direct a picture once they know the fundamentals. Directing is not a mystery, it's not an art. The main thing about directing is: photograph the people's eyes. — John Ford

Tell us, pray, what devil This melancholy is, which can transform Men into monsters. — John Ford

I am ... a mushroom; On whom the dew of heaven drops now and then. — John Ford

Love is a tyrant, resisted. — John Ford

They are the silent griefs which cut the heart-strings. — John Ford

Not only does God play dice with the universe, He's using loaded dice. — John Ford