Martin Sheen Quotes & Sayings

And there are so many people in the third world suffering so horribly right now, and we are so focused on ourselves and our culture that a lot of things are showing up in our culture that are making it impossible for us to focus on others. We're so self-focused. — Martin Sheen

I still believe in the nonviolent Jesus and the basic human goodness present in all of us. — Martin Sheen

Stop going for the easy buck and start producing something with your life. Create, instead of living off the buying and selling of others. — Martin Sheen

We never get over our fathers, and we're not required to. (Irish Proverb) — Martin Sheen

I love my country enough to risk its wrath by drawing attention to the negative things we don't always want to see. And that can be risky and you have to pay for that. (Ramon Estevez) on Inside the Actor's Studio — Martin Sheen

When I reached adulthood, even now, I could afford to belong to a country club. But I could never belong to a private club because of my experience as a child, because it would isolate me from the whole of humanity. — Martin Sheen

We are the generation that brought the bomb in. We have got to be the generation that should take it out. — Martin Sheen

We live in a very dysfunctional society, and this is a very, very dysfunctional Administration. — Martin Sheen

The key word about The West Wing is show. It is not a reality show. It has nothing to do with reality. — Martin Sheen

There's no way that I could be the president. You can't have a pacifist in the White House ... I'm an actor. This is what I do for a living. — Martin Sheen

I love my country enough to suffer its wrath — Martin Sheen

I'm one of those cliff-hanging Catholics. I don't believe in God, but I do believe that Mary was his mother. — Martin Sheen

Jim Dean and Elvis were the spokesmen for an entire generation. When I was in acting school in New York, years ago, there was a saying that if Marlon Brando changed the way people acted, then James Dean changed the way people lived. He was the greatest actor who ever lived. He was simply a genius. — Martin Sheen

No, no, I never despair, because George Bush is not running the universe. He may be running the United States, he may be running the military, he may be running even the world, but he is not running the universe, he is not running the human heart. — Martin Sheen

The line between spontaneity and stupidity can be very thin. — Martin Sheen

I don't like scary films. I watched Psycho for the first time recently, alone in the house at night. That was a mistake. I had to call my friend to come over. — Martin Sheen

We have to fight for something. It has to cost us. Our lives, our faith, have to cost us something; otherwise we're left to question its value. — Martin Sheen

I do it because I can't seem to live with myself if I do not. I don't know any other way to be. It isn't something you can explain; it is just something that you do; it is something that you are. — Martin Sheen

Golf is fundamentally about being honest. I see people hit eight shots and tell me they shot five. I never say a word. It is a reminder to me of what is at stake. — Martin Sheen

I am still a journeyman actor and a peace and justice activist. I'm a pilgrim trying to win my freedom and serve as best I can in the time I have, with this gift I've been given. — Martin Sheen

I honestly do not know if civil disobedience has any effect on the government. I can promise you it has a great effect on the person who chooses to do it. — Martin Sheen

The first world is going to have to account for this sort of horrible poverty in our midst. We have to, first of all, become aware of it. We have to take responsibility for it. And then we have to do something about it for our own freedom, for our own salvation, for our own humanity. — Martin Sheen

Well, I think that Catholicism's basic foundation of faith is personal conscience. I think it's between you and God, not you and the Church. — Martin Sheen

I love The West Wing for many reasons. The show has been a fantasy. But we have offered a parallel universe to reality. — Martin Sheen

I personally am opposed to abortion, but I will not judge anybody else's right in that regard because I am not a woman and I could never face the actual reality of it. — Martin Sheen

I am not the President. Instead, I hold an even higher office, that of citizen of the United States. — Martin Sheen

I started caddying when I was nine years old at a very exclusive country club in Dayton, Ohio. And I saw how the other half lived, if you will. — Martin Sheen

We wind up in cells of our own making when we're not generous, loving, compassionate, and forgiving. Without love we build dungeons in our hearts and fill them with our perceived enemies. We believe they deserve to be there for the harm they've caused us. But by imprisoning them we're destroying our own spirits. When our dungeons are overflowing with these prisoners we refuse to set free, we become slaves to our self-righteousness, our anger, resentments, and self-loathing, which we let multiply until we wind up imprisoned on our own death row. — Martin Sheen

I think President Clinton was probably the brightest President of the 20th century. — Martin Sheen

I think [Bush] would like to hand his father Saddam Hussein's head and win his approval for what happened after the Gulf War. — Martin Sheen

When an actor reaches down into his emotional well and pulls up a deeply personal response, the audience can sense something special is going on. They may not know exactly what they're seeing, but they recognize it as authentic. — Martin Sheen

Once you experience Third World poverty, you're really changed forever, if you're at all open to it, because we're all united in our common humanity. And we are so made as to feel something for people who are in pain. It's not possible to be human and to be unaffected by what you see in the third world. — Martin Sheen

We (actors) don't really change the world. We reflect it ... but Washington really changes the world. — Martin Sheen

No matter what is going on, everything is grace. — Martin Sheen

This Administration has led us into an area without vision. Bush has no clear understanding of what is being asked of the citizens, and the military is under his direction. — Martin Sheen

I think service to others is the real key to winning our own personal freedom and the road to our own happiness, our own personal contentment and fulfillment. — Martin Sheen

Anybody who plays golf will tell you that you play against yourself. — Martin Sheen

No father could ever be prouder of his son. I hold Charlie's accomplishments dearer than my own. He has been through so much and overcome so much more. Even if he weren't my son he'd still be my best friend. — Martin Sheen

You never know when you are doing something that is affecting someone. — Martin Sheen

I never went to college when I was young and am looking forward to giving it a try ... at age 65! — Martin Sheen

We are not asked to do great things. We are asked to do all things with great care. — Martin Sheen

While acting is what I do for a living, activism is what I do to stay alive. — Martin Sheen

Just open your eyes! I thought. These desperate poor are your gurus. — Martin Sheen

I think the Church is a conduit to God. The Church is not God. And I think that from the very beginning Jesus taught us that. — Martin Sheen

We think of violence as being conflict and fighting and wars and so forth, but the most ongoing horrific measure of violence is in the horrible poverty of the Third World ... and the poverty in the United States as well. — Martin Sheen

On the show, we are not trying to get people to eat their vegetables; we are not trying to get people to become Democrats. We are basically trying to encourage people to get involved with public life so that politics isn't left to the wealthy and privileged. — Martin Sheen

People, although having their own cross to carry, can minister to others through their own pain. — Martin Sheen

Find something in your life worth fighting for — Martin Sheen

Future generations are not going to ask us what political party were you in. They are going to ask what did you do about it, when you knew the glaciers were melting. — Martin Sheen

It is my pleasure to support a candidate who truly reflects our values and highest ideals. — Martin Sheen

I sincerely believe that everything - everything - is grace, and you have to stick around long enough to see it through. I'm a very optimistic person. — Martin Sheen

Money's only something you need in case you don't die tomorrow. — Martin Sheen

I just think that the only way we come to ourselves is through each other. — Martin Sheen

Those years on the golf course as a caddie, boy, those people were something. They were vulgar, some were alcoholics, racist, they were very difficult people to deal with. A lot of them didn't have a sense of humor. — Martin Sheen

If you are on an honest journey to find yourself, you'll find God. — Martin Sheen

I am a very conscientious golfer. I count every stroke. I learned to play that way. That is the only way I can play. It taught me to be honest. There is no greater virtue than honesty. — Martin Sheen

Don't invade Iraq. Inspections work, war won't. — Martin Sheen

It doesn't really matter how much of the rules or the dogma we accepted and lived by if we're not really living by the fundamental creed of the Catholic Church, which is service to others and finding God in ourselves and then seeing God in everyone - including our enemies. — Martin Sheen

My first civil disobedience arrest for social justice was in 1986 for protesting the SDI. — Martin Sheen

Oh you only fight the fights you can win? You fight the fights that need fighting! — Martin Sheen

The Irish tell the story of a man who arrives at the gates of heaven and asks to be let in St. Peter says, "Of course, just show us your scars." The man says, "I have no scars". St. Peter says, "What a pity was there nothing worth fighting for"? — Martin Sheen

Nothing ever gets done unless it's done by a fanatic. — Martin Sheen

I don't think that people in America are really given enough information about the Third World. — Martin Sheen

I became an actor because it was my clumsy attempt to become myself. — Martin Sheen

Kids don't always stop to judge or analyze a new experience unless the adults around them react strongly. Otherwise, they just take in the experience and move on to the next one. — Martin Sheen

That is someone who follows the teachings of the nonviolent Jesus and takes the gospel personally, and then pays the price. I fall into that category. — Martin Sheen

... there was a saying that Marlon Brando changed the way actors acted, James Dean changed the way people lived. I believe that. — Martin Sheen

What we try to say is that it doesn't matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat or conservative or independent. You are equally responsible for your place in the culture, and you must make a contribution, and you must accept responsibility for what goes down on your watch. — Martin Sheen

Childhood hunger in America is as much a paradox as it is a tragedy. Why, in the wealthiest country in the world, should hunger darken the lives and dreams of 12 million children and their families? I believe that, when Americans learn the facts and understand how their involvement can make a difference, banishing childhood hunger will be a national, local and personal priority. — Martin Sheen

I never lost my faith ... But like all modern Catholics, I felt for a time that I had outgrown the church. Now it is a bone of contention in my soul that I did not share my faith with my kids, as my parents did with me. It was a source of grace when I needed it. I have been greatly nurtured and inspired by my faith. — Martin Sheen

George W Bush is like a bad comic working the crowd, a moron, if you'll pardon the expression. — Martin Sheen

My recovery is the single greatest accomplishment of my life. Without that, the rest of my life would have fallen apart. — Martin Sheen

You do it for yourself. You don't expect to change the world. You don't even expect to influence your family or your friends. You do it because you can't not do it and be who you are. Or who you're meant to be. — Martin Sheen

War at this time and in this place is unwelcome, unwise, and simply wrong. — Martin Sheen