Tommy Lee Jones Quotes & Sayings

Age will flatten a man. — Tommy Lee Jones

Characters with no integrity are just as interesting as characters with lots of integrity. — Tommy Lee Jones

Partnerships are good engines for narrative. — Tommy Lee Jones

If you want to know about my politics, the only way to do that is to look at my work. — Tommy Lee Jones

Kindness and politeness are not overrated at all. They're underused. — Tommy Lee Jones

All my life I've had the privilege to make my living with my imagination, and the most important thing has been to see my creative life grow. I was educated to do that and have lived accordingly. — Tommy Lee Jones

I've worked with more than 50 directors and I've paid attention since day one. That's pretty much been my education, apart from studying art history and shooting with my own cameras. I've seen 50 different sets of mistakes and 50 different ways of achieving. — Tommy Lee Jones

The most important question in American cinema, I've learned, is 'When is lunch?' — Tommy Lee Jones

I don't do anything that is not fun. I just don't do it. — Tommy Lee Jones

I want out of each and every one of you is a hard target search, of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area. — Tommy Lee Jones

As an actor I want to do as many takes as I can. I wanna shoot the scene ... or shoot the shot 'til they make me quit. — Tommy Lee Jones

I fear other actors who are not prepared. And I fear directors who are afraid. — Tommy Lee Jones

I'm a believer in belief. Faith is something that works - it causes people to do things, it has results. It's an intangible, indefinable, very real thing. And it moves people, sometimes to atrocity. And sometimes to survival. — Tommy Lee Jones

If military movies were automatically successful we'd make nothing but military movies. But seriously, patriotism is one thing that all Americans have in common. — Tommy Lee Jones

You know, I don't really think you have to play nice guys. — Tommy Lee Jones

My idea in terms of managing a narrative, or in thinking in my creative life, is that you could easily argue that the past, the present and the future all occur simultaneously, and if you can postulate that, then you're not strictly bound to a linear narrative. — Tommy Lee Jones

Human beings are glorious and preposterous characters. — Tommy Lee Jones

Ethnic stereotypes are boring and stressful and sometimes criminal. It's just not a good way to think. It's non-thinking. It's stupid and destructive. — Tommy Lee Jones

You can't instruct an audience to laugh, but what you can do is read well and understand the spirit and subtleties, if there are any, in the dialogue. — Tommy Lee Jones

I don't fight anybody anytime or anywhere. — Tommy Lee Jones

I haven't had a lot of comedy come my way as a performer. — Tommy Lee Jones

No, I don't think about the myth of the West. It's not the kind of thinking I do. That's more suited to people who live in big towns on the West Coast or East Coast, people who stay under a roof, in a room, all the time. — Tommy Lee Jones

I don't direct movies for a living. — Tommy Lee Jones

I look upon pride as a sin. — Tommy Lee Jones

The world's not a very comfortable place if you have a nightmare to face. — Tommy Lee Jones

I don't think I would describe my sense of humor. Doesn't sound like the kind of thing I'd do. — Tommy Lee Jones

I haven't a clue if there is life on other planets but I'd be charmed if we found a unicellular organism on Mars. It would change our whole concept of life on Earth. — Tommy Lee Jones

In the political world, the only position I have is voter. I'm not a spokesman for anything. — Tommy Lee Jones

I've made some bad movies. And I really enjoyed it! — Tommy Lee Jones

I think that no matter how much you don't like yourself or the drama of your life you can still find some comedy in it. — Tommy Lee Jones

Normal people with normal problems can be hilarious. — Tommy Lee Jones

I've never really known what glamour is. — Tommy Lee Jones

What appeals to me? There are things, points of view, uses of the language, habits of dress, ways of thought and believing that came to me from my grandparents and came to them from theirs. Things that are of good use in any situation, no matter what the future may hold. — Tommy Lee Jones

I have nothing against interviews. I don't pursue them. When people I work for deem it appropriate, I'm perfectly willing to serve. — Tommy Lee Jones

I'm an actor, I'm always looking for work. I was born to do that. — Tommy Lee Jones

As a child of West Texas, I identify with Hispanic culture every bit as much as I do North American culture. — Tommy Lee Jones

Meryl Streep does not make mistakes. Sometimes the world just can't keep up. — Tommy Lee Jones

My home town is very small and very remote and we don't have a movie house. — Tommy Lee Jones

I don't play just villains. I like to have parts that are not simply villains. — Tommy Lee Jones

I know a lot of cowboys and I've done a little work on ranches with cattle, and those people become your friends, and keep their word. — Tommy Lee Jones

I'm always happy to have a job. — Tommy Lee Jones

Acting is fun for me and it doesn't really matter how, whether it's hard work or easy work, it's always fun. — Tommy Lee Jones

I don't analyze things like titles. — Tommy Lee Jones

Let me explain something you already know. I'm from Texas and we understand the nature of a border. From what I've seen, vigilant Texans are being ordered to stand down and allow criminals to pass. Mr. President, prepare to see Texans ignoring those orders. — Tommy Lee Jones

No director wants to be directed, but no good director ... would shy away from the good ideas of others. — Tommy Lee Jones

I always told my children when they whined ... Only the boring are bored. — Tommy Lee Jones

As an actor to watch an audience of people howl together in a single mind as a result of work you've done together with friends is a privilege. — Tommy Lee Jones

I don't get it. If you're saying, Tommy Lee, you don't fit the image of the East Coast, social elitist wealthy people who comprise Harvard, the only thing I can say is you have no idea what comprises Harvard. — Tommy Lee Jones

Cormac McCarthy's language is perfect. He is in my view the greatest living American prose stylist. — Tommy Lee Jones

The tactic of leading people into ... a war that doesn't make any sense by telling them they are under attack, and if they raise any objection they're unpatriotic, is a very old tactic. And it doesn't intimidate me. — Tommy Lee Jones

It's no fun to be a struggling young actor. It's a desperate thing, no way to be happy. If you have any alternative, you should take it. — Tommy Lee Jones

A thousand years ago, everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, they knew the Earth was flat. Fifteen minutes ago, you knew we humans were alone on it. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow. — Tommy Lee Jones

If you don't hurt anybody or try to steal anything, you'll be fine in the South. — Tommy Lee Jones

It makes me feel like a very special person, that I'm able to make my living with my imagination. I developed a big respect for my calling while I was in school, and it remains with me to this day. — Tommy Lee Jones

I think any stereotyping is too much. — Tommy Lee Jones

I want to photograph what I see and put it in a dramatic context. I'm an actor and a writer, and I want to tell these stories and present these shapes, colors and movements as I see them, as I see them serve a narrative. As I see that narrative serve an audience. That's what I want to do. — Tommy Lee Jones

Imagine what you'll know tomorrow — Tommy Lee Jones

I like everything Meryl does. I like watching her come to work.. I don't care.. I like everything about her. I like watching her drink coffee. I don't care what she does.. She can do no wrong in my eyes. — Tommy Lee Jones

I have worked on very good movies that have been buried, and I've worked on some resounding mediocrities that have been paraded through the marketplace like they were masterpieces. — Tommy Lee Jones

I want to make movies about my country from my point of view. — Tommy Lee Jones

I personally don't live a nihilistic life, I don't have any use for it. — Tommy Lee Jones

I enjoy acting more and more than when I was 17. — Tommy Lee Jones

I've worked with some very good directors and some very bad ones. I learned a great deal from both. From the bad, untalented people, you learn what not to do. And when you work with very highly talented people, you want to emulate them. — Tommy Lee Jones

I don't see people as groups, I see them as individuals. — Tommy Lee Jones

I don't consider my private feelings to be relevant in any way, actually. — Tommy Lee Jones

Lose the chrome-plated sissy pistol and get yourself a Glock. — Tommy Lee Jones