Arnett Quotes & Sayings

Even if you make a mistake, you can go back and do the right thing. — Will Arnett

I am still in shock and awe at being fired. — Peter Arnett

Yeah, you know, within the context of TV families, these are pretty unsavory characters. — Will Arnett

Wealthy societies, for reasons largely well-intentioned but now producing unintended consequences, are making it easier for their teens to avoid the rigors and responsibilities of becoming a grown-up. Arnett calls those years the "self-focused age," when there are few real responsibilities, few "daily obligations," limited "commitments to others." In a stage when young people were once supposed to learn to "stand alone as a self-sufficient person," they find themselves increasingly paralyzed by over-choice. There are nearly unlimited personal-social options yet too few concrete work-related accomplishments. A — Ben Sasse

Will Arnett and I were never in the same room, but once I saw early animation we started writing music for that and then he just kind of did his little rap over top, some of it was free form and some of it I made up, we all just kind of contributed to it. — Mark Mothersbaugh

It wasn't the type of CIA job you'd find an application for on Jobs/CIA.Gov. It was a deep black-ops organization that hadn't been to a Senate Committee meeting since the Reagan Administration, and even then it was falsely presented as a training program. — Jennifer Arnett

The thing about the ocean is that the surface won't always tell you what is going on underneath. — Jennifer Arnett

I checked my e-mail first. The only new one was from Lady Elaine. I opened it with a surge of trepidation that proved anticlimactic. The e-mail informed me that Paul would be starting classes tomorrow (read: today) and that I should be prepared. Yeah, way to get the message through on time there, Ms. I Can Predict the Future. It also included his new class schedule so that I could stalk him more conveniently.

Even better — Mindee Arnett

The idea of the straight man is very important. But I'd rather it be somebody else, because it's not as fun. And when I say somebody else, of course I mean Jason Bateman. He's born to play boring characters because he's such a bore. He's one of the most boring human beings. — Will Arnett

We may not know who is craft beer but we sure as hell will know what is craft beer by who isn't. — Alan Arnett McLeod

It became necessary to destroy the town to save it, — Peter Arnett

It doesn't look great if you cancel the reigning Best Comedy Program, you know, you're gonna take a hit from a ... from sort of a public relations standpoint. — Will Arnett

All jokes aside, it's a very difficult job playing the straight man. Jason is potentially the most brilliant straight man that ever was because he's also really funny while doing it, which is even harder. I've always seen myself playing characters who are flawed. We use comedy in our lives to obscure the drama. — Will Arnett

The show had run its course on the Fox network. — Will Arnett

Stealing a spaceship shouldn't be this easy. — Mindee Arnett

Just thought you should know," she said, winking. "Can I tell them to piss off?"
"Oh sure," Jeth said, not nearly as amused by the situation as she was. "Just be polite about it."
Lizzie grinned and said into the comm, "This is the Montrose. The captain says piss off. Politely. — Mindee Arnett

No way am I letting you mess around in my brain. You might incinerate it."
I rolled my eyes. "Like you'd even miss it."
"Ha, ha. — Mindee Arnett

But as a result of that, there was, once the show ended, there was this talk for sort of four, five months about what was going to happen, and if we were going to move to Showtime, and if we were going to be bought by ABC or whatever. — Will Arnett

I had just done a movie prior to 'Employee of the Month' called 'Let's Go to Prison' and Will Arnett got to play the bad guy. I would watch him daily and couldn't wait to get the chance 'til I played a bad guy. — Dax Shepard

If you have a character that doesn't have anything wrong with him, there's nothing funny about it. — Will Arnett

It's one thing to put on your nation's uniform to give your life for your country. But to dress up in black-market khakis and head into battle in a borrowed bush hat, armed only with a Nikon camera, 10 rolls of film and notebook, is definitely another thing. — Peter Arnett

Right-wing media and politicians are looking for any opportunity to be critical of the reporters who are here. Some reporters make judgments, but that is not my style. I present both sides and report what I see with my own eyes. — Peter Arnett

He kissed her, and something moved between them, an unspoken bond pulling them together over what they had gone through and what they would face. But those memoires and thoughts faded away until there was nothing but the sensation of his lips on hers, the exchange of breath and the soft harmony of hearts beating. For one blissful moment they were nothing but feelings and physical sensation.
The moment lasted a very long time. — Mindee Arnett

Arrested Development opened a lot of doors for me. — Will Arnett

You've got to rely on people that you trust and you love. — Will Arnett

Well, we were never coming back to Fox ... that was clear. — Will Arnett

Smartassitis might not be a clinically defined disease, but it should be. — Mindee Arnett

I often get, 'Oh, you always play the asshole.' An asshole is somebody who knows that they're doing it, but continues to behave a certain way. The one sort of common thread to me has always been that these are imperfect people. — Will Arnett

It's very rare that people are exactly who they appear to be. Venice has a lot of that too, but the face of it is quite beautiful, interesting, and textured. — Will Arnett

That's kind of the nature of the profession I'm in. It's frustrating. Things don't go your way, and I was no exception, in that I spent many years struggling to get work, and there are a lot of people more talented than myself who got jobs before me. And I finally, after years and years and years, got lucky. — Will Arnett

I remember asking my dad, "Why didn't you ever move to the States? You probably could have made a lot more money." My dad said, "Because I have an obligation to give back." I always admired him for that. — Will Arnett

I didn't do anything wrong. I swear.'
He grunted. 'Like I've never heard that before. Funny, but I expected a little more originality from Moira's daughter.'
'Yeah, well, the dog ate my notebook with all my good excuses. — Mindee Arnett

(On his Emmy nomination) I am humbled by the nomination. I got to work with a cast and writers made up of geniuses. The good news is I can finally realize my life long dream and buy my wife a solid gold speed boat. — Will Arnett

What they say about lawyers being useless isn't entirely true. — Jennifer Arnett

I refuse to sit and wait for salvation. Every day I have looked to the sky for the white streak of a plane making its way across the Pacific, but I have not seen any. — Jennifer Arnett

We may be a little broken these days but I wouldn't trade it for anything. — Mindee Arnett

And then we've got Blades of Glory, and we've got Brothers Solomon, and I've got a script in development with this guy Chuck Martin who used to write on Arrested, and, you know, we have a few things in various stages of development. — Will Arnett

Eli grinned, a dimple appearing on one cheek. "Could it be you're starting to care whether Lance Rathbone lives or dies? Miracles and wonders abound."
"Shut up — Mindee Arnett

When you're young, you kind of take yourself seriously, and you think, like, "People need to see what I can do." And it's so laughable, especially with actors. — Will Arnett

There's a lot of lying and these are people who are incredibly flawed, and not in very sort of empathetic ways, either. Some of the things they do are pretty awful and some of the things they do to each other are pretty awful. — Will Arnett

I left then too, more confused and hurt than ever and with a sadness tugging on my heart like a sinking anchor. If I wasn't careful, I would drown. — Mindee Arnett

Will Arnett is one of the funniest guys I know. He has seen it all and done it all and come out the other end pretty savvy and pretty strong. — Jason Bateman

So Santa Claus is bogus but Grim Reapers are the genuine article. What does that say about the world? — Mindee Arnett

Reading:
A journey to find love in
something you never knew existed — Malisa Arnett

This pilot, by far, was the best I ever read - and I hope that insults every other pilot I worked on. — Will Arnett

You don't always have to run. Take good time to watch first, then decide. — Will Arnett

It isn't always the treasure that drives men down deep into the sea; it's something else, something unexplainable, even to them. — Jennifer Arnett

John spent the morning rebuilding his SOS sign on the beach. He says that he saw a commercial airliner pass over. I'm not sure if the trying circumstances have made him delusional, or if the plane was too high to see his small sign. I think he saw what he wanted to see. — Jennifer Arnett

Yeah, I don't think you can live anywhere else
it's such a great city [New York]. L.A. is kind of a necessary evil, but man, I love going back to New York. — Will Arnett

When I was in my 20s, I wanted to go after dramatic roles, and I didn't have a tremendous amount of success with that. — Will Arnett

A billion stars above us coat the sky white. It would have been beautiful back home, but not here. Here it is the ever present reminder that we are all alone and insignificant. — Jennifer Arnett

President Bush says he is concerned about the Iraqi people, but if Iraqi people are dying in numbers, then American policy will be challenged very strongly. — Peter Arnett

I can't help but imagine what that would be like - to be all alone on this island with eternity taunting me with loneliness. To say goodbye to the last human you will ever see - there is no crueler hand of fate. — Jennifer Arnett

Given that media has become fast-paced, readers now want books that show the action and don't just tell you what is happening. Modern readers don't want three pages of descriptions of a farmhouse. They want to hear the door's creak quiet the chirping of crickets out in the cornfield, they want to feel the cool air drift through the house, then they want to see the shadow of a man, gun drawn, standing over the bed of his disloyal lover. — Jennifer Arnett

This island is a hard place to survive and I fear that it has made everything resistant to the cruel hand of death. — Jennifer Arnett

In her mind, her actions were treason to the false federation, but loyalty to the real United States of America, the one created by a document she had memorized. The real document was set on fire by what the news called "petty arsons" when the National Archives burned down. Bev knew better - she knew who was behind the destruction of the country's most important document. It was more than a document, it was a symbol - a symbol of freedom from tyranny, and one the Federal Government could no longer afford to abide by. — Jennifer Arnett

Every few days the sea delivers us gifts, and I am convinced that there is something of the divine nature in this process. Often I have prayed for a jacket, a bucket, or a handsaw, but instead I find one single flip-flop. Many times it has left my heart bitter, but then I find some useful purpose for my found treasure. Maybe the sea doesn't give me what I want, but what I need. — Jennifer Arnett

No, Arrested Development was such an amazing experience in every way, and you know it was very unique in that it was a show that received a lot of critical acclaim, and yet we didn't ever achieve the ratings that we wanted. — Will Arnett

I probably suffered from ADHD, but they weren't so quick to diagnose it back then. For PE, they'd drop you in the woods with a compass and a pack of matches. It gave you confidence that you could rely on yourself. — Will Arnett

You have been given a great power. But no power comes without a price. That is how magic works. How the universe works. All things kept in balance. — Mindee Arnett

I want my son to wear a helmet 24 hours a day. If it was socially acceptable I'd be the first one to have my kid in a full helmet and like a cage across his face mask. — Will Arnett

I'd like to say from the beginning that the 12 years I've been coming here, I've met unfailing courtesy and cooperation, courtesy from your people and cooperation from the Ministry of Information. — Peter Arnett

When it sort of finally sets in that you're not going to be doing that anymore ... it's disappointing. — Will Arnett

You are your own boss. No one else. — Mindee Arnett

My first movie was this independent that I did on the Erie Canal in 1995, called Erie, that I don't know if you could even get, actually with Felicity Huffman. And then from that I did this film that was eventually called The Broken Giant later that fall. And then I kind of started getting into doing pilots. — Will Arnett

Everything's not black and white. We choose to make bad decisions or not. I wanted to explore that and shine a light on it. Chip is trying to be a better person and lead a better life. His methods are just super flawed. — Will Arnett

I didn't want to be a part of anything special. Bad things happened to special people. Usually failure followed by an early death — Mindee Arnett

If you two are starting a detective agency, I want in," said Selene, adjusting her ball cap.

"Well, duh," said Eli, beaming at her.

"And we're going to need a name," Selene said. "Something good and catchy."

"You're right." Eli scratched his chin. "How about the Arkwell Detective Agency. The A.D.A."

Selene wrinkled her nose. "Sounds too much like a chemical or something."

"What about Booker and Associates?"

I rolled my eyes. "It's not all about you, you know?"

Eli grinned. "Says who?"

"I think we should call it Selene Investigations."

"No, Nightmare Investigations."

"Dreamer Investigations."

"The Dream Team."

"How about Magic Eyes? You know, like private eyes, only for magic."

"Corny much? — Mindee Arnett

I felt civilized. — Jennifer Arnett

He'd done this hundreds of times: done a job, been drugged with a narcotic that erased his short term memory, and dumped in a seedy hole in the wall locale, where when he climbed out, he would have to figure out where he was, find a payphone, and call in for his next job. — Jennifer Arnett

Everybody has some good in them and they can be relied on. — Will Arnett

But since day one, we've always been kinda up against it. So at the end, it's not surprising that we were kind of led along for so many months and didn't know what the fate of the show was gonna be. It was ... in a weird way, just kind of that was the way it's always been. — Will Arnett

Nope, there wasn't any getting out of this. Real first name meant business. — Mindee Arnett

Retirement homes are never lovely places. The food is usually overcooked, the carpet stained from overactive bowels, and the smell of hand lotion, cheap perfume, and urine never really leaves the place, no matter how many times the beds are washed and the walls are scrubbed. They are a place of holding, a purgatory to the not-yet-dead. — Jennifer Arnett

And I think that at a certain point, after all the time and all the conjecture and everything that had kind of gone on surrounding this show, I think that Mitch just felt like it was time to let it go. It was best for the show. — Will Arnett

I report the truth of what is happening here in Baghdad and will not apologize for it. — Peter Arnett

I've always maintained that I don't think comedy should be reviewed. I think it's un-reviewable, because it is so subjective. — Will Arnett

But every tomorrow has led to today - to us being alone, hungry, and cold on an unknown island somewhere in the South Pacific. — Jennifer Arnett

Well, no, I didn't because I didn't even know the nominations were coming out. I gotta say, it wasn't even on my radar. I hadn't ... I hadn't even thought about it. — Will Arnett

And we ... right from moment one, we were always kinda up against the wall a little bit when it came to the future of the show. There were always rumors. — Will Arnett

Our reports about civilian casualties here, about the resistance of the Iraqi forces, are going back to the United States. It helps those who oppose the war when you challenge the policy to develop their arguments. — Peter Arnett

I don't want to make a show about AA because it's a personal experience for anybody who is a part of that. My relationship with it has changed over the years, and I wanted the show to reflect that in a real way. — Will Arnett

The werewolf pointed at a bench next to the door into the Kirkwoods' tomb. "Sit. Wait."
Did I mention werewolves were chatty? — Mindee Arnett

The future is never fixed, but always in flux until the moment it meets with the present. — Mindee Arnett

I never really spent time being jealous. Maybe I should have. — Will Arnett

Look, I get it; you come home, you work hard, and you turn on your TV ... You kind of want to escape a little bit and be taken away by something. Our show required you to pay attention, and if that's not what you wanted to do, then it wasn't going to be for you, and that's OK. — Will Arnett

Because I think a lot of people felt like, ultimately - and this isn't the first time I've said this, so I'll bore you again with it - but ultimately it was ... I think it felt like homework a bit for people. — Will Arnett

Flynn," Jeth hissed, crossing his arms. "This isn't the high seas. This is the middle of space. We don't have any lifeboats, and we don't need panic. We need solutions. — Mindee Arnett

He needs a purpose, even if it kills him. — Jennifer Arnett

I once watched a small hermit crab crawl out of its shell and into a larger one nearby. Maybe we are no different. There were those before us and there will be some after us. All we can do is cultivate what is given to us. Maybe our lot in this life is to leave our shells better than when we found them so that the next soul will flourish here. — Jennifer Arnett

The mind is weak, and it must be mastered, controlled. The body, it knows no master save for instinct and, unfortunately, it is built for terminal suffering. — Jennifer Arnett

There's a small island, inhabited in the South Pacific that I will try to swim to. — Peter Arnett

I mean, I gotta say one of the greatest victories on that show was when we got picked up for the back nine of the first season, and they made it a full order. — Will Arnett

Emotions like that -rage, hatred, grief, love- were like wildfires. They blazed out of control, impossible to stop until they burned themselves out. — Mindee Arnett

He didn't know if it was real, if freedom was something you could earn or win after a long, hard fight, or if it was just an illusion. But he decided it didn't matter. Only this mattered. This moment right here, surrounded by the people he cared about. And he realized this was the paradise his parents had meant when they named this ship. — Mindee Arnett

Audiences are craving intricate and intelligent stories that keep them on the edge of their seats. — Jennifer Arnett

We don't vanish without a trace. We are not like animals, content with burrows in the ground. We are not very skilled at survival without clothing or tools. Our feet are soft, our skin is easily cooled, and our stomachs are too weak to drink water straight from a stream. We must create in order to survive. We build cities, aqueducts, and shields, for we must in order to have an edge over the beasts of the field. And so, wherever humans have tread their covered feet, their path never vanishes without a trace. — Jennifer Arnett

If democracy is the voice of the people, then the AP is its stenographer. — Peter Arnett

Maybe they died of disease or lived on this island into old age, but no matter which, someone was the last man standing. — Jennifer Arnett

It's not stupid to fight for what's yours, — Mindee Arnett