J Fox Quotes & Sayings

I find as long as I acknowledge the truth of something, then that's it. I know what it is and then I can operate. But if I overestimate the downside of something or the challenge of something and I get too obsessed about the difficulty of it, then I don't leave enough room to be open to the upside, the possibility. — Michael J. Fox

I think I benefited from being equal parts ambitious and curious. And of the two, curiosity has served me best. — Michael J. Fox

Everything is cause and effect. If you don't move, nothing will move with you, and nothing will move toward you. — Michael J. Fox

There's something about Michael J. Fox that I loved when he did all the '80s stuff. His way of performing all the physicality, which is why it's so tragic now, but the way he used his body so much as well, I loved. — James McAvoy

Chris[topher] Reeve wisely parsed the difference between optimism and hope. Unlike optimism, he said, 'Hope is the product of knowledge and the projection of where the knowledge can take us. — Michael J. Fox

No matter how much money you have, you can lose it. — Michael J. Fox

The laughs mean more to me than the adoration. If two girls walk up to me and one says 'you're cute', I'll say thank you, but I appreciate it much more when the other one says 'you make me laugh so much'. — Michael J. Fox

Pity is a benign form of abuse. — Michael J. Fox

I saw, during the midterm campaign of 2006, how difficult it was for opponents of stem cell research to run against hope. And so it was in the 2008 presidential contest. This was hope in the collective, a definition that should always apply to the expression of a people's political will. Christopher Reeve had believed in a formula: optimism + information = hope. In this case, the informing agent was us. Granted, it may all look different in six months to a year, but it is hard not to be buoyed by the desire for positive change as articulated and advanced by Barack Obama. It is okay to hope. This time the aspiration of many will not be derided as desperation by a few, as it was during the stem cell debate of '06.
By the time you read this book, President Obama and the 111th Congress will have established federal funding for stem cell research. The dam has broken.
Just as I'd hoped. — Michael J. Fox

I urge you to be challenged and inspired by what you do not know. — Michael J. Fox

Sure, it may be one step forward and two steps back, but after a time with Parkinson's, I've learned that what is important is making that step count; always looking up. — Michael J. Fox

They did something once that slurred my speech, and I thought, "Oh, man, you're messing with my brain. It's freaking me out." — Michael J. Fox

The reflected version of myself, wet, shaking, rumpled, pinched and slightly stooped, would be alarming were it not for the self-satisfied expression pasted across my face. I would ask the obvious question, "What are you smiling about?" but I already know the answer: "It just gets better from here". — Michael J. Fox

He is exaggerating the effects of the disease. He's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act ... This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting. — Rush Limbaugh

So, from a very young age, my mom tells me that I wanted to be Michael J. Fox. I didn't want to be an actor. I just wanted to be Michael J. Fox for awhile. And then, I realized that he was an actor, so I pursued that. — Patrick J. Adams

Optimism is a cure for many things. — Michael J. Fox

My whole life, meeting people is like a blind date, because I feel like they've already seen the video on me. — Michael J. Fox

When you're a short actor you stand on apple boxes, you walk on a ramp. When you're a short star everybody else walks in a ditch. — Michael J. Fox

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it saved my ass. — Michael J. Fox

After all that I'd been through, after all that I'd learned and all that I'd been given, I was going to do what I had been doing every day for the last few years now: just show up and do the best that I could do with whatever lay in front of me. — Michael J. Fox

Certainly people have a lot tougher situations than I've had to deal with. But I will say we are all dying from the moment we are born. This is not just rehearsal. — Michael J. Fox

Explaining how the two of them, up there in the Green Mountains, had managed to dial down life's urgencies and dial up its pleasures and richness, Gary put it beautifully and poetically: "We've discovered a way" he confided with a sense of gleeful wonderment, "to bend time." I imagined Tracy and me engaged in a similar conspiracy a dozen years or so from now. — Michael J. Fox

The way life runs through everything, even the tiniest elements of nature - that makes me humble. It's the same humility that causes people at a certain time every day to get on their knees and put their foreheads on the ground in honor of something or someone. — Michael J. Fox

Humility is always a good thing. It's always a good thing to be humbled by circumstances so you can then come from a sincere place to try to deal with them. — Michael J. Fox

And then a silver hare, a boar, and a fox soared past Harry, Ron, and Hermione's heads: The dementors fell back before the creatures' approach. Three more people had arrived out of the darkness to stand beside them, their wands outstretched, continuing to cast their Patronuses: Luna, Ernie, and Seamus.
"That's right," said Luna encouragingly, as if they were back in the Room of Requirement and this was simply spell practice for the D.A. "That's right, Harry ... come on, think of something happy ... "
"Something happy?" he said, his voice cracked.
"We're all still here," she whispered, "we're still fighting. Come on, now ... "
There was a silver spark, then a wavering light, and then, with the greatest effort it had ever cost him, the stag burst from the end of Harry's wand. — J.K. Rowling

You suffer the blow, but you capitalize on the opportunity left in its wake. — Michael J. Fox

As for my own truncated secondary education, my head was in the clouds as my mom would say, or if you asked my father, up my ass. — Michael J. Fox

The least amount of judging we can do, the better off we are. — Michael J. Fox

And the second [thing about the CBS EVENING NEWS that stands out in the mind of Michael J. Fox] was something Katie did later in the interview, as the drugs kicked in and the tremors segued into the jerkiness of dyskinesias. Somewhere in the contortions of making a point, my left arm detached the microphone clip from my jacket lapel. With no fuss and hardly a break in conversation or eye contact, she calmly leaned over and refastened it. Neither of us commented on it, but it was such an empathetic gesture, so far from anything patronizing or pitying, a simple kindness that allowed me the dignity to carry on making a point more important than the superficiality of my physical circumstance ...
... One thing was abundantly clear though, whether or not she was able to forget how much she liked me: with that single act of consideration, she made it abundantly clear how much she loved her father. — Michael J. Fox

To be brutally honest, for much of that time, I was the only person in the world with Parkinson's. Of course, I mean that in the abstract. I had become acutely aware of people around me who appears to have the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, but as long as they didn't identify with me, I was in no rush to identify with them. My situation allowed, if not complete denial, at least a thick padding of insulation. — Michael J. Fox

But the key to our marriage is the capacity to give each other a break. And to realize that it's not how our similarities work together; it's how our differences work together. — Michael J. Fox

That's the way I look at things - if you focus on the worst case scenario and it happens, you've lived it twice. It sounds like Pollyanna-ish tripe but I'm telling you - it works for me. — Michael J. Fox

You know what's cool? My kids think I'm ordinary. — Michael J. Fox

I might have skipped class, but I didn't miss any lessons. — Michael J. Fox

I'm sure there are many other Forrest Gump moments that I'm forgetting. I don't mention them as boasts, but rather as evidence of how ridiculously lucky I have been to have lived the life that I have. — Michael J. Fox

It's all about control. Control is illusory. No matter what university you go to, no matter what degree you hold, if your goal is to become master of your own destiny, you have more to learn. Parkinson's is a perfect metaphor for lack of control. Every unwanted movement in my hand or arm, every twitch that I cannot anticipate or arrest, is a reminder that even in the domain of my own being, I am not calling the shots. I tried to exert control by drinking myself to a place of indifference, which just exacerbated the sense of miserable hopelessness. — Michael J. Fox

I'm going to marry a Jewish woman because I like the idea of getting up Sunday morning and going to the deli. — Michael J. Fox

To be associated with a film that just flat-out makes people happy is such a blessing and a tremendous privilege, and I'll always be grateful for it. People's eyes light up when they talk about it. I've been in Asia, Africa, Europe and even Bhutan; people know the movie there. It's just an amazing thing. — Michael J. Fox

It seems to me that the quality of a moment in time is not always a reflection of the moment in and of itself - what happens before and what happens after are often what give it its savor. — Michael J. Fox

I'm part of this show called "Shots Fired" that is premiering on FOX. It's right after the Super Bowl. It's a pretty incredible show. I'm pretty much the voice of the show, so the voice of the opening credit record and the songs in between is pretty much my voice. — B.J. The Chicago Kid

Look at the choices you have, not the choices that have been taken away from you. In them, there are whole worlds of strength and new ways to look at things. — Michael J. Fox

I think the scariest person in the world is the person with no sense of humor. — Michael J. Fox

Recovering alcoholics have an expression: "If you have one foot in yesterday and one foot in tomorrow, you're pissing all over today." With all that's happened, it's been liberating to understand that I don't have to carry the weight of all my disappointments or expectations. Sometimes it just is what it is. I can accept that. — Michael J. Fox

My happiness grows in direct proportion to my acceptance, and in inverse proportion to my expectations. — Michael J. Fox

I really love being alive. I love my family and my work. I love the opportunity I have to do things. That's what happiness is. — Michael J. Fox

My view of life is colored by humor and looking at the best in any situation. — Michael J. Fox

There's an idea I came across a few years ago that I love: My happiness grows in direct proportion to my acceptance and in inverse proportion to my expectations. That's the key for me. If I can accept the truth of 'This is what I'm facing - not what can I expect but what I am experiencing now' - then I have all this freedom to do other things. — Michael J. Fox

The way I look at life, and the way I look at the reality of Parkinson's, is that sometimes it's frustrating and sometimes it's funny. I need to look at it that way, and I think other people will look at it that way. — Michael J. Fox

There are no moments you have frozen in amber. It's moving, it's changing, so appreciate what's good about right now and be ready for what's next. — Michael J. Fox

I wouldn't have wanted to miss the opportunity to make those three films that didn't do well. They were really important to me, and the things I learned doing them were important to me. — Michael J. Fox

Only a few of us will admit it, but actors will sometimes read a script like this: bullshit ... bullshit ... my part ... blah, blah, blah ... my part ... bullshit ... — Michael J. Fox

If you asked my kids to describe me, they'd go through a whole list of words before even thinking about Parkinson's. And honestly, I don't think about it that much either. I talk about it because it's there, but it's not my totality. — Michael J. Fox

Almost instantly [after my announcement of Parkinson's], I saw the first couple of days the coverage was about, you know, "Fox's Parkinson's, blah, blah, blah." Then, two days after that, I saw the coverage turn. It started to become, "Can young people get Parkinson's?" All of a sudden, the conversation turned to become about that. And that was one of the first eye-opening things. — Michael J. Fox

So I never spend a lot of time analyzing why people respond to my work. But I think that it's just the joy, a passion for life, that I think has always been in my characters. Beyond that, I'm just grateful for it. — Michael J. Fox

When I was younger, I was always described as happy-go-lucky. — Michael J. Fox

The story is a testament to the consolations that get me through and give meaning to every area of my life — Michael J. Fox

Since I'm not sure of the address to which to send my gratitude, I put it out there in everything I do. — Michael J. Fox

Going public was a difficult decision, and I had misgivings. My subjective experience was now an objective fact in the wider world. It didn't belong to just me anymore - though I quickly learned that it hadn't belonged to just me in the first place. More than a million Americans and their families were going through the same thing; some openly, some in secret due to concerns of being misunderstood and marginalized. — Michael J. Fox

With Parkinson's, it's like you're in the middle of the street and you're stuck there in cement shoes and you know a bus is coming at you, but you don't know when. You think you can hear it rumbling, but you have a lot of time to think. And so you just don't live that moment of the bus hitting you until it happens. There's all kinds of room in that space. — Michael J. Fox

Was an antidote to the self-consciousness that consumed me as an eccentric teenager in search of an identity. — Michael J. Fox

The oldest form of theater is the dinner table. It's got five or six people, new show every night, same players. Good ensemble; the people have worked together a lot. — Michael J. Fox

By 21, I was earning six figures a week. By 23, I had a Ferrari. It was nuts. — Michael J. Fox

I wouldn't have minded living in Provence for a month or however long it took for me to learn to say, 'I've been attacked by a wild boar. Help me find my spleen! — Michael J. Fox

Whatever the situation, just take it for what it is. You don't have to make it worse or better than it is. It just is what it is. Always deal with the honesty, the truth of what something is, and then you've got all kinds of choices. — Michael J. Fox

If you fixate on the worst-case scenario and it actually happens, you've lived it twice. — Michael J. Fox

My wife is Jewish, and therefore, it's my children's birthright to be Jewish. — Michael J. Fox

Everybody in the world knew I was before I knew who I was. — Michael J. Fox

I don't have any affirmations, I don't have any of that stuff. My natural state is to look at things as possibilities and as opportunities. — Michael J. Fox

Now I feel and I say all the time that vanity is, like, long gone. I'm really free of worrying about what I look like, because it's out of my shaky hands. I don't control it. So why would I waste one second of my life worrying about it? — Michael J. Fox

Do the right thing, and then do the next right thing, and that will lead you to the next right thing after that. — Michael J. Fox

By the time I entered high school, I had forsaken academics altogether in favor of my burgeoning acting career. — Michael J. Fox

When life takes away, something of greater value is always given in return. — Michael J. Fox

I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God's business. — Michael J. Fox

I have been able to have a family and to dedicate quality time to my two sets of twins and my husband, as well as to serve on the boards of The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research and Montefiore Medical Center. — Karen Finerman

I don't set a whole lot of goals. It smacks a little bit of will to me, and I find that will is not the way to go for me. — Michael J. Fox

Vanity's really overrated. When I was 20, teenage girls had my picture on the wall ... I don't need to be pretty anymore. I just am who I am. — Michael J. Fox

I remember my son wanted to go to bed with his cowboy boots on, and we had this fight for like an hour. Then I realized that the only good reason I had for him not to do it is because I didn't want him to. There was really no other reason. And finally I said, "OK, fine." It was a great victory for me, because I realized it doesn't really matter. — Michael J. Fox

My notion of spirituality was different than it is now, but even if I'd been the most fundamentalist of believers, I would have assumed that God had better things to do than arbitrarily smite me with shaking palsy. — Michael J. Fox

I was eccentric, even as a kid. I was an early reader, an early talker. I was very curious in a way that maybe the other kids weren't. I was a little more outgoing. — Michael J. Fox

Michael J. Fox was my idol. I always wanted to be Michael J. Fox. — Dave Annable

As much as Parkinson's is about movement, the end stage is being frozen. So the more I let that happen, the more I'm gonna be stuck within that and unable to reverse it. — Michael J. Fox

If you have one foot in yesterday and one foot in tomorrow, you're pissing all over today. — Michael J. Fox

I truly believe that we have infinite levels of power that we don't even know are available to us. — Michael J. Fox

Pay attention to what's happening around you. Read the book before you see the movie. Remember, though you, alone, are responsible for your own happiness, its still okay to feel responsible for someone else's. Live and to learn. — Michael J. Fox

I think there's a god and I know it's not me. — Michael J. Fox

I think we all get our own bag of hammers. We all get our own Parkinson's. We all have our own thing. I think that we'll look at it through the filter of that experience, and we'll say, "Yeah, I need to laugh at my stuff, too." — Michael J. Fox

When I started it [non for profit], I thought, I'm not smart enough to do this. I had no experience in management, no experience in administration, no experience in nonprofit; but then this phrase came into my head: I only have to be smart enough to find people who are smarter than me; I only have to be smart enough to recognize who knows more than me. — Michael J. Fox

Hover boards, unfortunately, currently violate the laws of physics. Supermagnets exist, but they have to be cooled to near absolute zero, and they are extremely expensive. So Michael J. Fox's hover boards are not possible until we invent room temperature super conductors. — Michio Kaku

The American political experience can therefore be viewed as optimism in the collective. — Michael J. Fox

I've learned some exciting things - mostly, that people really want to help each other; and that, if you can lay out a vision for them - and that vision is sincere and genuine - they'll get interested. — Michael J. Fox

My experience is to deal with things through humor. — Michael J. Fox

When I was 20, I would have taken a bullet in the head to never have to be 35. — Michael J. Fox

Pity is just another form of abuse. — Michael J. Fox

Disease is a non-partisan problems that requires a non-partisan solution. — Michael J. Fox

Well, I'm late for something incredibly important, Lucien said, and before I could call him on his outright lie or beg him to stay, the fox-masked faerie vanished. — Sarah J. Maas

Don't spend a lot of time imagining the worst-case scenario. It rarely goes down as you imagine it will, and if by some fluke it does, you will have lived it twice. — Michael J. Fox

I saw a birthday card the other day, and it said, "If you didn't know how old you were, how old would you think you were?" I started changing it in my mind right away to, "If you didn't know how sick you were, how sick would you think you were?" — Michael J. Fox

The only way for government to express the needs and desires of Americans is if Americans speak up and get involved. — Michael J. Fox

I didn't want o do metal work and get my hands all nicked up and be around guys. So I took drama because there were a lot of girls. — Michael J. Fox

Conservatives and companies condoned Rush Limbaugh's 2006 attacks on Michael J. Fox for campaigning about stem cell research. — Christine Pelosi