Redford Quotes & Sayings

Success is a tricky mistress. It's nice to have but it's a tricky thing to embrace. — Robert Redford

I remember once when I was young, and I was coming back from some place, a movie or something.
I was on the subway and there was a girl sitting across from me and she was wearing this dress that was bottoned queer up right to here, she was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
And I was shy then, so when she would look at me I would look away, then afterwards when I would look back she would look away.
Then I got to where I was gonna get off, and got off, the doors closed, and as the train was pulling away she looked right at me and gave me the most incredible smile. It was awful, I wanted to tear the doors open.
And I went back every night, same time, for two weeks, but she never showed up.
That was 30 years ago and I don't think that theres a day that goes by that I don't think about her, I don't want that to happen again.
Just one dance ?. — Jack Engelhard

I can't think of anything outside of having the gift yourself and creating yourself. I can't think of the next better thing to do than being able to put it back. Creative expression, I think, is vital to the success of any society ... A society without art will die. — Robert Redford

I believe the American people care a lot about the environment. — Robert Redford

I've always felt that almost every part I've played has been a character part. I mean, I look at it that way. I can't help how I look or how I seem to people. — Robert Redford

Sport is a wonderful metaphor for life. Of all the sports that I played - skiing, baseball, fishing - there is no greater example than golf, because you're playing against yourself and nature. — Robert Redford

She stabbed Redford in the back with lefty scissors! — Wes Anderson

There is nothing I can do about this stuff and I am pretty well ok with the fact that I think Sundance is not going to be stopped by it, because he Festival is itself now, and doesn't need me out there to talk about it like I did years ago. — Robert Redford

Ambiguity is something that I really respond to. I like the complexity of it. — Robert Redford

When did Noah build the boat? - Before the rain. — Robert Redford

When I grew up, shame was used as a tool for check and balance. If you stood a chance of hearing someone say, "Shame on you," or "You should be ashamed of yourself," you thought twice. It doesn't seem to be a factor today. — Robert Redford

Nobody in TV makes as much money as Robert Redford, who likes to make movies for several million dollars only on the condition that they contain some sort of social message. I cannot take very seriously a social message delivered by an actor who is paid nine million dollars to deliver it, and who charges you five dollars to see it. — David Brinkley

You're never going to be the same person you are right now. — Robert Redford

When I started, I was an artist; I wanted to be an artist. I became an actor almost by accident. I acted for fifteen years and tried to produce. I looked for stories that were the story beneath the story that you thought you knew, like 'The Candidate'. — Robert Redford

The technology available for film-making now is incredible, but I am a big believer that it's all in the story. — Robert Redford

I guess some mistakes you never stop paying for. — Robert Redford

I remember my dad came from Ireland and Scotland, and so he carried with him the fear of poverty. So when I wanted to break loose, it kind of made him very nervous. — Robert Redford

Journalism has changed tremendously because of the democratization of information. Anybody can put something up on the Internet. It's harder and harder to find what the truth is. — Robert Redford

When people start thinking of you more as a persona, they are less inclined to allow you to move into different areas. Sometimes they're wrong. Sometimes they're just very stereotypical or restricted in their own thinking of what they'll allow you to do. — Robert Redford

Ideas aren't real estate, they grow collectively and that knocks out the egotistical loneliness that generally infects art. — Robert Redford

Hollywood was not a place I dreamed of getting to. I never could take seriously the obsession people have about being a celebrity or getting to Hollywood - I was born next door. — Robert Redford

Denzel Washington, Sidney Poitier, Robert Redford, Tom Cruise: those guys have well-planned careers. I'm just on a journey. Wherever I run across a job, I say, 'Okay, I'll do that.' — James Earl Jones

I always related most to Steve McQueen because he was more of an outcast than Robert Redford or Paul Newman. — Patrick Fugit

I was never a good student. I had to be dragged into kindergarten. It was hard to sit and listen to somebody talk. I wanted to be out, educated by experience and adventure, and I didn't know how to express that. — Robert Redford

Is this going to be like 'Indecent Proposal?'" she asks. "Because Robert Redford loses at the end. — Karina Halle

People like casting me as these characters who definitely have an edge to them, but I don't really think 'bad boy' is something anyone can say about themselves without sounding stupid. — Blair Redford

Fox bought the rights to the book way back when, and there was this attempt by Fox to make a movie out of 'The Hot Zone,' and it tended tragically in a Hollywood disaster involving Robert Redford and Jodie Foster and Ridley Scott. But the rights have been sitting at Fox ever since. — Richard Preston

I've learned by watching films that inspired me and people who inspired me like Robert Redford and Paul Newman. I love old school acting. I love subtlety, and I also love being spontaneous, and that's really what works for me. — Alex Pettyfer

I've been able to carve out spaces for myself. At Sundance, I'm in the mountains - my property is private. I get on a horse and ride for three, four hours. Sometimes five. I get lost. But when I'm in, I'm in. — Robert Redford

I look at going to Hollywood as going behind enemy lines. You parachute in, set up the explosion, then fly out before it goes off. — Robert Redford

The art of making a film and its content are far more interesting to me than the result or impact. — Robert Redford

Part of me is drawn to the nature of sadness because I think life is sad, and sadness is not something that should be avoided or denied. It's a fact of life, like contradictions are. — Robert Redford

All my life I've been dogged by guilt because I feel there is this difference between the way I look and the way I feel inside. — Robert Redford

The tough thing about adulthood is it starts before you even know it starts. — Robert Redford

I love making films more than anything, but it's tough. — Robert Redford

The way I deal with arthritis is to keep moving. As long as I can play hard tennis, as long as I can ski or ride a horse - all kinds of things can come your way. As long as you can, do it. People who retire die. My dad retired and died shortly after. Just keep moving. — Robert Redford

I'm thinking, this is Robert Redford. You know, he's won an Academy Award, he's talking to me about directing a movie he's in. So you just think that it's Hollywood stuff or whatever. — Barry Levinson

When I was a kid, nobody told me I was good-looking. I wish they had. I would've had a better time. — Robert Redford

The big stars I felt a kinship with were never the romantic leads. It wasn't Steve McQueen or Robert Redford - it was people like Walter Matthau and Anthony Quinn. My big hero was Tommy Cooper. — Alfred Molina

I'm trying to be morally responsible and no more. I don't have an agenda I'm trying to push. People talk about Three Days of the Condor as being anti-government but the last statement in that movie is the CIA guy saying to Robert Redford, "Ask 'em when they're running out. Ask 'em when there's no heat in their homes and they're cold. Ask 'em when their engines stop. Ask 'em when people who have never known hunger start going hungry. You want to know something? They won't want us to ask 'em. They'll just want us to get it for 'em!" — Sydney Pollack

I used to feel competitive about a career, but now the only things I'm really passionate about are my family, the environment and Indians. — Robert Redford

I didn't want the attacks to affect me. I don't believe you should be led by fear. — Robert Redford

This is the man my mother lived for. My career means something now because I've worked with Robert Redford. — Jennifer Lopez

I think a lot of people thought my career started with Butch Cassidy. — Robert Redford

Filmgoers are starved for new ideas, voices and visions. — Robert Redford

People have been so busy relating to how I look, it's a miracle I didn't become a self-conscious blob of protoplasm. — Robert Redford

Films don't always tell a story; some films can achieve effect just by being razzle-dazzle or rock n' roll. That's part of the fare that's out there. And that's okay. For me, I place more value on a story. — Robert Redford

Generally speaking, I went through that. I came to a place where I realised what true value was. It wasn't money. Money is a means to achieving an end, but it's not the end. — Robert Redford

James Salter has been a fighter pilot, a rogue, and a climber. He counts Robert Redford as a friend. — Stephen Rodrick

The late Dr. [David] Bogue is reported to have one day said to some of his students, "Do you suppose that people have nothing to do but to listen to your emptiness by the hour?"-William Jay — George Redford

It felt to me like America was always wanting to resolve things too quickly, without thinking through what the costs and consequences would be and how that affects an individual living in that world. Then as I grew up and went about my life, I think I just got more and more interested in that gray area where things are not so easily quantified. — Robert Redford

You work like hell to get yourself ahead in the business. You could go anywhere before, and suddenly you can't go anywhere. It's like being a cartoon character. — Robert Redford

I was producing things I was acting in, but I had never directed and I felt it was time. I was looking for a piece of material that was about behavior and feelings. When I read Judith Guest's book, I thought, This is it. — Robert Redford

The last real movie stars were probably Redford and Newman. And things were different then. There wasn't this amazing amount of magazines and information about them. — George Clooney

When I was a kid I was not a good student. I went to the University of Colarado, my grades were poor. I was asked to leave after a year. What I really wanted to do was to be an artist. — Robert Redford

I guess the optimistic thing is that those people in Congress who are climate deniers, I think their time has run out. — Robert Redford

I have a very low regard for cynics. I think it's the beginning of dying. — Robert Redford

Think about my invitation. It's not a bad way to start off the year - on the arm of the most eligible bachelor in
school . . . See you tomorrow, Goldilocks." Trent winked and,
finally releasing my captive hand, walked away. — Anastasia Hopcus

Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Sean Connery and Robert Redford, Mel Gibson - at least in the Road Warrior films - and Harrison Ford are among my favorite actors. Meryl Streep, Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Deborah Winger, Jessica Lange, and of course, Shirley MacLaine, are among the women. — Frederick Lenz

Everybody can't be like Redford and pop out there and make big bucks right away because you look like a Greek god ... The guy's a friend of mine and he has absolutely no privacy in his life ... — Bruce Dern

People say I've gone against Hollywood, but I've tried to be independent within Hollywood, tried to be my own person. — Robert Redford

I am passionate. I am political about my country, about what it is, how strong it is, how strong it remains. — Robert Redford

Robert Redford was an absolute blast to work with - a very smart, very charismatic man. — Christopher McDonald

I did that film just so I could kiss Robert Redford. — Charlotte Rampling

Like all actors, I was open to taking on new challenges, including those outside my comfort zone. — Robert Redford

What is it with you people? You think not getting caught in a lie is the same thing as telling the truth? — Robert Redford

When I became successful, I put up a caution. I didn't think it was fair to have the shadow of that kind of success thrown on my family. And I was cautious about being taken by things that could destroy you. — Robert Redford

You should prepare when you go to a public event to be public. That's when I will sign autographs. But not when you're going about your normal business. — Robert Redford

In 1969, 'Life' magazine came up to me and said they wanted to do a little story on the Hobie, and I ended up getting a six-page spread. I remember Robert Redford was on the cover, and when that magazine hit the stands, it was a whole new ballgame. — Hobart Alter

Water is the sleeping giant issue of the 21st century and we all need to wake up about it. — Robert Redford

I don't think about when it's going to stop and what you do before it stops. You just keep moving. — Robert Redford

For me, personally, skiing holds everything. I used to race cars, but skiing is a step beyond that. It removes the machinery and puts you one step closer to the elements. And it's a complete physical expression of freedom. — Robert Redford

I would trade many an art-film classic for the final exchange between Redford and Streisand in front of the Plaza. — Molly Haskell

It's good to say, 'Look, I can't always be right, but my gut tells me this' - and then you confirm with your gut. — Robert Redford

From my experience in my country, America over and over again takes itself right to the brink, it puts one foot over but it never goes over. It wakes up at the last minute and says woah, and then pulls back. — Robert Redford

Regarding the biblical account as put forth in the Hexateuch or first six books of the Bible, including the Pentateuch and Joshua, Redford next remarks: There is no mention of an Egyptian empire encompassing the eastern Mediterranean, no marching Egyptian armies bent on punitive campaigns, no countermarching Hittite forces, no resident governors, no Egyptianized kinglets ruling Canaanite cities, no burdensome tribute or cultural exchange. — D.M. Murdock

Utah is changing. There are good people in Utah. More people want to change the discriminatory laws than want to keep them. People should be able to marry whomever they love. — Robert Redford

I think independent filmmakers, documentary filmmakers - they are journalists. — Robert Redford

If you talk about an issue, what comes back is a description of what you're wearing. Reporters only want to know how tall you are and if your teeth are capped. — Robert Redford

I definitely don't like anyone messing with my friends or loved ones. I'm quick to step up to the plate if there's a problem. — Blair Redford

I auditioned for Robert Redford once and I was so starstruck I couldn't even speak. I had a mic wire at a screen test clipped to me and then I got kind of nervous and I paced in a circle and then took a step and tripped and fell on my face. You just have to forgive yourself and keep going on. — Ethan Hawke

Between 18 and 19 years old [in the 1950s] I came to Paris. I studied art. And that experience really did change my life. I was living hand to mouth. I walked everywhere. I thought, this city is incredible but you really have to experience it by walking it. — Robert Redford

People are becoming more and more aware of how the dominance of development and business is altering their lives and, in particular, their own heritage. — Robert Redford

Once you leave Sundance suddenly you run into bulldozers and concrete and cranes, and all that heritage that the Mormon culture used to be so proud of is turned into out of control develpoment. — Robert Redford

I did not, like my children and people today, grow up with television as part of my life. — Robert Redford

Never revisit the past, that's dangerous. You know, move on. — Robert Redford

The measure of our success will be the condition on which we leave the world for the next generation. — Robert Redford

I won't ever stop loving you," I promised him.
"Good," Jake replied, and upon hearing how hoarse his voice was with emotion, I felt tears prick my eyes.
"I won't ever stop loving you. No matter what. — Samantha Young

Sometimes the failures can be exciting and fun. It's just a step on the road, it's not the end of something. — Robert Redford

The world around us is in a sea change, and I think the glory of art is that it cannot only survive change, it can lead it — Robert Redford

I'm not much interested in sport just as sport. I wouldn't be interested in making a golf film or baseball or fishing film. — Robert Redford

Lastly get emotionally connected to your story so you can deliver it, you know, if you can't deliver the emotions to your script there's no point to your story. Story is the key. — Robert Redford

Golf has become so manicured, so perfect. The greens, the fairways. I don't like golf carts. I like walking. Some clubs won't let you in unless you have a caddy and a cart. — Robert Redford

I have a lot of land. I bought it because I had a very strong feeling. I was in my early twenties, and I had grown up in Los Angeles and had seen that city slide off into the sea from the city I knew as a little kid. It lost its identity - suddenly there was cement everywhere and the green was gone and the air was bad - and I wanted out. — Robert Redford

I can't go into a bar anywhere without someone starting to play 'the Entertainer'. — Robert Redford

Do you thinking not getting caught in a lie is the same thing as telling the truth?
Robert Redford from the 1975 movie Three Days of the Condor — James Grady

Redford had read somewhere that cats brought their owners dead birds, rodents, and their own toys because they were trying to teach the stupid humans how to hunt, like they did with their own kittens. From the amount of toys Knievel had brought to him, the cat thought he was absolutely useless. — Robin Saxon

Celebrity is a big part of the American social system. I'm certainly grateful for what it's done for me, but I do think that celebrity is overdone in our society. I think it's got a dangerous side to it. — Robert Redford

Curiously, directing my own films have made me more tolerant and patient. I've always been an extremely impatient actor. Waiting around drove me nuts. But now I'm much more sympathetic to a director's struggle. — Robert Redford

Let's get something straight - I don't see myself as beautiful. — Robert Redford