Jack Lemmon Quotes

No matter how successful you get, always send the elevator back down.

I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day.

Failure seldom stops you. What stops you is the fear of failure.

Death ends a life, not a relationship.

Anything truly worthwhile does not come easy. If it did, it would not be all that worthwhile.

Success is always somebody else's opinion of you; but it doesn't amount to a damn compared to your own opinion of yourself.

If you think it's hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball.

It's hard enough to write a good drama, it's much harder to write a good comedy, and it's hardest of all to write a drama with comedy. Which is what life is.

Dying is not a sin. Not living is.

Acting doesn't have anything to do with listening to the words. We never really listen, in general conversation, to what the other person is saying. We listen to what they mean. And what they mean is often quite apart from the words. When you see a scene between two actors that goes really well you can be sure they're not listening to each other - they're feeling what the other person is trying to get at. Know what I mean?

If you've been fortunate enough to live out your dream in the profession of your choice, then you have an obligation to send the elevator back down.

I have lost someone I loved as a brother, as a closest friend, and a remarkable human being. We have also lost one of the best damn actors we'll ever see.

How do you know that God didn't speak to Charles Darwin?

If you really do want to be an actor who can satisfy himself and his audience, you need to be vulnerable.

Everything that is truly worthwhile - I think passion is involved in your approach to it. No matter what it is.

My career has been full of remarkable coincidences that have nothing to do with me.

Part of an actor's job is to actually adopt the world-view of the character she is playing and to tell the story from that vantage point. If an actor represses large aspects of their personality, they will have a severely limited range and castability. Great actors cultivate effortless access to their subpersonalities. Many acting teachers call this 'freeing your instrument.'

I was born in an elevator, and - as my mother said - naturally it was going down. She said, "All I remember is telling your father, 'That's it! Never again!'" That's why I'm an only child.

I won't quit until I get run over by a truck, a producer or a critic.

People are probably correct when they see me as the so-called Everyman. I'm attracted primarily to contemporary characters. I understand them and their frustrations.

Stay humble. Always answer your phone - no matter who else is in the car.

I think whatever you do, if you are going to do well or even if you don't do it well, you have to have a passion for it, and I am passionate about it. I love it. I respect it and it gets me. I get off on acting.

Nobody deserves this much money - certainly not an actor.

If you really do want to be an actor who can satisfy himself and his audience, you need to be vulnerable. [You must] reach the emotional and intellectual level of ability where you can go out stark naked, emotionally, in front of an audience.

I have never lost a total passion for my work.