John Goodman quotes: life advice from lovable Dan Conner.
“Relax. Just relax and have fun doing what you’re doing. Don’t worry so much about being results-oriented. Just commit yourself to the moment.”
“Giving up a lot of yourself isn’t really that hard when you realize that you get more than you give up.”
“The power of laughter and love would beat out the power of fear every time.”
“People just do the strangest things when they believe they’re entitled. But they do even stranger things when they just plain believe.”
“If I don’t trust in it, then it’s worthless.”
“The key is who controls the money. We think you are going to do better if you control the money.”
“If you want to make a marriage work, you gotta forget about the things that nine times outta 10 are not that important.”
“Kids are at my level. I like goofing around with them.”
“How quick time goes by now, compared to when you were a kid. Summer used to last forever. Now it’s 12 weeks.”
“The best lesson my mother taught me? Wear clean underwear. For some reason she was obsessed with me getting hit by a car and having clean underwear in the ambulance.”
“My father passed away when I was a baby, so my brother became that figure in a way. I looked up to him and he helped shape my sense of humor. We lived in poverty. You’re always afraid of being broke again. It’s a very irrational fear. You can never stop thinking about that other shoe dropping.”
“She also taught me persistence. My dad died a month before my second birthday. She didn’t have a shot in hell, and she just kept doing what she did. Taking in laundry, babysitting kids, working at the drugstore, working at the barbecue joint, and she raised her kids.”
“If the mortar and bricks are laid right, the building will last for a while.”
“When I was young, we couldn’t afford much. But, my library card was my key to the world.”
“Read, read, read, read, read. Read everything. You can’t work unless you know the world, and outside of living in the world… the best way to learn about the world is to read about it.”
“I don’t trust myself enough. When I write, I overwrite. Gingerbread. Too much gingerbread. Writing is probably the only hobby I have. But I wish I had another one. If I was just a little better at golf.”
“It was cool for a couple of weeks, but how much bad golf can you play?”
“I ain’t never been in no college with famous people. I was a drifter for a while. I just was desperate to fit in with a group. Really, I was swimming. I was lost, treading water, trying to find my way. I wanted to play football. It didn’t work out. I didn’t really know what I wanted until I found acting in a theater department, and then everything just fell into place, and I had a passion about something. Then, I started living my life.”
“I went to New York and I got hired within a month at a dinner theater, and a couple of years later I was doing commercials to support myself. I was a lucky slug.”
“I just idolized Al Pacino, and I was afraid that, you know, he was gonna wipe his feet on me or put a cigarette out on my neck or something. But he was so full of fire. He had such passion for acting. It’s nice to meet someone like that.”
“Usually they let me just ramble on in front of the camera. It’s a true joy.”
“In my pre-success years there was a constant hunger, measuring myself against other actors, and there was sometimes fear. But, there was always a need for self-improvement, to help with the struggle to make myself a better actor.”
“Celebrity is a dirty word. People are conditioned to hate you if you’re famous or in show business. It’s that love-hate thing. They can’t wait for you to fail or get pulled over with a hooker or a stripper or a teenage boy with a lot of blow in the car.”
“I’m just a lazy boy. I’d rather sit in my recliner and act.”
“[On handling getting older] Just accept it. Don’t pretend like it’s not happening. It doesn’t mean you have to flop on a rocking chair out on the porch. And take more care of your body – more than I did.”
“Sometimes I overthink, which is something wrong with my brain chemistry. But in figuring out why I do that, maybe I’ll make myself a better person. I doubt it.”
“[On quitting drinking] It’s going great. I finally grew up out of diapers. I’m in the big-boy pants. It was killing me, and on top of that I was lying, and most of it was directed toward myself. It’s just more fun being sober.”
“I think you’re trying to fill a hole that can’t be filled unless it’s filled with goodness, some kind of spirituality, not saying religion. But just a belief in something higher than yourself, a purpose. But instead of filling it with booze or cocaine or food, you just acknowledge that it’s there. You can’t fill it. And you go on and live with it.”
“I look forward to getting up in the morning. I look forward to doing new things. I’m not Pollyanna; it’s not an overnight thing. I’m just looking forward to the rest of my life.”
“There’s no formula to life. If I figured one out, I’d probably have to check out the next day. ‘Oh, Mr. Goodman, your seven o’clock stroke is here, sir.'”
“I want to get up enough to be in the position of ‘f*ck you.’ I’m not looking for massive riches. I’m not looking to have billionaire doors on my car. I just want to live my life and see everything without having to ever worry about what’s in my bank account. Heck, even being independent in my career without a boss can put me in a position of f*ck you.”
“I don’t need the bread, but it’s nice to do something creative.”
“Basically, though, I’m just lucky to love what I do for a living.”
“Breathe and relax. Enjoy it all.”
