Matthew McConaughey quotes: the all-star actor goes deep on money, success, acting, and life.
“Having children has helped me become a better actor because they remind you to play make believe. It’s the ease and naturalness of their being. They just play and it’s completely real for them at the time. As an actor, if we do it well, we make you believe.”
“Alright, alright, alright.”
“When someone bestows something on you, no matter how true it is, when someone says, ‘Sexiest Man Alive,’ I’m honestly going, ‘Thank you. Right on.’ For me, it’s never canceled out anything, it’s never made me go, ‘Does this make me less talented of an actor?'”
“The best education I’ve had in my life is to travel.”
“The good part about jealousy is that it comes from passion. It’s also the dangerous part and it’s an ugly emotion that hurts.”
“Every hero doesn’t do this great big hero thing. They do the simple thing over and over… and they stick to it.”
“Just because you can? Nah, it’s not a good enough reason to do something. Even when it means having more? Be discerning. Choose it because you want it. Do it because you want to.”
“There aren’t many things that are universally cool, and it’s cool not to litter. I’d never do it.”
“My lawyer has been a good friend of mine for a long time. He and I continuously have conversations.”
“The first step that leads to our identity in life is usually not ‘I know who I am,’ but rather ‘I know who I am not’ process of elimination.”
“Music is a really great creative tool for me, for different roles.”
“If I’m doing something, I do like to take it to the limit. I’ve got a high ceiling. A wide threshold for seeing what those boundaries are for myself. I’m very resilient inside. I find things that I like to do, and boy, I do like to stick to them.”
“My life is a road, man. I need to keep moving.”
“I have some good friends of my own who happen to be gay, and when it comes to gay, straight, or whatever, I’m for anything life-affirmative. I’m for gay power, straight power, male power, female power; everybody should feel empowered without oppressing anyone who’s different.”
“I’m a pretty loyal guy with friends and family, I’ve had the same friends for a long time.”
“There are three things, to my account, that I need each day. One of them is something to look up to, another is something to look forward to, and another is someone to chase.”
“It’s a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates.”
“Give thanks. Appreciate what you do have. The more we give thanks, the more we receive to be thankful for. Gratitude is the gift that always gives back.”
“I say to the paparazzi, ‘Fellas, take your shot and go.’ It’s just they usually find me on a beach.”
“Now, you lose something in your life… and there’s gonna come a time that you’re gonna know: there was a reason for that. And at the end of your life, all the things you thought were periods, they turn out to be commas. There was never a full stop to any of it.”
“I want to be reincarnated as a jaguar. Jaguars are keen and they’re perfectly poised. I’d sure love to be that well designed.”
“I believe in living in the present and making each day count. I don’t pay much attention to the past or the future.”
“I don’t want to just revolve. I want to evolve. As a man, as a human, as a father, as a lover.”
“My rule is to break one sweat a day.”
“I like to be directed, but when I’m flying and I’m on fire, I don’t want someone coming and getting in my way just because they feel like they need to.”
“I keep a diary: one for each film and foreign land I travel to.”
“You haven’t lived until you’ve tasted my butt chicken. You get a can of beer and leave half of the liquid inside it. Throw a bunch of spices into the can, then stick that in the chicken and stand it up on the grill. The beer will start to boil and the spices begin to lubricate the chicken. Do it right and nothing on this earth tastes better. No barbecue is complete without it. I cooked it up for Al Pacino while we were making Two for the Money. He dug it, man. All the proof I need.”
“The Dazed fans are the best! Dazed fans never even want an autograph or nothin’.”
“I don’t mind assh*les. It’s the dork I don’t trust. The dork is the one who’s trying to be whatever he thinks you want him to be. I trust the assh*le because you know where he’s gonna stand.”
“Life’s barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you get good at.”
“You want to be a writer? Start writing. You want to be a filmmaker? Start shooting stuff on your phone right now.”
“Life is not fair, and it never was, and it isn’t now, and it won’t ever be. Do not fall into the trap. The entitlement trap. Of feeling like you’re a victim. You are not.”
“Vanity is great motivation, to be fair.”
“I’m a fan of the world selfish. Self. Ish. When I say I have gotten a lot more self-ish, I mean I am less concerned with what people think of me. I’m not worried about how I’m perceived. Selfish has always gotten a bad rap.”
“The best advice comes from people who don’t give advice.”
“I love having my hands in the dirt. It is never a science and always an art. There are no rules. And if it comes down to me versus that weed I’m trying to pull out of the ground that doesn’t want to come out? I know I’ll win.”
“Life is not a popularity contest. Take the hill, but first answer the question, ‘What is my hill?'”
“A man should always have his diary on him. That way he’s guaranteed to have something incredible to read.”
“I talk to myself all the time. Just make sure you answer.”
“We dissect failure a lot more than we dissect success.”
“There’s a difference in thinking you are a champion and knowing that you are.”
“[On parenting] They eat, they crap, they sleep, and if they’re crying they need to do one of the three and they’re having trouble doing it. Real simple.”
“Life is a series of commas, not periods.”
“Good ideas are free – or at least they should be.”
“I’ve never been a jealous person, and I’ve never felt built up by someone else’s failure. That’s a cheap thrill.”
“I’m obsessed with trying to understand what somebody is talking about and trying to get them to understand me.”
“There’s two sorts of fear: one you embrace and one you should listen to and turn the other way.”
“If you can be mentally stimulated by the workout and find out how to get through it, it’s more fun.”
“I have my own vocabulary. I love linguistics. That surprises people.”
“Instead of denying these fears, declare them, say them out loud, admit them, give them the credit they deserve. Find the courage to overcome them.”
“The man who invented the hamburger was smart; the man who invented the cheeseburger was a genius.”
“It’s one of the things I love about making films: the places I’ve got to travel that I would never have gone to before.”
“I love taking advantage of my fame. If I go to the airport and get taken to the front of the line, I’m not going to protest. When I show up to see a band and I get whisked backstage, I like it. If I’m offered the use of a private jet, bring it on. But I draw the line at playing the, ‘Do you know who I am?’ card and I refuse to have every little thing done for me. If you buy into all that, it will show up in your acting.”
“Cameras aren’t guns. They can’t really hurt you.”
Wash this down with McConaughey’s quotes from The Wolf of Wall Street.
