Brad Pitt quotes: the A-List actor’s most important words on acting, success, and life.
As you read these quotes, notice the recurring themes: humility, accountability, quality, perspective, and being selective.
“By nature, I keep moving, man. My theory is, be the shark. You’ve just got to keep moving. You can’t stop.”
“I’m actually very snobbish about directors. I have to say no all the time. No is the most powerful word in our business. You’ve got to protect yourself.”
“It’s those difficult times that inform the next wonderful time, and it’s a series of trade-offs, of events, of wins and losses.”
“What’s valuable to me has become clearer as I’ve got older. To me, it’s about the value of your time and your day and the value of the people you spend it with.”
“I’m one of those people you hate because of genetics. It’s the truth.”
“In some ways, I’m still a kid from Missouri and Oklahoma, and I’m trying to find my way.”
“I grew up on certain movies, particular movies that said something to me as a kid from Missouri, movies that showed me places I’d yet traveled, or different cultures, or explained something, or said something in a better way than I could ever say. I wanted to find the movies like that.”
“My affliction has been… I can make something or draw something or design something better than I can explain it.”
“I had a friend who worked at a hospice, and he said people in their final moments don’t discuss their successes, awards, or what books they wrote or what they accomplished. They only talk about their loves and their regrets, and I think that’s very telling.”
“America is not a country, it’s a business.”
“You must lose everything in order to gain anything.”
“The latitude and longitudinal lines of where you are born determine your opportunity in life, and it’s not equal. We may have been created equal, but we’re not born equal. It’s a lot to do with luck and you have to pass that on.”
“I am obsessively bent on quality, to an unhealthy degree.”
“I have very few friends. I have a handful of close friends, and I have my family, and I haven’t known life to be any happier.”
“In Missouri, where I come from, we don’t talk about what we do, we just do it. If we talk about it, it’s seen as bragging.”
“I grew up in Oklahoma and Missouri, and I just loved film. My folks would take us to the drive-in on summer nights, and we’d sit on the hood of the car. I just had this profound love for storytelling.”
“I start asking a lot of questions about my own life, and it’s not necessarily fun, but it’s a good exercise.”
“Success is a beast. And it actually puts the emphasis on the wrong thing. You get away with more instead of looking within.”
“I have a hard time with morals. All I know is what feels right. What’s more important to me is being honest about who you are. Morals I get a little hung up on.”
“Once you get older, you get a little closer to yourself; intimate.”
“My father came from a very poor background, but I was very fortunate in the sense that we were never in need. My dad was determined to make sure that we didn’t want for things. He wanted to give us more opportunity than he had, a better shot at a better life.”
“Happiness is overrated. There has to be conflict in life. Satisfied, at peace – those would be more realistic goals.”
“I believe you make your day. You make your life. So much of it is all perception, and this is the form that I built for myself. I have to accept it and work within those compounds, and it’s up to me.”
“No more excuses. I can’t blame anything on my parents. I’m responsible for my mistakes and my choices.”
“Just the fact that there is an unknown (in regards to death) and something greater, can bring a feeling of peace. That’s enough for me.”
“I’m a bit of a loner, you know? I’m more quiet by nature. And coming from, you know, hillbilly country, I’m probably more reserved.”
“I find all of my performances come down to mathematics in a sense – how do you approach the problem of this character? Sometimes I crack that problem, sometimes I don’t.”
“The greatest thing an actor can experience is discovery. The greatest thing an artist can walk away with is to learn something about themselves and the world.”
“When you see a person, do you just concentrate on their looks? It’s just a first impression. Then there’s someone who doesn’t catch your eye immediately, but you talk to them and they become the most beautiful thing in the world. The greatest actors aren’t what you would call beautiful sex symbols.”
“I always knew I was going somewhere – going out. I just knew. I just knew. I just knew there were a lot more points of view out there.”
“I have an adventure every morning.”
“Fatherhood is the best thing I ever did. It changes your perspective. You can write a book, you can make a movie, you can paint a painting, but having kids is really the most extraordinary thing I have taken on.”
“Fame makes you feel permanently like a girl walking past construction workers.”
“I got into producing to be part of stories that wouldn’t necessarily be right for me as an actor.”
“When you first get opportunities, suddenly you get surrounded by a lot of people who want to make money off you but also are there to help. But they start telling you so much about what you need to be and what you need to do to maintain your career.”
“I’ve always been at war with myself, for right or wrong. I’ve grown quite comfortable with being at war.”
“A family is a risky venture, because the greater the love, the greater the loss. That’s the trade-off. But I’ll take it all.”
“Seeing the world is the best education you can get. You see sorrow, and you also see great spirit, and the will to survive.”
“I’m satisfied with making true choices.”
“I tell young guys, ‘Don’t make choices because somebody else is telling you it’s good from a career maintenance perspective.'”
“My life has been about big changes.”
“Get into something that’s really personal that means something to you, where you have something to say and it’s something really individualized. I wish I was more aware of that when I started my career, instead of doing a few things I was told would be good for me. And they weren’t, because it left me empty, so I didn’t do a good job anyways. I think that’s what’s key to what we do: it’s got to be personal.”
“My main concern is quality and I think there is quality to be found in all categories of filmmaking.”
“With sons and father, there’s an inexplicable connection and imprint that your father leaves on you.”
“We’re so complex; we’re mysteries to ourselves; we’re difficult to each other. And then storytelling reminds us that we’re all the same.”
“I get enraged when people start telling other people how to live their lives.”
“You make yourself what you are. You have control of your own destiny.”
“I would say that the directors that I’ve liked the most are all curious in mature – curious thinkers. They’re all big questioners, I would say, first and foremost.”
“I don’t feel restless, I just like to travel.”
“Where I grew up, we started out in Oklahoma and then moved to Missouri, it was considered hubris to talk about yourself. And the downside of that was that ideas rarely got exchanged, or true feelings.”
“You can’t be different for different’s sake, and this doesn’t always work, but you have to separate yourself from the normal read. Of course, it has to be truthful. If it’s not truthful, don’t waste your time.”
