Tom Selleck quotes: Mr. Mustache’s down-to-earth advice.
“Dreams are supposed to represent your subconscious wishes and conflicts. It’s sort of a private movie you write, produce and direct. Only you can’t hide your eyes in your dreams, even when they are scaring you to death.”
“Risk is the price you pay for opportunity.”
“Unless you treat failure as part of the journey, you’re never going to get anywhere.”
“I think character is real important.”
“Life isn’t fair, but you can be.”
“We judge ourselves by our good intentions, but we’re judged by our last word.”
“I have a very positive idea of patriarchs. And I think a man’s got to grow into himself.”
“I try very hard to conduct myself in an ethical way, because that’s important to my stability now. We’re a culture that’s so centered on the individual. The culture says that basically nothing is more important than the way you feel.”
“We’re living in an age that celebrates unchecked impulses. I work with exceptional kids, gang kids, deprived kids, enriched kids and they all have an astounding sense of entitlement. They don’t celebrate earning the privilege of driving at 16. They expect a car. There’s a big difference.”
“A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”
“Few of us are as good as we think we are; none of us are as good as we can be.”
“Talk straight, goddammit, or I’ll get the ants, myself.”
“I had a strong, really good upbringing, not puritanical.”
“I’ve never reacted well to other people telling me what to do.”
“I realized I really liked the screen. I knew it was a challenge, but I wasn’t afraid of risk.”
“Which to this day is a source of enormous guilt, because I left with three classes to go in the business school to sign a contract with 20th Century Fox.”
“Popularity is the pocket change of history. The true measure is courage.”
“I never try to pander to an audience, and I’m really not concerned with my image. I’m far more interested in stretching my abilities as an actor.”
“I think of myself as an actor first, not a sex symbol. Do I think I’m sexy? No, that’s someone else’s judgment, and I honestly don’t think you can try to be sexy and really succeed.”
“If you ask me to play myself, I will not know what to do. I do not know who or what I am.”
“On a day when you’re not feeling so good, you put on a happy face, it’s infectious – these things sound kind of corny and stupid, but this is our life.”
“I have often said that I wish I had invented blue jeans: the most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity – all I hope for in my clothes.”
“If you buy an expensive thing and you never use it, I don’t think there’s a point to it.”
“I live on a 63-acre avocado ranch. So I like to get outside and work on the farm, from fixing roads to clearing brush. I hate going to the gym, so sweating outdoors sure beats sitting on a stationary bike staring at my navel. And I work cheaper than anyone I could hire to do it.”
“I work this ranch every day. I do the grunt jobs because it saves me money. And it’s good for my head. This ranch is a great counterpoint to the acting business. I’m waging war with the tumbleweeds.”
“This ranch is a great counterpoint to the acting business, which is an abstraction – you do something, it’s up on a piece of film, and everybody argues whether it’s good or bad. You dig a hole and plant an oak tree – and I’ve probably planted a thousand of them – it’s real. It’s there, and you can watch it grow. It’s a lot different from being famous, and it keeps me sane.”
“You don’t have time to reflect – you just keep moving. I feel very fortunate, and I feel I’ve earned it.”
“At my age, turning gray is kind of a blessing, where it softens all of the other horrible things it does to you, but it is what it is.”
“Relationships are tricky, but if you are in love with somebody and like them (two different things!), you’ve got a chance at success. Hopefully you marry someone who you not only love, but who you like as well.”
“I’ve found it very difficult to expose my private life and live with it. It’s important to nurture your marriage. I think wanting time away from work has been good for that.”
“Marriages must evolve emotionally. It just grows more, kind of, satisfying. I think some of that comes with age, some of that comes with the good part of the familiarity. I don’t think the infatuation stage of any relationship lasts forever, but it can grow into something.”
“As good as this business has been to me, that’s not what life is about. Life is about more important things. You know, we’ve all struggled as we get successful in this business to balance that, I certainly have.”
“My first priority is time with my family.”
“It took a long time to get off the train, but I try very hard to have balance.”
“I live a pretty simple life. I’m still passionate about life, my farm and my family.”
“I plan on remaining a life member for life.”
Related: Richard Gere quotes.
