John Wayne Inspirational Quotes: A Timeless Collection of Wisdom and Courage

"Courage is being scared to death... and saddling up anyway."

- John Wayne

"Bravery is not about not being scared at all. It’s about being terrified and doing it anyway."

- John Wayne

"TRUE Courage is when you are scared to death and STILL saddle up and ride in!"

- John Wayne

"Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway."

- John Wayne

"All battles are fought by scared men who’d rather be someplace else."

- John Wayne

"Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway."

- John Wayne

"A man's got to do what a man's got to do."

- John Wayne

"Talk low, talk slow and don't say too much."

- John Wayne

"I'm not the sort to back away from a fight. I don't believe in shrinking from anything. It's not my speed; I'm a guy who meets adversities head on."

- John Wayne

"If everything isn't black and white, I say, 'Why the hell not?'"

- John Wayne

"Nobody should come to the movies unless he believes in heroes."

- John Wayne

"Life is getting up one more time than you've been knocked down."

- John Wayne

"Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid."

- John Wayne

"You left a boy out there to do a man's job."

- John Wayne

"True grit is making a decision and standing by it, doing what must be done."

- John Wayne

"My favorite four-letter words are 'hard work'."

- John Wayne

"My hope and prayer is that everyone know and love our country for what she really is and what she stands for."

- John Wayne

"Life it tough, but it's tougher if you're stupid."

- John Wayne

"Yes, we are too old for war. But old men should stop wars."

- John Wayne

"It isn't always being fast or accurate that counts. It's being willing."

- John Wayne

"Life is tough pilgrim, it is even tougher if you're stupid"

- John Wayne

"I've always followed my father's advice: he told me, first to always keep my word and, second, to never insult anybody unintentionally. If I insult you, you can be goddamn sure I intend to. And, third, he told me not to go around looking for trouble."

- John Wayne

"A goal, A love and A dream give you total control over your body and your life."

- John Wayne

"When you come to see a picture of mine, I want you to know that I'm not going to do anything that will make you uncomfortable. I want you to know that you won't be disappointed in me."

- John Wayne

"All I'm for is the liberty of the individual."

- John Wayne

"All the screen cowboys behaved like real gentlemen. They didn't drink, they didn't smoke. When they knocked the bad guy down, they always stood with their fists up, waiting for the heavy to get back on his feet. I decided I was going to drag the bad guy to his feet and keep hitting him."

- John Wayne

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday."

- John Wayne

"I suppose my best attribute, if you want to call it that, is sincerity. I can sell sincerity because that's the way I am."

- John Wayne

"I'd read up on the history of our country and I'd become fascinated with the story of the Alamo. To me it represented the fight for freedom, not just in America, but in all countries."

- John Wayne

"I was sure I'd set the world on fire, and it was hard for a young feller like me to realize the truth - that I hadn't set the world on fire, and I was totally unprepared to handle the consequences if 'The Big Trail' had been a success and launched me as a star."

- John Wayne

"A man deserves a second chance, but keep an eye on him."

- John Wayne

"All battles are fought by scared men who'd rather be some place else."

- John Wayne

"We’re burnin’ daylight."

- John Wayne

"Every time you turn around, expect to see me, cause one time you'll turn around and I'll be there."

- John Wayne

"It takes a good fire to burn down the weeds... to let the flowers grow."

- John Wayne

"If you can't be thankful for what you have, be thankful for what you have escaped."

- John Wayne

"Never apologize, mister, it’s a sign of weakness."

- John Wayne

"When the road looks rough ahead, remember the 'Man upstairs' and the word HOPE. Hang onto both and 'tough it out'."

- John Wayne

"Sorry don't get it done, Dude."

- John Wayne

"A big mouth won't make a big man."

- John Wayne

"I would like to be remembered, well ... the Mexicans have a phrase, "Feo fuerte y formal". Which means he was ugly, strong and had dignity."

- John Wayne

"I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a-hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them."

- John Wayne

"Real art is basic emotion. If a scene is handled with simplicity - and I don't mean simple - it'll be good, and the public will know it."

- John Wayne

"Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday."

- John Wayne

"I've loved reading all my life."

- John Wayne

"In westerns, you meet a hardy bunch of characters. There is no jealousy on such pictures."

- John Wayne

"When I was a sophomore at USC, I was a socialist, pretty much to the left. But not when I left the university. I quickly got wise. I'd read about what had happened to Russia in 1917 when the Communists took over."

- John Wayne

"Get off your butt and join the Marines!"

- John Wayne

"I was ashamed to admit I was hipped to the idea of acting. That's why I started in with the props."

- John Wayne

"I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves."

- John Wayne

"If you've got them by the balls their hearts and minds will follow."

- John Wayne

"The hyphenated American is ridiculous. But that’s what we have to put up with. I think that any person that’s in the United States is better off here than they would be where they came from."

- John Wayne

"The worst part of it has been, I think, the adverse effect on family life. It kills off family conversation. And it’s harder to get your children to read books. I became a confirmed reader when I was growing up in Glendale. I’ve loved reading all my life. Now I’ve got this daughter, Aissa, a very bright young lady -- but it is a hard job to get her to read. Television’s just too easy."

- John Wayne

"Slap some bacon on a biscuit and let's go! We're burnin' daylight!"

- John Wayne

"I have tried to live my life so that my family would love me and my friends respect me. The others can do whatever the hell they please."

- John Wayne

"I know those law books mean a lot to you, but not out here. Out here a man settles his own problems."

- John Wayne

"Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave? Sure I love my country with all her faults. I'm not ashamed of that, never have been, never will be."

- John Wayne

"I'd like to know why well-educated idiots keep apologizing for lazy and complaining people who think the world owes them a living."

- John Wayne

"Just one more question, Pilgrim. How far up your ass do you want my boot?"

- John Wayne

"Seen better fights than this at a prayer meeting."

- John Wayne

"That'll be the day."

- John Wayne

"It's getting to be ri-goddamn-diculous."

- John Wayne

"I never have really become accustomed to the 'John.' Nobody ever really calls me John... I've always been Duke or Marion or John Wayne. It's a name that goes well together, and it's like one word - John Wayne."

- John Wayne

"Thanking people is dangerous business. A name always slips your mind."

- John Wayne

"Nothing is so discouraging to an actor than to have to work for long hours upon hours in brightly lighted interior sets."

- John Wayne

"COWBOYS, just like the word says."

- John Wayne

"Get off your horse and drink your milk."

- John Wayne

"I would think somebody like Jane Fonda and her idiot husband would be terribly ashamed and saddened that they were a part of causing us to stop helping the South Vietnamese. Now look what’s happening. They’re getting killed by the millions. Murdered by the millions. How the hell can she and her husband sleep at night?"

- John Wayne

"Everybody that I was in school with had an uncle or father in the law, and I started to realize that I was going to end up writing briefs for about ten years for these fellows who I thought I was smarter than. And I was kind of losing my feeling for that."

- John Wayne

"You're short on ears and long on mouth."

- John Wayne

"Government has no wealth, and when a politician promises to give you something for nothing, he must first confiscate that wealth from you -- either by direct taxes, or by the cruelly indirect tax of inflation."

- John Wayne

"My folks always let me go to the movies every Saturday. We were really motion-picture goers."

- John Wayne

"A friend of mine told me to shoot first and ask questions later. I was going to ask him why, but I had to shoot him."

- John Wayne

"I have found a certain type calls himself a Liberal...Now I always thought I was a Liberal. I came up terribly surprised one time when I found out that I was a Right-Wing Conservative Extremist, when I listened to everybody's point of view that I ever met, and then decided how I should feel. But this so-called new Liberal group, Jesus, they never listen to your point of view."

- John Wayne

"Very few of the so-called liberals are open-minded.... They shout you down and won't let you speak if you disagree with them."

- John Wayne

"Male menopause is a lot more fun than female menopause. With female menopause you gain weight and get hot flashes. Male menopause ? you get to date young girls and drive motorcycles."

- John Wayne

"The reason there are so many stupid people is because it's illegal to kill them."

- John Wayne

"I believe in white supremacy, until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don't believe giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people ... I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from [the Native Americans] ... Our so-called stealing of this country from them was just a matter of survival. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves."

- John Wayne