I have been trying to retire to the back of the camera for quite a few years, and in 1970, when I first started directing, I said, ‚If I could pull this off, I can some day move to the back of the camera and stay there.‘

You want to be a writer? Start writing. You want to be a filmmaker? Start shooting stuff on your phone right now.

I’ve done films where we don’t rehearse, and I’ve done films where we heavily rehearse. I like rehearsals.

I will make action movies, I think, for a few more years, another five years.

Through my films I’m eventually trying to one day tell the truth. I don’t know if I’m ever going to get there, but I’m slowly letting pieces of myself out there and then maybe by the time I’m 85, I’ll look back and say, ‚All right, that about sums it up.‘

I really wanted to retire and rest and spend more time with my children, my grandchildren and of course with my wife.

When a man fell into his anecdotage it was a sign for him to retire from the world.

I like the idea of working in different genres and transcending genres and hopefully finding success, and ultimately make movies people like.

I’ve always said the one advantage an actor has of converting to a director is that he’s been in front of the camera. He doesn’t have to get in front of the camera again, subliminally or otherwise.

Everybody thinks making films back to back is a big deal but they did it all the time in the old days.

I’m always secretly the most pleased when a show just really, really looks good and when my camera guys are really happy with the images they got.

I will never retire unless I have to.

The effort to try to present the Social Security program as if it’s a major problem, that’s just a hidden way of trying to undermine and destroy it.

Eventually, it came to this place like, ‚I’d like to direct, but I need to find the story to tell.‘ ‚Man of Tai Chi‘ became the story to tell.

I’m not a photographer, so I didn’t get into F-stops or ND filters or background, foreground, cross-light, all that stuff. But I was interested in the camera and the lenses. That’s the world that I’m moving in, in terms of acting and giving a performance.

When I’m making an American film, it’s more safe because there are so many people on the set to watch me. Whatever I do, they say, ‚What are you doing!? Tell me first!‘ There are so many restrictions.

I always have a full-length mirror next to the camera when I’m doing publicity stills. That way, I know how I look.

Yes, we’ve still got more work to do. More work to do for every American still in need of a good job or a raise, paid leave or a decent retirement; for every child who needs a sturdier ladder out of poverty or a world-class education; for everyone who has not yet felt the progress of these past seven and a half years.

I was never interested in being powerful or famous. But once I got to film school and learned about movies, I just fell in love with it. I didn’t care what kind of movies I made.

I started out in life as a poet; I was only writing poetry all through my 20s. It wasn’t until I was about 30 that I got serious about writing prose. While I was writing poems, I would often divert myself by reading detective novels; I liked them.

I knew when my career was over. In 1965 my baseball card came out with no picture.

Learning to make films is very easy. Learning what to make films about is very hard.

Where I think the most work needs to be done is behind the camera, not in front of it.

When I’m a director, I look at myself the actor as a completely different person. It’s somebody else up there, an actor playing a role. I keep myself out of it.

If you don’t like the idea that most of the money spent on lottery tickets supports government programs, you should know that most of the earnings from mutual funds support investment advisors‘ and mutual fund managers‘ retirement.

Working with a guy like Ice Cube on ‚Ride Along,‘ you learn so much. He’s a guy who produces, writes, and directs, so you watch and learn and ask questions. As you go, you learn and figure out what you should and shouldn’t do. I do nothing but soak up information.

I became an actress because my mom wanted me to become an actress. It took me until my mid-30s to realize I actually didn’t. I actually wanted to write and direct and be more involved in politics and humanitarian issues.

I’m tired of fighting. I’ve always known that I can’t be an action star all my life.

Many people will have nothing at the end of their working lives.

I will never turn Medicare into a voucher. No American should ever have to spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies. They should retire with the care and dignity they have earned.

When I make a film – I direct my own film, I write my own script – that’s what I want to hear from the audience. ‚Oh, thank you, Jackie!‘

I want to make a good, solid kung fu movie.

Alfred Hitchcock once told me, when I was analyzing a lot of things about his pictures, ‚Clint, you must remember, it’s only a movie.‘

When I retire I’m going to spend my evenings by the fireplace going through those boxes. There are things in there that ought to be burned.

I will never retire from politics, the revolution, or the ideas I have.

I always felt that if I was going to do a movie, I wanted it to be authentic.

Contemplation of life after retirement and life after death can help you deal with contemporary challenges.

By an irony of fate, my first employment was as a draughtsman. I hated drawing; it was for me the very worst of annoyances. Fortunately, it was not long before I secured the position I sought, that of chief electrician to the telephone company.

There are certain age limits on police officers. They’d have retired me out at 65.

The day I think I’m not enjoying the game and contributing the way I would like to, I’ll hang up my boots.

Every time I make American film I just trust American directors and American writers.

You can retire from a job, but don’t ever retire from making extremely meaningful contributions in life.

The New Testament says nothing of Apostles who retired and took it easy.

Every movie I make teaches me something. That’s why I keep making them.

I probably would have retired years ago if I hadn’t found interesting things to do.

I like having my hands in the clay. I like the movie-making process.

In America there’s no way I can make the kind of movie I like to make.

You just don’t know when you get in the editing room what you will need as a link or a tool for a transition. If you’re in a room, and there’s a kettle boiling, get a shot of it. Don’t worry if people think you’re nuts.

Every time I try to retire, or even think of retiring from acting, my agent comes up with a script.

Yes, I’m always – I’m always surprised when you make a film and you live with it a while and you put it out, you never dream that anybody is ever going to want to really see it.

I have retired, but if there’s anything that would kill me it is to wake up in the morning not knowing what to do.

On ‚Mystic River,‘ I had to cut my salary and everyone else’s to get it made.

I prefer directing to acting. There is huge freedom that comes from being behind the camera. It brings a lot of responsibilities as well but is intensely rewarding.

I worked with Steven Spielberg on Amistad… he seemed so very secure in himself that he let me do things.

Community colleges play an important role in helping people transition between careers by providing the retooling they need to take on a new career.

It would be great to be 105 and still making films.

I imagine I will be less involved in film and be focused more on family and foreign affairs.

Everybody accuses me of moving fast when I direct a picture. I don’t move fast, but I just keep moving.

We will keep the promise of Social Security by taking the responsible steps to strengthen it – not by turning it over to Wall Street.

I was going to go to a four-year college and be an anthropologist or to an art school and be an illustrator when a friend convinced me to learn photography at the University of Southern California. Little did I know it was a school that taught you how to make movies! It had never occurred to me that I’d ever have any interest in filmmaking.

I was always interested – I mean, it’s kind of part of your job – I was always interested in the camera.