Ethan Hawke Quotes

Don't you find it odd," she continued, "that when you're a kid, everyone, all the world, encourages you to follow your dreams. But when you're older, somehow they act offended if you even try.

Give your heart to everybody you meet. The rest is pretense.

Should she stick with the nice, sensitive guy who treats her well (Ben Stiller), or should she roll the dice with the frustrating boho bozo who treats her like crap (Ethan Hawk)? Winona made the kind of romantic decision most people my age would have made in 1994: She pursued a path that was difficult and depressing, and she did so because it showed the slightest potential for transcendence.

Success isn't measured by what you achieve, it's measured by the obstacles you overcome.

You are always in the right place at exactly the right time, and you always have been.

The older I get, the more I realize how rare it is to meet a kindred spirit.

Pay attention: what you need to know is usually in front of you. There are no secrets, just things people choose not to notice.

I take pleasure in the little things. Double cheeseburgers, those are good, the sky ten minutes before it rains,the moment your laugh turns into a cackle. And I sit here, and smoke my Camel straights, and I ride my own melt.

[She] and I were giving each other the only thing we truly have to offer: our time. We were going to give each other the living minutes of our life.

If you can channel the best part of you that is bigger than yourself, where it’s not about your ego and not about getting ahead, then you can have fun and you aren’t jealous of others. You see other people's talent as another branch of your own. You can keep it rooted in joy. Life is long and there are plenty of opportunities to make mistakes. The point of it all is to learn.

There have always been two ways to be rich: by accumulating vast sums or by needing very little.

...simple joys are the great ones. Pleasure is not complicated.

Stand like you deserve to be here

I'm magically delicious.

Like a dead branch falling from a tree, which them decomposes and nourishes the soil, your disappointments can transform into the elements of change and growth.

Which wolf will win?... whichever one you feed

Humility. Never announce that you are a knight, simply behave as one. You are better than no one, and no one is better than you.

Now I have a theory that if a woman wants to keep a man she only needs to say two things: She believes in him and he's got a big a cock. That's all it takes. It doesn't even have to be true.

Love. Love is the end goal. It is the music of our lives. There is no obstacle that enought love cannot move.

Look, I have no idea what's going on," I said, catching my breath. "I don't like myself either. I don't know what's happening to me. I don't want to tell you to fuck off. But you gotta understand, everything in my life feels different. I just want so badly to know if you like me. And I know how asinine that sounds. If you want me to leave you alone, I will, but sometimes... sometimes you meet somebody and you know that whatever you did before, whatever your life was before, it must have been right... nothing could've been too bad or gone too far wrong because it led you to this person. You're that person. Do you want me to go away?

Every time he opens his mouth I have absolutely no idea what he’s gonna say. He’s the most honest person I’ve ever met. He’s a quick study and rarely needs to make the same mistake twice. He really tries to learn, and does, and he makes me laugh, and the world’s generally a lighter place when he’s in my sight.

Understanding that he relies on all that surrounds him, a knight is kind above all.

Speech. Do not speak ill of others. A knight does not spread news that he does not know to be certain, or condemn things that he does not understand.

It's kind of like this," Decker said: "You wake up in the middle of the night and you're dying for a glass of milk. So you stumble out of bed, stub your toe in the darkness, scream with pain, and limp your way to the refrigerator. You open it up and the light is brilliant. You're saved. Then you fold back the paper container, open up the milk, take a deep breath, and put it to your lips. Only --- yhrch! --- the milk is spoiled. Sure, you're bummed. You fold the thing close and put it back in the fridge. It's dark again. But as you're making your way to your lonely old bed, you think to yourself, Wait a minute, maybe that milk wasn't so bad. And I am still thirsty? So you do an about-face and go back to the fridge. The light warms you up again. You take a sip and yup, it's still spoiled. That, to me, is the fitting metaphor for most every relationship I've ever been in.

We all see the world through the prism of our identity.

Many of my all-time favorite movies are almost entirely verbal. The entire plot of My Dinner with Andre is “Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory eat dinner.” The entire plot of Before Sunrise is “Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy walk around Vienna.” But the dialogue takes us everywhere, and as Roger Ebert notes, of My Dinner with Andre, these films may be paradoxically among the most visually stimulating in the history of the cinema:

With this sunrise somehow I felt I was exactly where I was supposed to be... Have faith, the light seemed to announce.

It is the fact that time is passing that creates its preciousness.

Ordinary effort, ordinary result. ... Luck is the residue of design. Be steadfast. The anvil outlasts the hammer.

Expect nothing, and you will enjoy everything!

When I woke up I was naked. I have this one oddball idiosyncrasy: Sometimes in my sleep I take off all my clothes.

Habit, routine, and too much consistency numb our minds and pave the road for us to sleepwalk through our lives. Nothing stays the same. Everything passes, and everything changes. However, do not move too much. As an apple tree cannot bear fruit if it is too often transplanted, neither will a knight who is always building a new castle.

Now it's different, and to me it was shockingly humble, but there with my girl in my arms and our child in her belly I knew I had reached the moment my life had been waiting for. I was going to be a father and a husband. I spanked her bottom and cranked up the tunes.

Don't fear suffering. The strongest steel is forged in the hottest fire. The facts are always friendly. Without a little agony, none of us would bother to learn a thing. The earth has to be tilled before the seeds can be planted.

And you and I know you’re the best thing that ever happened to me, and, yes, that’s an expression, something people say, that has no meaning, but what I mean is there isn’t anybody in the whole world who has loved me the way you have, not my mother, not my old man, not my friends. There’s nothing preventing me and you from loving each other and being some kinda world-class shining beacon of love except how bad do we want it and what are we willing to do for it? Now, I know I did you wrong, and I was freaking out and being stupid and I was mean to you. You know sometimes I get all fucking confused and I can’t see outside of my own asshole. I’m unhappy. Why am I unhappy? It’s gotta be somebody’s fault, right? It couldn’t just be that I’m a self-centered fuck spinning around inside my own dank cloud of concerns. There isn’t anything I can think of that I really want or that the best part of me wants, that loving you won’t start doing. I love you.

Possessions can be, and most often are, a distraction from the real work of a knight's life. A lion doesn't own anything at all, yet we all know his power.

The peregrine falcon is the swiftest, most adept animal I have ever seen. It is worth noting that, like many bird, the falcon's bones are hollow. Travel light.

Those who cannot easily forgive will not collect many friends. Look for the best in others and yourself.

With practice, you build the road to accomplish your goals. Excellence lives in attention to detail. Give your all, all the time. Don't save anything for the walk home.

A knight sets out to illuminate the darkness in society, not from its leaves but from its roots. This is how justice will be realized. Find the source

Music is constructed in notes. Language in words. Both are communicating. Music is a language of feeling, the heart. Words are the music of the mind. Theater is their marriage.

I don’t remember waking up that Sunday morning —- perhaps I never slept. Iwas just sitting up in bed watching Sarah sleep. She’d slept naked in my bed but she hadn’t let me have sex with her. I didn’t care. I loved watching her sleep. The light was falling through my window, all over the blue sheets of my old bed, and onto her face. I lifted up the sheets and watched her breasts move with her breath. They seemed to be sleeping themselves. I hoped that she wouldn’t wake up. I laid the sheet back over her, right up to her chin. I looked up and out of my room. I thought, This must be what praying is like.

This is who Shakespeare was meant for: not The New York Times! Not intellectuals. Just plain folks. You play Shakespeare’s music right for a real house and that shit goes up all by itself.

Pride. Never pretend you are not a knight of attempt to diminish yourself because you deem it will make others more comfortable. We show others the most respect by offering the best of ourselves.

I personally don't think grand gestures are actually romantic. The most romantic moments of my life have been so subtle and small. A snowstorm breakfast, a walk, an accidental meeting. Whenever you start planning these grand things, 'I'm gonna pick the great flower from the top of Mt. Everest', you're already losing. You're trying too hard.

Remember, a friend does not need you to impress him. A friend loves you because you are true to yourself, not because you agree with him. Beware of grand gestures; the real mettle of friendship is forged in life's daily workings.

Hello, you've reached the winter of our discontent.

I learned that evening that rain falls equally on all things. Jealousy, fear, and anger are obstacles to a knight's first goal: a clear mind.

Grace is the ability to accept change. Be open and supple; the brittle break.

I want to want to try to never waste energy degrading someone else. Also, I want to try not to see life as a competition.

If someone asks me if I believe in God, I shake my head like I couldn’t give a shit, but the truth is, I do. I just don’t know what to do about it.

Jealousy, fear, and anger are all obstacles to a knight's first goal: a clear mind

I feel the same about cocaine as I do about eating meat,” she said. “It’s vile and ultimately morally reprehensible, but as long as I don’t pay for it—I find it quite enjoyable.

Men are weak and silly and they admire strength and goddamn it, I had it.

a man needs to aspire to greatness and if he gives up on his hope for excellence, his soul dies

Thank God. You are now a little bit lighter, you are a little bit more you. ’Cause if you can lose it—a car, an idea, a belief, a woman—it wasn’t yours.

Arrogance is born of insecurity. Pride is different. It is born of dignity, self-worth, and self-respect. We all see the world through the prism of our identity. If our self-worth is low, it affects everything we do. The point of life is to contribute to others, but without a certain self-regard, it is sometimes difficult to make breakfast.

Everything that’s happening, is happening inside the self. And whatever the self is, it is not William Harding the movie actor or the adulterer. Whatever the self is will not die when your body has worms crawling through your eye sockets.

Often we imagine that we will work hard...arrive at some distant goal, and then we will be happy. This is a delusion. Happiness is the result of a life lived with purpose. Happiness is not an objective. It is the movement of life itself, a process, an activity.

Often we imagine that we will work hard until we arrive at some distant goal, and then we will be happy. This is a delusion. Happiness is the result of a life lived with purpose. Happiness is not an objective. It is the movement of life itself, a process, and an activity. It arises from curiosity and discovery. Seek pleasure and you will quickly discover the shortest path to suffering. Other people, friends, brothers, sisters, neighbors, spouses, even your mother and I are not responsible for your happiness. Your life is your responsibility, and you always have the choice to do your best. Doing your best will bring happiness. Do not be overconcerned with avoiding pain or seeking pleasure. If you are concentrating on the results of your actions, you are not dedicated to your task.

People love to apply themselves to games, jobs, relationships, politics, to create the illusion of meaning...If I can just heal my shoulder, then I could be a quarterback! If only I could finish this documentary and tell the story of my great-uncle to the world; then I would matter. If I was a movie star, then I would exist. People will light a crack pipe or steal a television just to try and feel that they exist

I looked around me and absorbed the peace of a sprawling bustling city stopped dead, socked in snow. My puppy jumped and barked, twisting and sliding. I was instantly wildly grateful just to be awake and witness all this stillness. I don’t ever want to die, I thought, I want to live forever.

Our actions are the ground we walk on.

I do not want you children to use my untimely death, or any setback that life may deliver, as an excuse not to take responsibility for yourselves.

To head north, a knight may use the North Star to guide him, but he will not arrive at the North Star. A knight's duty is to proceed in that direction.

Oddly, with discipline, structure, and order, you will find freedom, anything is possible. Without it, locating your saddle may take all morning.

Don't you find it odd...that when you're a kid, everyone, all the world, encourages you to follow your dreams. But when you're older, somehow they act offended if you even try.

THE quality of your life will, to a large extent, be decided by with whom you elect to spend your time.

the actual joy of acting lies in the absence of personality.

the theater is the living consciousness of the world.

It’s our job to transform literature into an event. We do this with why and how. Why our character speaks and how our character speaks.

Justice. There is only one thing for which a knight has no patience: injustice. Every true knight fights for human dignity at all times.

That’s the point of acting: to bring about awareness of humanity, to conjure compassion, and to alleviate shame.

the hollow rumble of wings, the movement of darkness, and the stillness of light.

You do not need to be depressed about getting a divorce, cowboy. You may feel like you are dying, but let me tell you, you were dead! But the thing is, dead people don’t know they’re dead. You’re crying ’cause you are getting pushed through some kind of rebirth canal. Wake up and serve those children. Get the best custody deal you can—I don’t care if it’s one stinkin’ day a year—it will be one stinkin’ day a year they get to have a grown man for a father. You are a good man—go find a good woman—and have a good life. ‘Nice’ is not a bad word. Nice partner equals nice life. Crazy partner equals crazy life—you get it?

Look at this cup,” he said, pointing to the other small blue ceramic cup still sitting on the white tablecloth. “It is not overanxious to be filled. It sits patient, unmoving, and empty.” Carefully, he poured a small amount of tea into that cup. “You must be like this,” he stated with a mischievous grin, gesturing to the steam gently rising from the second blue cup. “Answers to your questions will come, but if you are not still and empty, you will never be able to retain anything.

Watching love die: that’s an ornery armor-piercing bullet. When taking the kids to school, the laundry, and the dishes rain down on the last remaining coals of your romance like piss on a morning campfire. When all you’re left with is enough smoke to choke on. Then your heart is dead.

Luck is the residue of design. A man makes being there for his son a priority—chances are good that boy’ll turn out safe. You understand me?” He looked at me head-on, the white hospital light hitting his age-spotted face directly. “What I’m saying is, being in a healthy marriage takes two. Being a good father…all that takes is you.

In singing our song, in telling our story, in inviting you to say ‘Hey, listen to me, and i’ll listen to you’, we’re starting a dialogue. And when you do that, this healing happens, and we come out of our corners, and we start to witness each other’s common humanity. We start to assert it. And when we do that, really good things happen

It’s funny—but there will be no need for insurance in heaven. None at all. And there will be so much need for poetry and songs and jokes. People will value what you’ve learned. It doesn’t matter if you can make a living. Shakespeare will be important. You will be so valuable, William. And I will just sit there listening, realizing how I’ve misspent my life.

The day had warmed, but the rain continued, which Gwen saw as a benefit. Just like with Ethan, the downpour would keep people indoors. Until she was able to get the place sealed up, she felt they were as exposed as mice in a field. While the rain was a nuisance, it had the added benefit of grounding the hawks, allowing her time to dig a burrow. Puppies, cats, ducks, and now mice, why she always thought of them in terms of small animals she had no idea except that such things were cute but also often a burden.

At around twenty-eight, twenty-nine, or thirty years old, after my kids were born, I figured I'd hit some plateau that was adulthood---where I believed things would just stay level for about forty years while I would do great work and have interesting experiences---then rather uneventfully I would begin to decay and die. But this was just not the case. I was not on a plateau. I was descending, tripping, stumbling, and burning. My whole being, or personality or self or whatever is supposed to be the seat of me, or the soul behind my eyes, was being boiled away in a giant iron cauldron like the flavor leaving a carrot.

Cochise: – We have fought long and as best we could against you. We have killed ten White Eyes for every Apache, but when one white man dies, many take his place. When one Apache dies, there is no one to take his place. We were no longer Indah, the living. We were now Indeh... the dead.

Lt. Charles Gatewood: – You’re talking about the most perfect fighting machine God ever put on this earth. … An Apache can find water and food to live on for a year in a desert that would kill a white man inside three days. … He can hide on bare ground fifty feet away so well you can’t see him. … He can ride a horse to death, cut a meal from it, and run forty miles on foot at a pace that would kill a cavalry horse. … What you’re talking about, General, is the tiger of the human species.

I brought you this book. I figured you’d remember it.” He lifted up an old worn green book I’d carried with me from ages eleven to fifteen almost without fail. “Emily Dickinson. You were a fanatic for Emily Dickinson. You remember that?” “Of course,” I said, holding the weight of the book. Inside he’d written Just to let you know some things are always here. Love, Daddy. He always tried so hard to love me, I know he did, but even with that…

You’re forgiven,” she said, and tried to smile. She clenched her jaw and wiped away her tears, frustrated with herself for crying. “But forgiveness is…overrated. Actions have repercussions-like a science experiment, a chemical reaction.” She moved back to the sink, turned both faucets on, and let the water swirl together. She looked worn out. I perceived in her eyes and in her gestures that, yes, she cared about me, she would cry about me, but in the end she could and would get over me. Somehow, I hadn’t realized that. “The truth,” she said, talking almost to herself, “doesn’t need us to protect it. All we have to do is live inside it and it will protect us, right?” I nodded; I don’t know why; I didn’t understand what she was going on about.

I’m sorry I hurt your feelings, but I love you,” I repeated. I wanted her to accept my apology and then we could kiss and get married. “You love me now?” she asked, straight-faced, turning so she was flat toward me, her hands tucked into the armpits of her sweatshirt. “I love you now.” I tried to be clear, unafraid, unconflicted. “Tomorrow?” “I want to marry you,” I said. There was a giant pause. We looked at each other.

It seemed the fluid in my inner ears was not level and that the separation from Mary was the cause.

There are only two kinds of Shakespeare productions; ones that change your life, and ones that suck shit. That's it. Because if it doesn't change the audience's life... the production has failed.

There are only two possible outcomes whenever you compare yourself to another, vanity or bitterness, and both are without value.

Do you know why King Arthur's knights could not see the mountain peak of Sea Fell"? I shook my head no, "Because"--he smiled gently--"that's where they were standing.

There is a quiet place, a room inside my guts where my head and my heart meet, where bad news is understood before it's spoken, where I am conscious even when I'm asleep, where my dreams are remembered.

Success isn’t measured by what you achieve, it’s measured by the obstacles you overcome,” Jimmy

We passed gas stations and chain food restaurants, with their billboards advertising happiness. I know the images in magazines and on TV aren't true representations of the world; I mean, that's obvious. But I still get this sinking feeling of disappointment, as if it is the world I should see.

There’s a scene in the film Reality Bites, which with all due respect to The Big Chill and The Best Years of Our Lives is the quintessential example of what results when Hollywood distills the perceived ideals of a generation into a cohesive narrative product, when Ethan Hawke’s über-slacker protagonist Troy Dyer mocks mineral water.

Some things suck; they hurt bad. The question is, Do you have the courage to let them?

Ho pensato che fosse il mio destino, ed era vero, ma il fatto che una cosa è il tuo destino non significa necessariamente che andrà bene.

Although Ethan Hawke liked River Phoenix, he thought his defining quality was “naïve pretentiousness.” Hawke said, “To me, education helps you see that your weirdness is not unique. I doubt, though, that River, at age fourteen, had read a book. He thought his ideas on life and the environment were original. Because he’d never been to school, he had no social skills, and lacked a sense of what was appropriate conversation. And he had this peculiar way of anecdotalizing his past, living his life in the third person. You had the sense he was making his own mythology. I suppose we all do that, but River went to the extreme.

In this way DNA Dreams brings to life the dystopian nightmare we encounter in the 1997 film Gattaca, in which the main character Vincent, played by Ethan Hawke, narrates: “I belonged to a new underclass, no longer determined by social status or the color of your skin. No, we have discrimination down to a science.”46 As in so much science fiction, the Whiteness of the main protagonist is telling. Not only does it deflect attention away from the fact that, in the present, many people already live a version of the dystopia represented in the film in future tense. The “unbearable Whiteness” of sci-fi expresses itself in the anxiety underlying so many dystopian visions that, if we keep going down this road, “We’re next.”47 Whether it’s Keanu Reeves in The Matrix, Matt Damon in Elysium, Chris Evans in Snowpiercer – all characters whose Whiteness, maleness, straightness, and (let’s just admit) cuteness would land them at the top of the present social order – they all find themselves in a fictional future among the downtrodden. Viewers, in turn, are compelled to identify with the future oppression of subordinated White people without necessarily feeling concern for the “old” underclasses in our midst.

Il perdono è... sopravvalutato. Ogni azione ha le sue ripercussioni: come un esperimento scientifico, una reazione chimica.