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.
A man’s got to have a code, a creed to live by, no matter his job.
I don’t want ever to appear in a film that would embarrass a viewer. A man can take his wife, mother, and his daughter to one of my movies and never be ashamed or embarrassed for going.
There’s right and there’s wrong. You got to do one or the other. You do the one and you’re living. You do the other and you may be walking around, but you’re dead as a beaver hat.
Healthy, lusty sex is wonderful.
We built your fort. We will not have it used against us.
The only thing they can get me for is running a funeral parlor without a license.
I figured I needed a gimmick, so I dreamed up this drawl, the squint and a way of moving meant to suggest that I wasn’t looking for trouble but would just as soon throw a bottle at your head as not. I practiced in front of a mirror.
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.
I play John Wayne in every part regardless of the character, and I’ve been doing okay, haven’t I?
COWBOYS, just like the word says.
Thanking people is dangerous business. A name always slips your mind.
Any man who’d make an X-rated movie ought to have to take his daughter to see it.
Sometimes I wonder whose side God’s on.
This kind of war, you’ve gotta believe in what you’re fighting for.
Get off your butt and join the Marines!
Republic. I like the sound of the word.
Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave?
Senator Joseph McCarthy was one of the greatest Americans who ever lived.
Screw ambiguity. Perversion and corruption masquerade as ambiguity. I don’t trust ambiguity. John Wayne.
Hell, the truth is that I was named after a dog!