Robert Downey, Jr. famous quotes

I know very little about acting. I'm just an incredibly gifted faker.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Acting #Littles #Gifted

To me, friendship means loving tolerance.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Mean #Tolerance

Do I want to be a hero to my son? No. I would like to be a very real human being. That's hard enough.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Real #Hero #Son

You know, when you're part of a comedic duo, you can take breaks. It's kind of like having a partner that is good with a kid.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Kids #Duos #Kind

Im such a work in progress at the moment, its crazy, and life wants me on edge, I swear to you. But as long as I dont forget the past, Im cool. One must always be mindful, just like you might forget that old girlfriend who tried to slit your throat, but shes really still hot. If you remember the stitches more than you remember the pussy, youre going to be just fine.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Girlfriend #Crazy #Past

I have a sense of destiny that you are led to the things you are supposed to do.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Destiny

Mediocrity is my biggest fear. I'm not afraid of total failure because I don't think that will happen. I'm not afraid of success because that beats the hell out of failure. It's being in the middle that scares me.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Thinking #Scare #Mediocrity

I think that we all do heroic things, but hero is not a noun, it's a verb.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Hero #Thinking #Verbs

I need a lot of support... Life is really hard, and I don't see some active benevolent force out there. I see it as basically a really cool survival game. You get on the right side of the tracks, and you now are actually working with what some people would call magic.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Games #Track #People

When you have a good script you're almost in more trouble than when you have a terrible script.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Scripts #Trouble #Terrible

If you're doing a drama that has some comedic elements you can't forget that it's primarily a very serious film that has some light relief.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Drama #Light #Relief

I'm coming from a place of total strength and humility now.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Humility

I used to be so convinced that happiness was the goal, yet all those years I was chasing after it I was unhappy in the pursuit. Maybe the goal really should be a life that values honor, duty, good work, friends and family.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Years #Goal #Honor

I know who I am. I'm a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude,
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Who I Am

Nothing's a break for me. Not even the breaks are breaks.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Break

Tofu is the root of all evil, and there's only one thing that can change a man's mind, and that's a modified Uzi with an extra-long clip.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Men #Roots #Evil

There are some parents who have really done it right and told their kid, 'You know, we have this dough, none of this is for you. You have to get your own.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Kids #Parent #Done

You can't go from a $2,000-a-night suite at La Mirage to a penitentiary, and really understand it, and come out a liberal.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Night #Interesting #Mirages

I don't think I'm in any position to give anybody advice about anything.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Thinking #Giving #Advice

Smoking dope and smoking coke, you are rendered defenseless. The only way out of that hopeless state is intervention.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Dope #Addiction #Smoking

I have a really interesting political point of view, and its not always something I say too loud at dinner tables here, but you cant go from a $2,000-a-night suite at La Mirage to a penitentiary and really understand it and come out a liberal. You cant. I wouldnt wish that experience on anyone else, but it was very, very, very educational for me and has informed my proclivities and politics every since.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Educational #Night #Views

I don't need an Iron Man suit. I'm already a weapon of mass seduction.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Men #Iron #Weapons

[Addiction's] not about placating the bad dog - it's about feeding the good dog. You still have to feed the bad dog, but only enough so that the ASPCA doesn't bring you up on charges.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Dog #Addiction #Enough

McDonald's being the official restaurant of the Olympics is like smoking being the official medicine of cancer.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Cancer #Medicine #Mcdonalds

I didn't have an identity. It was manufactured. My identity now? It was written on the wall by ancient forces.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Wall #Identity #Ancient

I'm not a poster boy for good behavior and recovery in Hollywood, I'm just a guy who knows he has a lot to be grateful for.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Grateful #Recovery #Boys

Wing Chun teaches you what to concentrate on, whether you're here or out in the world dealing with problems. It's second nature for me now. I don't even get to the point where there's a problem.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Wings #World #Problem

It's a very smart and heartfelt movie and that's why, I think, we're all drawn to it. We really showed up for this with this collective idea that it was really ambitious, but we felt we all really had something to gain from it.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Smart #Thinking #Ideas

If I was a lawyer, I'd be my own best client.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Clients #Lawyer

Pick a dysfunction and it's a family problem.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Dysfunction #Family Problems #Problem

Peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Mean #Guy #Sticks

I am in the continual process of transcending fear-based rituals
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Process #Ritual #Transcending

It’s such a floating freak show. You get a bit older and you start to see what’s going on backstage in the collective psyche of this ridiculous industry. … Nothing pleases me more than when somebody who was awe-inspired to be working with me realizes I’m just another schmuck that they’re bored of hanging out with on a set. I love that moment. I like it when that persistent illusion is smashed.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Bored #Floating #Freak

People rise out of the ashes because, at some point, they are invested with a belief in the possibility of triumph over seemingly impossible odds,
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Odds #People #Ashes

I just think it's good to be confident. If I'm not on my team why should anybody else be?
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Team #Thinking #Be Confident

I just don't like big guys who speak cryptically and act like they understand the language better than me.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Guy #Language #Speak

I don't want to be so confident in myself.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Want

Does any new parent, even if you're not a first-time parent, ever really know what to do?
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Parent #Firsts #Doe

I think that the power is the principle. The principle of moving forward, as though you have the confidence to move forward, eventually gives you confidence when you look back and see what you've done.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Motivational #Moving On #Confidence

Acting is always a challenge.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Challenges #Acting

A lot of my peer group think I'm an eccentric bisexual, like I may even have an ammonia-filled tentacle somewhere on my body. That's okay.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Thinking #Bisexual #Peers

Im thinking of buying a monkey. Then I think, Why stop at one? I don't like being limited in that way. Therefore, I'm considering a platton of monkeys, so that people will look at me and see how mellow and well-adjusted I am compared to these monkeys throwing feces around.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Thinking #People #Looks

Worrying is like praying for something you don't want to happen.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Worry #Want #Praying

Discipline for me is about respect. It's not even about self-respect; it's about respect for life and all it offers.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Self #Discipline #Self Respect

Give me a scotch, I'm starving.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Scotch #Giving #Starving

Listen, smile, agree, then do whatever you were going to do anyway.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Agree

And I think for a man whose native tongue is Spanish to be able to put together a phrase like 'cultural genocide' just speaks to how bright he is.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Men #Thinking #Together

I've always been a fella who put most of my eggs in one basket and then take a dump in the basket but I really don't know.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Eggs #Eggs In One Basket #Dump

There is unpanned gold in every soul you run into, no matter what walk of life they are from.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Running #Soul #Gold

The greatest thing my dad taught me came from when I called him from a phone booth and said, 'Hungry. No bus token. Please. Out of options.' He said, 'Pfft, get a job.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Jobs #Dad #Phones

Violent ground-acquisition games such as football are in fact a crypto-fascist metaphor for nuclear war.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Football #War #Games

I don't drink these days. I am allergic to alcohol and narcotics. I break out in handcuffs.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Beer #Alcohol #Drink

I did Air America for two reasons: to be in a movie with Mel Gibson and to make a bunch of money. And then underneath there was the hope that in doing this formulaic thing I would be launched into a whole new realm of opportunity to do A-list movies. By the time we were done, the only positive thing was meeting Mel Gibson.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Cocky #Opportunity #Air

I, personally, would be shocked if we went to the end of the tape now and I didn't have at least one... Look, even if I don't get one directly, eventually they're just going to have to give me one when I get old. So no matter how you slice it, I'm getting one.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Cocky #Giving #Tape

And last but not the least
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Badass #Lasts

I was kind of like chasing my tail and trying to do the right thing, and was a little bit stupid. Or irresponsible, which is the same thing I guess. It's just been really busy and I had a lot of great opportunities.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Stupid #Opportunity #Trying

But I think Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang really got that thing where, if a movie reads really funny and then has some dramatic or violent or sinister stuff in it, you can't forget that primarily it has to be even funnier than you read it or that other stuff doesn't work.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Kissing #Thinking #Bangs

With a terrible script you hustle and try to make it better. But with a good script it can be trouble because you rest on your laurels, so to speak, you think it's going to translate easily.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Thinking #Hustle #Trying

I loved it, it's such fun. I like that people are seeing it and then talking about it. Like when I took my son and his friends to see Napoleon Dynamite last year, we spent the next six weeks trying to explain it.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Fun #Son #Talking

I'm not 40 yet. I wouldn't even bother comparing myself to Chaplin.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Compare #Chaplin #Bother

I had this bad-boy-from-New York vibe going, dressed like a punk rocker with spiky hair.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#New York #Boys #Hair

I guess the issue for me is to keep things dynamic.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Issues

I walk by studio heads and they actually look and put their hand out now, like maybe I should be on their radar.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Hands #Looks #Should

I think I've been lucky, being my frequent appearances on Court TV have brought to me another level than just the actor guy.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Thinking #Guy #Lucky

I think it's miraculous that anybody survives themselves.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Thinking #Miraculous

I'm a soldier who didn't know how nasty the battle was going to be, and now, I've got a purple heart and I'm back.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Heart #Purple #Soldier

I felt like a fighter who was training for a title bout that had not been booked yet.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Training #Titles #Fighter

I'm not used to feeling like I belong where I am.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Feelings #Used

Everyone has a story, and the story changes, and the more I can root into the truth of things - it's so hard - I don't think anyone ever really puts it all together. But somewhere along the way it all became fused.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Thinking #Roots #Together

The lesson is that you can still make mistakes and be forgiven.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Mistake #Recovery #Sobriety

I've always felt like such an outsider in this industry. Because I'm so insane I guess.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Insane #Outsiders

It's like I have a loaded gun in my mouth and I like the taste of metal
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Gun #Mouths #Taste

People never change because they are under threat or under duress. Never. They change because they see something that makes their life seem valuable enough to start moving toward a life worth living.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Moving #People #Duress

Worrying is like praying for something you don't want to happen. I have such an overwhelming sense that if you're in the right state of heart, the next right thing appears to you.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Heart #Worry #Want

I would say that among my many huge emotional miscalculations was my taking a film career for granted. It is the most awesome privilege to be able to use one's imagination and wit, physicality and musicality, conscious brain and unconscious instinct in the service of a work that has a chance to move and excite and amuse and delight people all over the world, including long after we're dead. What a noble calling! And I felt it was just there for me as a kind of given, some sort of inherited birthright-when in reality it's the most magnificent luxury.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Moving #Reality #Emotional

Growing up is something that you do your whole life. I want to always feel that I can be a kid if I want. Growing up has some negative connotations. Like, you're not supposed to roll around on the ground anymore. You're not supposed to make fun of yourself. You're not supposed to ride a bicycle. But I'm a Toys-R-Us kid.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Growing Up #Fun #Kids

Job one is get out of that cave. A lot of people do get out but don't change,
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Jobs #People #Caves

The old saying is true, behind every good man theres an incredible woman.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Men #Good Man #Incredibles

I think you end up doing the stuff you were supposed to do at the time you were supposed to do it.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Thinking #Stuff #Ends

It's hard to get out of the barrel. It's slippery around the edges and people are happy to see you fall back in.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Fall #People #Barrels

Sometimes you just gotta be drop-kicked out of the nest.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Nests #Sometimes

I think life changes every year. This is just a little more comfortable.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Life Changing #Thinking #Years

Look, even bad years are pretty good years I think.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Thinking #Years #Looks

If I was a Pokemon, I'll either be a Psyduck or a Jigglypuff.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Pokemon

I've always just shown up and tried to figure out what's for lunch and am I going to get to play some racquetball that night.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Night #Play #Lunch

At the end of the day, anything I think I'm sacrificing I'm just giving up because it makes me feel better.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Giving Up #Feel Better #Sacrifice

I think a hero is someone who, if abroad or traveling, they go to the GOOP website to see what shops to go to, what restaurants to eat at, what clothes to buy, and they do that not fearlessly but in spite of their fear.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Hero #Thinking #Clothes

The higher the stakes, the happier I am, the better I will be.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Stakes #Higher

I'm an actor, a husband, a father of two, and a full-time Avenger.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Husband #Father #Two

But I will agree that I think that things happen with people in relationships, that you might have been able to enjoy Morocco, say, if you weren't getting out of a bad marriage. You know what I mean?
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Mean #Thinking #People

I take some pride in... representing myself exactly how I would like to have my son remember me to his kids.
-- Robert Downey, Jr.

#Kids #Pride #Son