Bill Murray Quotes

I have a brother who gives socks for Christmas. He gives socks. Every year, I get a pair of socks from him.

The studios don't seem to foster good writing. They're not so interested in that, but they're more interested in what worked most recently. They're definitely very serious about making money, and that's not a wrong thing, but you don't have to make money the same way all the time.

I try to be available for life to happen to me. We're in this life, and if you're not available, the sort of ordinary time goes past and you didn’t live it. But if you're available, life gets huge. You're really living it.

I don't believe that you can give the same performance every take. It's physically impossible, so why bother? If you don't do what is happening at that moment, then it's not real. Then you're holding something back.

Movie acting suits me because I only need to be good for ninety seconds at a time.

You know how funerals are not for the dead, they’re for the living? Bachelor parties are not for the groom, they’re for the uncommitted.

I always want to say to people who want to be rich and famous: 'try being rich first'. See if that doesn't cover most of it. There's not much downside to being rich, other than paying taxes and having your relatives ask you for money. But when you become famous, you end up with a 24-hour job.

And when I told my sons I might be in City of Ember, they said, 'Oh! You're gonna be the mayor?' And I hadn't even read the script yet.

There aren't many downsides to being rich, other than paying taxes and having relatives asking for money. But being famous, that's a 24 hour job right there.

I think that the online world has actually brought books back. People are reading because they're reading the damn screen. That's more reading than people used to do.

The automatic things you do are basically those things that keep you from doing the better things you need to do.

'Groundhog Day' was one of the greatest scripts ever written. It didn't even get nominated for an Academy Award.

You can handle just about anything that comes at you out on the road with a believable grin, common sense and whiskey.

I think if you can take care of yourself, and then maybe try to take care of someone else, that's sort of how you're supposed to live.

My first movie, I got nominated for a Canadian Oscar-for Meatballs. For MEATBALLS. And who am I up against? George C. Scott. So he wins the award and I stand up and go, 'That's it-let's get the hell outta here.'

You cannot pray them out of hell.

We still have to put some cherry syrup on it, and then we can eat it

Eh, it's not that attractive to have a plan. I know that if I ever feel that I need to make a funny movie, I’ll figure out how to write one. I’ll get it done. If I ever get some ambition, I’m gonna get some shit done.

One of the things I like about acting is that, in a funny way, I come back to myself.

It's much harder to play beloved than to play a rotten guy. Rotten guy is a piece of cake. So playing a beloved person really sets a high bar for your behavior and your acting and what you project.

Parties are only bad when a fight breaks out, when men fight over women or vice versa. Someone takes a fall, an ambulance comes, and the police arrive. If you can avoid those things, pretty much all behaviour is acceptable.

I realized the more fun I had, the more relaxed I was working, the better I worked.

Melancholy is kind of sweet sometimes, I think. It's not a negative thing. It's not a mean thing. It's just something that happens in life, like autumn.

Yeah, I think that's sort of the American way. And it's also the Polish way, it turns out.

There are people who drove me crazy, but they got the job done. And when I see that person again, I nod my head. Respect.

I think all phases of one's career are serious if you take it seriously no matter if you are doing high profile dramatic pieces or not.

When you act obnoxious towards people, like on a movie set, they say "we're ready for you" and I say "oh, go to hell, my feet hurt and my head aches." You want to have a margarita for lunch, and people like these little ADs and production assistants are like, "well, he's drinking again."

I met a woman who photographed celebrity dogs for a book, and she told me that Ralph Lauren's dog is named Rugby. I said, Yeah, but his real name is Stickball.

Life is a game, and it's much more fun if you play it as your own game, so stay light and loose and relaxed.

The way financing for independent movies goes is great. You get the money from the guy who's actually doing the distribution in France. You say, "Do you want a piece of this movie?" And he's got to sell this movie to get his money back. That's the brains of it; that's the genius of this financing. "You want Germany? Give us a million dollars and you've got Germany."

You know the theory of cell irritability? If you take an amoeba cell and poke it a thousand times, it will change and then re-form into its original shape. And then, the thousandth time you poke this amoeba, the cell will completely collapse and become nothing. That's kind of what it's like being famous. People say hi, how are you doing, and after the thousandth time, you just get angry; you really pop.

I count on the kindness of strangers.

I've retired a couple of times. It's great, because you can just say, 'Oh, I'm sorry. I'm retired.'

The money thing is, the sort of Elvis Presley thing of buying you mother car is great, that's very good. My mother has learned how to spend money.

Whatever you do, always give 100%. Unless you're donating blood.

Don't think about your errors or failures; otherwise, you'll never do a thing.