I play John Wayne in every part regardless of the character, and I've been doing okay, haven't I?

Don't ever for a minute make the mistake of looking down your nose at westerns. They're art - the good ones, I mean. They deal in life and sudden death and primitive struggle, and with the basic emotions - love, hate, and anger - thrown in. We'll have westerns films as long as the cameras keep turning. The fascination that the Old West has will never die. And as long as people want to pay money to see me act, I'll keep on making westerns until the day I die.

If everything isn't black and white, I say, 'Why the hell not?'

I have tried to live my life so that my family would love me and my friends respect me. The others can do whatever the hell they please.

Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave? Sure I love my country with all her faults. I'm not ashamed of that, never have been, never will be. I was proud when President Nixon ordered the mining of Haiphong Harbor, which we should have done long ago, because I think we're helping a brave little country defend herself against Communist invasion. That's what I tried to show in The Green Berets and I took plenty of abuse from the critics.

The fire is not discriminating. It burns anything in its path for whatever reason.

Life's hard. It's even harder when you're stupid.