Jack Lemmon Quotes

“It's hard enough to write a good drama, it's much harder to write a good comedy, and it's hardest of all to write a drama with comedy. Which is what life is.”

— Jack Lemmon

“Failure seldom stops you. What stops you is the fear of failure.”

— Jack Lemmon

“If you think it's hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball.”

— Jack Lemmon

“I have lost someone I loved as a brother, as a closest friend, and a remarkable human being. We have also lost one of the best damn actors we'll ever see.”

— Jack Lemmon

“If you really do want to be an actor who can satisfy himself and his audience, you need to be vulnerable. You must reach the emotional and intellectual level of ability where you can go out stark naked, emotionally, in front of an audience.”

— Jack Lemmon

“Stay humble. Always answer your phone - no matter who else is in the car.”

— Jack Lemmon

“When I'm reading material, if I'm a little bit afraid of a part and I'm willing to admit that to myself, then I'll do it, definitely. If I'm worried about being able to do it, to get it - I absolutely just love it.”

— Jack Lemmon

“I won't quit until I get run over by a truck, a producer or a critic.”

— Jack Lemmon

“Nobody deserves this much money - certainly not an actor.”

— Jack Lemmon

“I'd rather make the cut in the Crosby than win another Oscar.”

— Jack Lemmon

“I would rather play Hamlet with no rehearsal than TV golf.”

— Jack Lemmon

“No matter how successful you get, always send the elevator back down.”

— Jack Lemmon

Acting doesn't have anything to do with listening to the words. We never really listen, in general conversation, to what the other person is saying. We listen to what they mean. And what they mean is often quite apart from the words. When you see a scene between two actors that goes really well you can be sure they're not listening to each other - they're feeling what the other person is trying to get at. Know what I mean?

— Jack Lemmon

“Anything truly worthwhile does not come easy. If it did, it would not be all that worthwhile.”

— Jack Lemmon

“My career has been full of remarkable coincidences that have nothing to do with me.”

— Jack Lemmon

Success is always somebody else's opinion of you; but it doesn't amount to a damn compared to your own opinion of yourself.

— Jack Lemmon

“Part of an actor's job is to actually adopt the world-view of the character she is playing and to tell the story from that vantage point. If an actor represses large aspects of their personality, they will have a severely limited range and castability. Great actors cultivate effortless access to their subpersonalities. Many acting teachers call this 'freeing your instrument.'”

— Jack Lemmon

“How do you know that God didn't speak to Charles Darwin?”

— Jack Lemmon

Dying is not a sin. Not living is.

— Jack Lemmon

“I was born in an elevator, and - as my mother said - naturally it was going down. She said, "All I remember is telling your father, 'That's it! Never again!'" That's why I'm an only child.”

— Jack Lemmon

“I think whatever you do, if you are going to do well or even if you don't do it well, you have to have a passion for it, and I am passionate about it. I love it. I respect it and it gets me. I get off on acting.”

— Jack Lemmon

“I had no desire to be in the movies. All my training had been in the theater, thank God.”

— Jack Lemmon

“People are probably correct when they see me as the so-called Everyman. I'm attracted primarily to contemporary characters. I understand them and their frustrations.”

— Jack Lemmon

“Everything that is truly worthwhile - I think passion is involved in your approach to it. No matter what it is.”

— Jack Lemmon

“How she moves. That's just like Jell-O on springs. She must have some sort of built-in motors. I tell you, it's a whole different sex! Joe: What are you afraid of? Nobody's asking you to have a baby.”

— Jack Lemmon

“I was lying ten and had a thirty-five foot putt. I whispered over my shoulder: "How does this one break?" And my caddie said, "Who cares?"”

— Jack Lemmon

“It can be a simple sentence that makes one single point and you build for that. You zero in on one moment that gets that character, you go for it, that's it, man, and if you fail the whole thing is down the drain, but if you make it you hit the moon.”

— Jack Lemmon

“If you've been fortunate enough to live out your dream in the profession of your choice, then you have an obligation to send the elevator back down.”

— Jack Lemmon

“She has never messed up a single take yet. Recently I was in a scene and there was a table covered with a cloth. When the director said cut, I saw a black nose and two paws inching out from under the cloth. She had hidden there without making a sound until we were done with the scene. She wanted to be nearer to me.”

— Jack Lemmon

“I have never lost a total passion for my work.”

— Jack Lemmon