96+ Best Samuel L Jackson Quotes: Exclusive Selection

Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American actor and film producer. Profoundly inspirational Samuel L Jackson quotes will challenge the way you think, and make your life worth living.

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Famous Samuel L Jackson Quotes

But Medicine is a demonstrative Science, and all its processes should be proved by established principles, and be based on positive inductions. That the proceedings of Medicine are not of this character, in to be attributed to the manner of its cultivation, and not to the nature of the Science itself. – Samuel L Jackson

The Oregon Journal in its head and heart will stand for the people, be truly Democratic and free from political entanglements and machinations, believing in the principles that promise the greatest good to the greatest number-to ALL MEN, regardless of race, creed or previous condition of servitude… It will be a fair newspaper, not a dull and selfish sheet. – Samuel L Jackson

Those are the rules. To improvise in a movie with other people, when they’re following a script, everybody has to know what’s going on. I think a line or two we might change. Certainly, I do. But I wouldn’t call it improvising. I’d call it fudging the lines. – Samuel L Jackson

I’ve never been to jail. I’ve never been arrested. I’ve never been locked up. – Samuel L Jackson

Long Kiss Goodnight has a huge cult following. They could make another version of that movie right now and make a lot of money. – Samuel L Jackson

Any changes that I made to my line, I asked if I could make them, which I do in every movie. So far everybody’s been gracious enough to say yes. The only improvising I do is in the movies I do with Chris Guest, which is what we do. – Samuel L Jackson

Everybody likes an extraordinary person or likes to think that they would be great with a superpower in an ordinary world. – Samuel L Jackson

Die Hard With A Vengeance shooting was a great time, because we had an interesting script. The first script was called Simon Says, and something was going on, because some days we’d get to work, but we wouldn’t actually have dialogue. We would go to Bruce’s Willis trailer, and they’d say, Okay, you have to go from 168th Street to 97th Street today. We’re going to do it in the cab, and Sam, you say this. Bruce, what do you want to say? And that’s how Bruce’s hey, Zeus! thing came up. – Samuel L Jackson

When people want me to sign an autograph in a restaurant, and I’m eating. I don’t even have to say no, I just kind of stop and look at them … Oh, okay. I’ll … I’ll come back. – Samuel L Jackson

I’m a character actor and that’s what I do. All the roles that I’ve had have been mainly support roles, because character actors don’t usually get the lead in movies. It rarely happens. – Samuel L Jackson

I sit at home and read books. I watch movies. I watch television. I go and play golf. I don’t go to nightclubs. I don’t go out to dinner that often. I’m not a big party guy. – Samuel L Jackson

Just ’cause you pour syrup on something doesnt make it pancakes. – Samuel L Jackson

I grew up in the South with guns everywhere and we never shot anyone. This [shooting] is about people who aren’t taught the value of life. – Samuel L Jackson

I don’t understand how people live without creating. – Samuel L Jackson

Young guys don’t tend to want to portray people who have frailties or are less than macho. – Samuel L Jackson

I get paid all day, every day, which is almost too much for a sensitive artist. – Samuel L Jackson

People know about the Klan and the overt racism, but the killing of one’s soul little by little, day after day, is a lot worse than someone coming in your house and lynching you. – Samuel L Jackson

My ass may be dumb, but I ain’t no dumbass. – Samuel L Jackson

Because of where I come from, I never thought I’d see in my life a black candidate running for President. – Samuel L Jackson

It’s always interesting to play characters who are vulnerable and how you display that vulnerability and what it’s going to mean to people who watch it. – Samuel L Jackson

I read, watch television, watch movies, hang out with family. I like my clothes and I have great cars, and I drive those. But for most people, it’s like, That’s boring. You don’t club? You don’t party? – Samuel L Jackson

If you are a Jedi, just understand something: people are going to be chasing you. The Jedi Council of every city you enter is going to be chasing you. I’ve been accosted by the Jedi Council in Rio and everywhere else. – Samuel L Jackson

It was actually a lot more helpful to have Calvin Hart, a cop, as my template. He was also my technical advisor on Shaft. This time, I kinda got to go to Jersey City with him, and hang around, and watch him interact with other cops, people in the projects, and see what it means to be him. People call him ‘Big Daddy’ and he’s this larger-than-life hero to a lot of people. – Samuel L Jackson

I see myself as a storyteller. So, when I read something, I see the story, and I see it on screen, in my head, in a certain way. I always want to see it and see me in it. – Samuel L Jackson

I just always knew that I lived in two worlds. There was the world of my house and community, but to make my way in that white world I had to modify the way I spoke and acted. I had to sometimes not make direct eye contact. – Samuel L Jackson

You ain’t got but one life. You ought to live it the way you want. – Samuel L Jackson

Jackson doesn’t bother to read the scripts anymore. He just checks to make sure he has one loud scene where he gets to shout, then cashes the paycheck. – Samuel L Jackson

When I’m not working, I like to play golf. – Samuel L Jackson

You know me. It’s my duty to please that booty. – Samuel L Jackson

Take a stand for what’s right. Raise a ruckus and make a change. You may not always be popular, but you’ll be part of something larger and bigger and greater than yourself. Besides, making history is extremely cool. – Samuel L Jackson

Not everybody goes to movies to get their life changed. – Samuel L Jackson

I love comic books and I love anime. – Samuel L Jackson

I tend to play characters that I can infuse with certain kinds of humour. Even the baddest guy can be funny in his own particular way. I want the audience to engage with the character on some deeper level so that they leave the cinema still thinking about him. – Samuel L Jackson

I have a lot more energy than I used to have. I sleep better. I like the way I look in my clothes better. I don’t cramp as much. I exercise better. I think my circulation has gotten better. – Samuel L Jackson

I’m a good son, a good father, a good husband – I’ve been married to the same woman for 30 years. I’m a good friend. I finished college, I have my education, I donate money anonymously. So when people criticize the kind of characters that I play on screen, I go, ‘You know, that’s part of history.’ – Samuel L Jackson

There are some movies that deserve criticism. They want people to know that it’s a great dramatic accomplishment and has some great performances in it. But, c’mon. Yes, you will have some fun if you go see ‘Snakes on a Plane.’ Snakes are biting people – and they’re biting them right on screen. There’s nothing to review. It’s not ‘Snakes on the Waterfront.’ You don’t have snakes going, ‘I coulda been a constrictor.’ No. Hell no. It’s ‘Snakes on a Plane.’ – Samuel L Jackson

I used to like watching Helen Mirren’s early films, because she was always naked. It’s titillating. – Samuel L Jackson

The certainty that life cannot be long, and the probability that it will be much shorter than nature allows, ought to awaken every man to the active prosecution of whatever he is desirous to perform. – Samuel L Jackson

All movies aren’t fun; some are hard work. You try to do something and convey a set of emotions that have to do with some real life kind of stuff. – Samuel L Jackson

I kind of realize that I have a tendency to choose the kind of films I watched when I was a kid and would go home and pretend with my friends that we were in those movies after we saw them. – Samuel L Jackson

Certain comedians work with certain actors; like Adam Sandler worked with Jack Nicholson. – Samuel L Jackson

I’m pretty focused on what I do. I think directing is a very specific talent, and I’m not real big on putting puzzles together, which is basically what a film is. – Samuel L Jackson

If there’s an interesting role that comes up as a great support role in a decent picture, then I’ll do that. – Samuel L Jackson

I’m a one-take kind of guy, except I don’t do it in one take. – Samuel L Jackson

Painters get up and paint. Writers get up and write. I like to get up and act. It’s not a big deal. It makes me happy. – Samuel L Jackson

Not everything’s made to win an Academy Award. – Samuel L Jackson

I never did one thing right in my life, you know that? Not one. That takes skill. – Samuel L Jackson

If you do not have courage, you may not have the opportunity to use any of your other virtues. – Samuel L Jackson

I’ve been fortunate to be in films that are classic, that are going to be around. – Samuel L Jackson

I understood, through rehab, things about creating characters. I understood that creating whole people means knowing where we come from, how we can make a mistake and how we overcome things to make ourselves stronger. – Samuel L Jackson

I was desperate on Coming To America set – not to buy drugs or anything, but I had a person at home, a girlfriend who’s telling you, You’re out the bills and food. You need this, you need that. And you either get it, or don’t come back. That was me. – Samuel L Jackson

Lifelong readers continue to read, finding in books the means to enjoy life or endure it – Samuel L Jackson

I think I’ve had my taste.I got to work with Sam [L.Jackson]. I can say I did it. I had my shot. I’d love to do something with [Robert] De Niro or Dustin Hoffman or Al Pacino. Those are guys I grew up watching. That would be wonderful. Now that I’ve gotten a taste working with a bona fide movie star, I think I’d be more prepared to go head to head with some of the big boys. – Samuel L Jackson

I don’t get the great story line, action, mystery scripts; I get comedies. And relationship comedies are what I do. It’s what attracted me to American Pie. – Samuel L Jackson

I actually think I have an audience member’s sensibility about going to the movies. – Samuel L Jackson

I voted for Barack because he was black. ‘Cuz that’s why other folks vote for other people – because they look like them… That’s American politics, pure and simple. – Samuel L Jackson

Everybody has to learn that the world works in very specific ways, and you’re not in charge of it. – Samuel L Jackson

You just let people do what they do and look at them and give them enough rope until they do what you thought they were going to do… which is screw you over. – Samuel L Jackson

I actually think it’s going to be the intriguing plot [ in Black Snake Moan] point that brings people into the film. – Samuel L Jackson

Michelle Obama is Superwoman. What can’t she do? That’s why people love her. She can be on the Supreme Court and anywhere else she wants. She can be the president. She’s history and she’ll stay history because she is so amazingly smart and together. – Samuel L Jackson

Everything that I’ve gone through informs me and my opinions in a way, I guess because I am a child of segregation. I lived through it. I lived in it. I was of it. – Samuel L Jackson

I’ve made a way to allow myself to do big films, small films, dramas, comedies, action films, horror films, or whatever interests me, as a movie-goer. I like watching myself in movies. I want to choose movies that allow me to enjoy myself, the way that I want to entertain myself. – Samuel L Jackson

I like books. I’ve always got a literature book going. I’d be in there reading, in my off time. – Samuel L Jackson

Anyone who tells you money can’t buy happiness never had any. – Samuel L Jackson

I walk the streets, take the train, it’s real simple. Some actors create their own mythology: ‘Oh, I’m so famous I can’t go places, because I created this mythology that I’m so famous I can’t go places. – Samuel L Jackson

I think the biggest challenges for franchises are keeping them fresh and exciting, and most times, you need a good bad guy to make that thing continually work, and sometimes they don’t. – Samuel L Jackson

It was fun to be in a scene again with [my wife LaTanya Richardson]. We used to do plays together all the time. We hadn’t really worked together since Losing Isaiah [1995]. That was kind of early on in both of our cinematic careers. Things have changed a little bit since then. – Samuel L Jackson

My dad was an absentee dad, so it was always important to me that I was part of my daughter’s life, and she deserved two parents, which is part of the rationale behind us staying married for 30 years. – Samuel L Jackson

I guess the worst day I have had was when I had to stand up in rehab in front of my wife and daughter and say ‘Hi, my name is Sam and I am an addict.’ – Samuel L Jackson

Girl, don’t make me put my foot in your ass. – Samuel L Jackson

If you have an opportunity to use your voice you should use it. – Samuel L Jackson

I’m actually very ordinary, except people get to pay their money to come watch me work. The same way that we go to McDonald’s.. we don’t care about the guy behind the counter, but if he was doing something special, we’d pay our money to go watch him cook that hamburger. – Samuel L Jackson

When the riots happened in L.A., they didn’t go to Beverly Hills to trash Rodeo Drive. They trashed their own neighborhoods. It’s one of those tragedies that we always see in riot situations, where the only thing that they can lash out against is the stuff that’s right there in their own communities. They destroy the very things that help them survive in their own community. There is a level of futility in that. – Samuel L Jackson

I approach my work the way an actor approaches their work. The only difference is that I do comedy, and my job is to make things funny. My style makes things sound like they’re improvisational and happening right then and there. – Samuel L Jackson

We’ve come a long way in our thinking, but also in our moral decay. I can’t imagine Dr. King watching the ‘Real Housewives’ or ‘Jersey Shore.’ – Samuel L Jackson

Those that have loved longest love best. – Samuel L Jackson

I’m not as angry as I used to be. But I can get in touch with that anger pretty quickly if I feel my space is being invaded or somebody is not treating me with the respect that I think I want. – Samuel L Jackson

We need to change America’s image round the world. America has lost some lustre in terms of how folks aspire to be like us. – Samuel L Jackson

Doing [a relationship comedy] with Sam [L. Jackson] was exciting. I’ve done a lot of comedies with a lot of comedy people. My peers. I’ve never worked with anybody of the kind of dramatic caliber of movie actor that Sam is. It was a little bit intimidating for the first day. Or two… Or the first week. Other than that, it was a joy. – Samuel L Jackson

Todoroff is the best. Look no further. – Samuel L Jackson

I trust most people. Not producers. – Samuel L Jackson

I’ve consequently played a lot of different cops from a lot of different kind of law enforcement agencies. – Samuel L Jackson

I did ‘Formula 51’ because I got to run around Liverpool in a kilt, with golf clubs. – Samuel L Jackson

The best advice that was given to me was that I had to be 10 times smarter, braver and more polite to be equal. So I did. – Samuel L Jackson

I never had one beer. If I bought a six-pack of beer, I kept drinking till all six beers were gone. You have to have that kind of understanding about yourself. I haven’t had a drink now in 12 years. – Samuel L Jackson

I don’t run around shooting people. Much. I only shoot two people a year. Maybe. – Samuel L Jackson

I was Gator in Jungle Fever, and Chris Rock played Pookie, and those showed two very different dynamics of what crackheads were. Mine was more about the family relationships. So when people sat there and got that, they can sit there and say, Oh, man, that’s my friend. Or That’s my brother. Or cousin or somebody. They empathize, or they had something that they could latch onto, in that particular movie, of my story, and go with it. – Samuel L Jackson

I act the way I talk. It probably comes from starting out in Second City, improvisational theater. I can go from take to take. I’ll ask for another take. – Samuel L Jackson

I run into a lot of kids who are either on R&R, or on their way to Iraq. They all know who I am and are fans, but they’re kids! I am yet to meet one that’s over 23. Yet they’re full-time warriors. – Samuel L Jackson

When I saw the script [of The Man], I saw the character and knew I could do the character. It’s a relationship movie, which is also what I love to do. That’s what attracts me to projects. – Samuel L Jackson

Sometimes one of my ways of choosing movies that I want to do is if it’s the kind of movie I would have gone to see when I was a kid, and this is a movie I actually did go see, as a kid. And I think it will be exciting for audiences to see now. – Samuel L Jackson

I’m as serious as a heart attack. – Samuel L Jackson

The only thing I’ve kind of missed is finding a really good western that I want to do, because I watched westerns a lot. – Samuel L Jackson

I understand the rural south because I spent a lot of time in it when I was a kid and my grandfather’s brothers were farmers and I spent time on the farm when I was a kid with them walking through the fields and working and hanging out. – Samuel L Jackson

The thing I get the most [in public] is, ‘Hey, Eugene.’ You know what I mean? There’s no catch phrase like: ‘What a week I’m having.’ People will actually just say, ‘Hey, Eugene’ or ‘Hi, Eugene.’ It’s a great thing; they feel that comfortable calling me by my first name. It’s not being forward. It depends how you say it. I think they can’t help themselves. They think they know me. I find it gratifying. – Samuel L Jackson

What kills me is that everybody thinks I like Jazz. – Samuel L Jackson