69 Quotes by 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.

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.

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

How do you know that God didn’t speak to Charles Darwin?

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.

Nobody deserves this much money – certainly not an actor.

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.

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.

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?”