Everything I do has a moral to it.

You get kicked around long enough, you become a professor of pain.

I'm what you call a Depression sailor.

It was my mom who told me, "Ernie, if you make even one person happy with your smile or a funny thing you did every day, you'll have accomplished a great deal." And that's all I've ever tried to do.

I don't chart out the life histories of the people I play. If I did, I'd be in trouble. I work with my heart and my head, and naturally emotions follow.

Writers used to make such wonderful pictures without all that swearing, all that cursing. And now it seems that you can't say three words without cursing. And I don't think that's right.

If John Wayne were alive, he’d be rolling over in his grave!

Every time I step in front of a camera I feel young again. I really do. It keeps your mind active and it keeps you going.

It's not your word that matters, it's who you give it too.

Gary Cooper - the greatest listener in the world! And he used to answer in kind, which is wonderful because you don't see that anymore. People don't listen. They really don't.

The Navy has changed a great deal. Not that the officers of my day were bad, because I served under a lot of good officers, believe me. But there were a few bad ones, too.

The head learns new things, but the heart forever practices old experiences.

The nearest I have ever seen to the great Willie Pep

It's a lot easier to lose than it is to win. It's easier, but it's not more comfortable.

I got to see the best players in the world every year the week after the U.S. Nationals, which is now known as the US Open, in Los Angeles. That made a huge difference in my life.

The state of sleep is a state of freedom in which man is not occupied with the manipulation of the outside world.

When the mind sees itself in the mirror of relationship, from that perception there is self-knowledge.

No heart can conceive that treasury of mercies which lies in this one privilege, in having liberty and ability to approach unto God at all times, according to his mind and will.

I read assiduously. I kept in touch with my species.

If the intention is unclean, the deed that follows from it will also be evil, even if it seems good.

Poetry is when you talk to yourself.