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Milius also wrote Robert Duvall’s iconic line in Apocalypse Now, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning . . . It smells like . . . victory.” And of course the line that was already my favorite in Conan, when the barbarian is asked, “What is best in life?” and he says, “Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women.”
I liked to step in and out of it. I could be an actor one minute, the next minute a beach bum, the next minute a businessman, the next minute a bodybuilding champion, the next minute a Romeo—whatever it was—but Milius was locked in. It was part of his charm.
when any Kennedy ran for office, it was all hands on deck. If you were a family member, you were supposed to put your life on hold and campaign.
In politics, when disputes arise and camps form, you have to grasp what’s happening and move very quickly.
Working with professionals, you learn a lot of nuances.
I saw myself as a businessman first. Too many actors, writers, and artists think that marketing is beneath them. But no matter what you do in life, selling is part of it.
the best movie summer ever. That summer also brought us The Road Warrior, Rocky III, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Blade Runner, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, The World According to Garp, Poltergeist, An Officer and a Gentleman, Tron, The Thing, and, of course, E.T. Conan the Barbarian held its own among them all.
After the turmoil and gloom of the 1970s, Americans voted for Reagan because he reminded them of their strength.
There has to be a social safety net. There has to be investment in the public good.
My definition of living is to have excitement always; that’s the difference between living and existing.
When I wanted to know more about business and politics, I used the same approach I did when I wanted to learn about acting: I got to know as many people as I could who were really good at it.
I wanted to feel comfortable in both worlds.
I never like to cut things from my life, I only add.
People were always talking about how few performers there are at the top of the ladder, but I was always convinced there was room for one more. I felt that, because there was so little room, people got intimidated and felt more comfortable staying on the bottom of the ladder.
I felt a great sense of calm. Because I could see it. Just as I had in bodybuilding, I believed 100 percent that I’d achieve my goal. I had a new vision in front of me, and I always feel that if I can see it and believe it, then I can achieve it.
And, of course, you are ambidextrous. All of that is reps. You have to practice each move thirty, forty, fifty times until you get it.
I learned that everything is reps and mileage. The more miles you ski, the better a skier you become; the more reps you do, the better your body. I’m a big believer in hard work, grinding it out, and not stopping until it’s done,
He’d scream at you and punish you publicly and make a scene, all the while using precise terminology that made the lighting guy feel, “This guy knows more about lights than I do. I’d better do exactly as he says.” It was an education for someone like me, who does not pay attention to such details.
I always think the world of people who make a project their own and are on it twenty-four hours a day.
You can overthink anything. There are always negatives. The more you know, the less you tend to do something.
I always felt that you should wait to marry until you are set financially and the toughest struggles of your career are behind you.
Sometimes action movies are so intense you get numb. But when you break it up and put in some humor, it’s so refreshing.”
Ted Turner said, “Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise.”
That was normal: every director wants to pee on the script and make his mark.
Starting with something disarming and funny is a good way to stand out. You become more likable, and people receive your information much better.
shifting the focus back to the idea that fitness is important for all Americans, not just athletes. “What about the other 99.9 percent of the people who never go out for sports?”
“A lot of schools have great athletic programs but not great fitness programs,”
As Jimmy Carter once said, politicians are experts at naps.
That’s the interesting thing about the human mind, that you can be so overwhelmed by something that billions of people in history have done.
there were no magazines or books around in the Stone Age, and yet every schmuck took care of babies back then, so how wrong could you go? As long as you love the baby, you figure it out, just like with everything you love doing. Caring for babies is hardwired into the brain.
how to plan and stage the event for the media: figuring out where you want them to be part of it, where you don’t want them to be part of it, and when and how they would be invited.
It was typical Cameron genius to have character development in a machine.
I was running into a teachers’ union taboo against volunteers in the schools. Encountering that attitude was a real eye-opener. It was not about the kids, as they claimed. It was about getting more teachers jobs.
Talk about the health disaster that will develop and what it will cost the taxpayer if kids don’t get fit.”
Yes, they were dealing with life and death, but they’d made decisions like this before and knew what they needed to do. There was no panic.
The fact that President Bush put such trust in me had a powerful effect. I felt there would never, ever be a time, no matter what happened, when I would violate that trust or let the man down.
Nixon was very good at paying attention to you.
“I came to America because it’s the greatest place in the world, and I’m going to do everything I can to keep it the greatest place.
For director, I was happy to land John McTiernan, who had made Predator, as well as Die Hard and The Hunt for Red October.
Reagan and Bush were out, Republicans were out, and so were mindless action movies and all the macho shit. Now was the time for Bill Clinton and Tom Hanks and movies that had meaning.
And when you feel embarrassed like I did, you tend to assume that the whole world is focused on your failure.
When you look at a cigar and it has those thick veins in it, then it’s a cheaper cigar or someone wasn’t paying attention.
the real Cuban cigar smells strongly like fertilizer.
I thought about what I had that those kids didn’t. I grew up poor too. But I had a fire inside of me to succeed and two parents who pushed me and taught me discipline. I had a strong public school education. I had after-school sports with coaches and training partners who were role models. I had mentors who told me, “You can do it, Arnold,” and then made me believe it. They were around me twenty-four hours a day, supporting me and making me grow.
the most important thing was not how much you make, but how much you invest, how much you keep.
my old motto: “Take one dollar and turn it into two.”
I believe you should get three opinions when facing a big medical decision.
“At work, you’re replaceable . . . But as a parent, you’re irreplaceable.”
She would hold imaginary conversations with him for an hour, telling him everything she’d been doing, asking questions, as if he were right there but on the other side.
California has a $1.9 trillion economy—bigger than that of Mexico, India, Canada, or Russia.
