Charlton Heston Quotes

So that this nation may long endure, I urge you to follow in the hallowed footsteps of the great disobedience of history that freed exiles, founded religions, defeated tyrants, and yes, in the hands of an aroused rabble in arms and a few great men

[President Clinton] boasts about 186,000 people denied firearms under the Brady Law rules. The Brady Law has been in force for three years. In that time, they have prosecuted seven people and put three of them in prison. You know, the President has entertained more felons than that at fundraising coffees in the White House, for Pete's sake.

I always work on the theory that the audience will believe you best if you believe yourself.

I've come to feel very strongly, not as a joke, that if you appoint a committee of more than four people, their efficiency starts to deteriorate.

To be an actor you need four things: energy, concentration, a lot of luck and, of course, good roles.

The trouble with movies as a business is that it's an art, and the trouble with movies as art is that it's a business.

The physical mechanics of sex are pretty funny unless you are engaged in them. Then they are, of course, marvelous.

A clear enunciation of these rights needs to be enshrined in the constitution to guarantee that this basic right of law-abiding gun owners and sportsmen shall not be infringed upon by anti-gun public officials.

In terms of pure physical effort, today was probably as hard as I've worked in any part. I spent the morning rowing, including the change of speeds Arrius [the Roman commander] test Judah with. A real bone-breaker.

For an actor, there is no greater loss than the loss of his audience.

A policemans job is only easy in a police state.

I used to think if it wasn't possible to be a family man and a totally dedicated artist, I'd rather be the former. I'm an idealist and a romantic.

I'm neither giving up nor giving in.

Dirty Harry, for example. Clint Eastwood was not a rogue cop. He was a maverick cop, but he was a good guy.

The Internet is for lonely people. People should live.

I don't seem to fit really into the 20th Century

You can have my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.

I have played some of the great men in history and I believe in the great man who does heroic deeds, even in these egalitarian times.

I've used too many pistols in too many movies. They're kind of heavy to carry ...

A war put off is not a war avoided.

Shakespeare is the outstanding example of how that can be done. In all of Shakespeare's plays, no matter what tragic events occur, no matter what rises and falls, we return to stability in the end.

We don't think well of our presidents when they are serving. Even Kennedy, with such a short presidency, was beginning to lose his remarkable appeal to the American people when he was suddenly sainted by death.

I didn`t change. The Democratic Party slid to the Left from right under me.

I simply cannot stand by and watch a right guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States come under attack from those who either can't understand it, don't like the sound of it, or find themselves too philosophically squeamish to see why it remains the first among equals: Because it is the right we turn to when all else fails. That's why the Second Amendment is America's first freedom.

One way or another, if you're persistent, fortune always smiles on you.

I've been a public person for most of my life. It has advantages and disadvantages. I can't take my kids to Disneyland. On the other hand, I can get a table at a restaurant or tickets to a play.

It's the camel's nose in the tent. Look at Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, Idi Amin
every one of these monsters, on seizing power, their first act was to confiscate all firearms in private hands ...

I think there are probably more closet conservatives in Hollywood than there are closet homosexuals.

Political correctness is tyranny with manners.

What you hold in your hand is proof of man's power - against which our strength means nothing. It has the force of 100 spears. I warn you, man's ingenuity goes hand-in-hand with their cruelty. No creature is as devious or violent.

Well, we have certainly produced great art before we did this. In my view, there are any number of areas of government which tax money should not be spent.

I intend to dedicate my remaining time as president of the NRA to ensure that the Second Amendment is safe from Al Gore and all those who threaten it.

In what I think is the most serious problem the world faces, which is the population explosion, we will come I think to a time when measures that are not even dreamt of now will become necessary.

It's fashionable for modern actors to talk about getting 'inside' a character. But you can't get to the inside without getting the outside right first.

Celebrity is a corrosive condition for the soul.

It's been quite a ride. I loved every minute of it.

My dad always said he wanted to be remembered for his body of work, and he's made more than 75 pictures, some good, some bad, and they will be his legacy to the world of acting.

The minute you feel you have given a faultless performance is the time to get out.

We will preach the truth to a new generation: The doorway to all freedoms is framed with muskets. It's time the apologists step aside and let freedom's followers lead the way.

An epic is the easiest kind of picture to make badly.

The First Amendment is crucial. Of course it is. So are all the others. And the Second Amendment is the one that guarantees that people can bear arms to protect themselves.

Political Correctness, what does it mean? It means that telling us what to think has evolved into telling us what to say, so telling us what to do can't be far behind. Before you claim to be a champion of free thought, tell me: Why did political correctness originate on American campuses? And why do you continue to tolerate it? Why do you, who're supposed to debate ideas, surrender to suppression? Let's be honest. Who thinks professors can say what they really believe? It scares me to death, and should scare you too, that the superstition of political correctness rules the halls of reason.

You could think of extraordinary examples to the contrary: The Grapes of Wrath ... and even into the 70s.

I think narcotics and alcohol, and even tobacco are enormously costly ingredients in our society.

The big studio era is from the coming of sound until 1950, until I came in ... I came in at a crux in film, which was the end of the studio era and the rise of filmmaking.

Any gun in the hands of a bad man is a bad thing. Any gun in the hands of a decent person is no threat to anybody - except bad people.

I've played three presidents, three saints and two geniuses - and that's probably enough for any man.

As an actor, I'm thankful I have lived not one life, but many.

Life is full of surprises, isn't it?