Michael Madsen Quotes

I just asked myself, what piece of that man's soul did he just chew off and swallow to get next week's assignment? You know, just to live, just to work as an artist, or to feed the family?

Some of the movies I did - well, you have to feed your family.

I've done millions of mediocre movies. I've done way more than my fair share. You do what you gotta do. This is not heart surgery. I'm not curing cancer. I'm just trying to put my kids through school.

I so rarely turned down a role, that I can't say I have any regrets in that regard. There were many roles that I would rather not have done, but having a home and family requires that we sometimes do things we would rather not.

While we should never give up our principles, we must also realize that we cannot maintain our principles unless we survive.

The usual complaint is, 'I have no other way of earning a living.' The harsh reply can be, 'Do you have to live?'

I know a lot of writers who would much rather be writing the Great American Novel, but they've got bills to pay and alimony, and so they take a job at a less-than-reputable paper. You know, you do what you gotta do.

Necessity makes an honest man a knave.

Some people were breaking in to get food for their families. They were in survivor mode. Don’t confuse that with a guy carting off a 64 inch television set and looting…. The test is take the mirror and put it in front of your face and ask what would you do.

Early in my career I had to be a goon to survive. I did everything I had to do and probably some things I shouldn't have.

Grub first, then ethics.

You win any which way you can. You do what you have to do to get by. That's the way it works in any job.

As artists, we'd all love to not be commercial - to not sell out to the full extent that we are able. But you do what you have to do to pay New York rent and continue to do what you feel strongly about.

There was no drive because I wanted to become a great designer... I had two small children and a mother, and we all had to eat. That's the drive I had.

We all have choices we have to make, and with those choices come certain sacrifices.

We live, not as we wish to, but as we can.

I went into acting because I had to make a good living. I had a child now and I had to support him any way I could... I wasn't happy, but I wasn't unhappy. I was just doing what I had to do to survive.

I always studied because I knew I had to. I needed to survive and take care of my mother.

Parts of you die with every decision you have to make. It becomes about making decisions between bad decisions and worse decisions.

Everybody has to sell out at some point to make a living.

What is right and what is practicable are two different things.

I believe I could commit a crime. We all can. It depends on which situations we find ourselves in. In despair, I would steal food if my children were hungry.

I wanted to be a painter when I was a kid. And then, I had to make a living. I had a child when I was in high school, so I kind of had that work phase in my life.

What would it take for me to eat human flesh? If that was the only way to stay alive, I would. I would eat anything.

I went back to work because someone had to pay for the groceries.