Forest Whitaker Quotes

I don't have any regrets. When I quit college and moved to Los Angeles to become an actress, it was so that I would not look back and have any regrets.

I started with the firm conviction that when I came to the end, I wanted to be regretting the things that I had done, not the things I hadn't.

When you get older, it's not about what you did that you regret, it's what you didn't do.

I would hate to be 65 and think, 'What if I had tried to be an actor?'

I always knew I wanted to act, but I never knew when and what would be the right time.

The hardest part when I decided to move into acting was trusting I'd made the right decision.

I don't regret giving up football for acting. I love football and am very proud I played for Morton. But the truth is, I wasn't going to get much higher in football. At the same time, I sensed I could go somewhere in acting. I'm 28, which is young for acting, whereas in football I'd now be near the end of my career.

To me, it's always interesting to see what people end up regretting, as a way maybe to avoid such regrets in your own life.

I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't done.

I missed so many opportunities along the way to do what I wanted to do because I didn't have the confidence to tell myself, much less anybody else, 'Yes, this is the business I wanted to be a part of, and not feeling that I had the talent... and letting it go all the way through Notre Dame and then through two years of Navy service.

I firmly believe that life is an 'and' proposition and not an 'or' one. If you really love something, you just have to try it. The worse that can happen is that you'll be told 'no.'

I've been very lucky not to have turned down too many roles that I've later regretted.

I think the moments that are difficult for anybody are when you see what your life could be, if only you had the courage to take the steps needed.

Either you let your life slip away by not doing the things you want to do, or you get up and do them.

I always wanted to be a doctor and go to art school, but I thought I'd regret it if I didn't act.

I think I don't regret a single 'excess' of my responsive youth - I only regret, in my chilled age, certain occasions and possibilities I didn't embrace.

You don't want to leave 'what if's in life.

It's important to seize the moment. If there's something you want to say, don't put it off, because you might miss your chance.

I don't have regrets. I've never sat here and thought, 'Gee, if only I'd done 'The Man Who Came to Dinner' on Broadway, I would have been happier.'

I think it's never too late to start anything, except maybe being a ballerina.

I would have loved the opportunity to have gone to drama school, but it just didn't work out for me; there are always several paths, and there's a reason why I've been down this path.

I was fortunate enough to crash the right audition when I was 15, and just took it from there.

I left home at 21 to go and play for Munich and was immediately able to perform at a high standard. It was totally surreal, and I had no idea where it might lead.

You've got to go for what you love and not look back 30 years, 40 years later and say, 'I never tried.' You got to try.

You tend to regret the things you haven't done.