Dick Van Dyke Quotes

The stupidest thing I ever did was turn down 'Terms of Endearment' to do 'Cannonball Run II.' Jim Brooks wrote the part of the astronaut for me. Taking that role would have been a way to get all the things I wanted.

I feel most badly, though, [because] after 10 years, I was at the company, I wanted to go back to New York where I was from. Why I didn’t go to Steve Jobs and say, ‘Steve, let’s figure out how you can come back and lead your company.’ I didn’t do that, it was a terrible mistake on my part. I can’t figure out why I didn’t have the wisdom to do that. But I didn’t. And as life has it, shortly after that, I was fired.

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

The one mistake I will always kick myself for is not doing 'Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?' It was written for me.

I don't regret leaving Bayern Munich. I am convinced it was the correct step for me.

There are a couple of times I would've liked to have married. I think I made a mistake, especially once.

If someone were to say, 'Well, what would you have done differently?' I'd say, 'Nothing'. I think you need to make mistakes.

Of course, you could, no doubt, call my going to film school the biggest mistake I ever made.

Attackers may sometimes regret bad moves, but it is much worse to forever regret an opportunity you allowed to pass you by.

No second chance?" A wry smile twisted Carrick's lips. "There might have been, had I not waited so long to take it.

Driving down the wrong road and knowing it, The fork years behind, how many have thought To pull up on the shoulder and leave the car Empty, strike out across the fields; and how many Are still mazed among dock and thistle, Seeking the road they should have taken?

Wall Street was sort of at the height of the fame, everyone thought it was really cool, and I think taking that job, doing something probably more for the money was probably the worst thing I think I've ever done.

We should think seriously before we slam doors, before we burn bridges, before we saw off the limb on which we find ourselves sitting.

If you are afraid to take a chance, take one anyway. What you don't do can create the same regrets as the mistakes you make.

Everything wrong I've ever done has always seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

He who will not when he may, may not when he will.

The only mistake I ever made was not listening to my gut.

If you don't pursue what you think will be most meaningful, you will regret it. Life is long. There is always time for Plan B. But don't begin with it.

Don't make the kinds of mistakes that will bring regret.

I am not a trained actor and am not near the top of anyone's want list. I go after what I am offered, if I am so inclined. Now and then, I get offers for things that are not to my liking, in that I just don't care about the story. All this super tough guy stuff isn't anything that interests me all that much. I can't think of anything I turned down that I regret.

When you're young, you're very insecure. And if I could learn, if I could revisit my own past I could say to myself, don't think too much, just get on and do it.

I'm not sure what I am anymore... Sometimes I think I'm nothing but what other people have done to me―a big collection of brainwashing, surgeries, and cures... That, and all the mistakes I've made. All the people I've disappointed.

The truth is I don't regret it. It was the right decision [not run for president] for my family, and the right decision for me.

It was a once in a lifetime thing. I hate to think it but I bet it's true. It's too bad for us that our once in a lifetime happened when were too young to handle it.

It was like when you make a move in chess and just as you take your finger off the piece, you see the mistake you've made, and there's this panic because you don't know yet the scale of disaster you've left yourself open to.