Tommy Lee Jones Quotes

My hunger and desperation, being an actor, an out of work actor - my memory of that is as fresh as an open wound.

My life as a professional musician is a joyless exercise in futility.

It's a blessing and a curse. But it's not always the best situation to be in. As a profession, I don't recommend acting at all.

But I have learned a thing or two; I know as sure as fate, when we lock up our lives for wealth, the gold key comes too late.

To be famous and broke is hard.

I don't want to dream anymore, I want my life to be real!

I've never been in jeopardy, but being an actor is a pretty shady place to be because you never know where your next job is.

The poor wish to be rich, the rich wish to be happy, the single wish to be married, and the married wish to be dead.

It was scary, and I knew what it was like to be an unemployed actress again.

There's almost nothing worse to live with than a struggling artist.

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.

For me, the path of failure exceeded by far the joys of success. My plight was hopeless.

It's not a very secure industry. I've spoken to a couple of people recently who had a successful TV show and then found themselves absolutely skint and struggling to find a job.

Many years ago, I really didn't know where the next work was coming from.

I'm very unstable; there's no stability in a musician's life at all. You live on a bus or on the road hand to mouth and you don't know where your money's coming from.

I felt a failure because I couldn't sustain myself from what I earned from my writing. My day jobs were what mattered, and it was hard to even get those because universities wouldn't hire me as a real writer.

I still have to work paycheck to paycheck. Being in show business doesn't indicate that you're a 'success,' in my opinion.

When I was focusing on theater, I would go on for months without any work and could hardly pay the rent.

There was a period of time in Los Angeles when I wondered if I was just going to lose everything.

By the time I left the bar, I was 30. I was a dishwasher. They call it a bar-back, but essentially, I washed dishes for a living. I had no high-school diploma, I had no agent, and my literary successes were non-existent... but it was the only thing I ever wanted to do, so I did feel trapped.

I know I'm probably digging for fresh fruit in the garbage, and as much as anyone, my attitude is, if stuff's sincere, it's gooey and boring and uninteresting. But it's no way to live.

I became bitter, hard, cold. I was always on a panic - couldn't buy clothes or a good place to live.

When you're a young actor, you're expected to live a transient life.

I was on 'Gilmore Girls' for seven years and had a couple decent years after that. Then, two years of almost nothing. I had jobs here and there, but I got very, very scared.

I was your typical struggling actress. I went to every audition, took a million acting, dancing and singing lessons and spent years wondering where my next meal was coming from.