Clooney: “When you first start out, you are just happy to get a job, any job. And as time moves on, either you move forward or screech to a halt.”

Clooney: “Art takes different forms, but it represents something that is basic in all of us — our history.”

Clooney: "I didn’t live my life in the right way for politics. I’ve f*cked too many chicks and done too many drugs, and that’s the truth."

Clooney: “You don’t want to try to look younger, because you’ll look wrong.”

Clooney: "I watch Batman & Robin from time to time. It’s the worst movie I ever made, so it’s a good lesson in humility."

Clooney: "When a man hits 40 is when roles just begin to happen. And for women, it doesn’t happen. I find that to be a very concerning issue."

Clooney: “The hardest thing is trying not to correct everything on the Internet.”

Clooney: ”Directing is really exciting. In the end, it’s more fun to be the painter than the paint.”

Clooney: "An acting career usually has a shelf life of about 10 years before people get sick of seeing you."

Clooney: "There is a strange pecking order among actors. Theatre actors look down on film actors, who look down on TV actors. Thank God for reality shows, or we wouldn’t have anybody to look down on."

Clooney: "The simple truth is everyone has an opinion, everyone has the right to voice it, and they should if they want to."

Clooney: “90 percent of films are pretty mediocre, but they have a built-in audience and open on 3,000 screens.”

Clooney: “It’s not about an opening weekend. It’s about a career, building a set of films you’re proud of. Period.”

Clooney: “Directors are the captains of the ship, and it’s your job as the lead actor to make sure that the rest of the cast understands that by doing whatever he says.”

Clooney: "When you’re young you believe it when people tell you how good you are. And that’s the danger, you inhale. Everyone will tell you-you’re a genius, which you are not, and if you understand that, you will."

Clooney: "For me, the definition of a patriot is someone who will constantly question government."

Clooney: “I find that as you get older, you start to simplify things in general.”

Clooney: “Failures are infinitely more instructive than successes.”

Clooney: “I’m kind of comfortable with getting older because it is better than the other option, which is being dead.”

Clooney: “You never really learn much from hearing yourself speak.”

Clooney: “The loneliest you will get is in the most public of arenas.”

Clooney: "In doing the screenplay for ‘Good Night, and Good Luck,’ the most important thing for me was to constantly go back to wherever the opposition would argue. So I had to keep reading all the books and articles about why McCarthy is such a good guy."

Clooney: “Having ‘Oscar winner’ on your tombstone is a great thing.”

Clooney: “It’s possible for me to make a bad movie out of a good script, but I can’t make a good movie from a bad script.”