David Carradine Quotes


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The Quotable David Carradine
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Do you hang on David Carradine's every word?
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  • Most famous lines
  • Personal quotes about career and life
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David Carradine's Famous Lines

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Movie/TV title
:Kung Fu (1972-1975)

Character name:
Kwai Chang Caine

Quote(s):Meador: I've done that before. Not like the way you mean it. I drunk to the health of everybody from the Atlantic to the Pacific and half way back again. And somehow along the line it came to me that I was the only one raising my glass. Now there's nothing to celebrate for. Nothing to celebrate with.
Kwai Chang Caine: When a man has nothing, it is then he is most able to raise himself up.

Caine: Is it good to seek the past, Master Po? Does it not rob the present?
Master Po: If a man dwells on the past, then he robs the present. But if a man ignores the past, he may rob the future. The seeds of our destiny are nurtured by the roots of our past.

Caine: I seek not to know the answers, but to understand the questions.

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Movie/TV title
:Kill Bill 1 & 2

Character name:Bill
Quote(s):
Now, a staple of the superhero mythology is, there's the superhero and there's the alter ego. Batman is actually Bruce Wayne, Spider-Man is actually Peter Parker. When that character wakes up in the morning, he's Peter Parker. He has to put on a costume to become Spider-Man. And it is in that characteristic Superman stands alone. Superman didn't become Superman. Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he's Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red "S", that's the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears – the glasses, the business suit – that's the costume. That's the costume Superman wears to blend in with us. Clark Kent is how Superman views us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent? He's weak, he's unsure of himself, he's a coward. Clark Kent is Superman's critique on the whole human race.

You're not a bad person. You're a terrific person. You're my favorite person. But every once in a while, you can be a real ****

Bill: I was just admiring your sword. Quite a piece of work. Speaking of which, how is Hanzo-san?
The Bride
: He's good.
Bill
: Has his sushi gotten any better? [The Bride shakes her head] You know, I couldn't believe it. You got him to make you a sword.
The Bride: It was easy. I just dropped your name, Bill.
Bill: [chuckles] That'd do it.

Bill: Mommy is still angry at Daddy.
B.B.
: Why?
Bill: Well, sweety, I love Mommy, but I did to Mommy what you did to Emilio.
B.B.: You stomped on Mommy?
Bill
: Worse. I shot Mommy. Not pretend shoot, like we were just doing. I shot her for real.
B.B.
: Why? Did you want to see what would happen?
Bill: No, I knew what would happen to Mommy if I shot her. What I didn't know is, when I shot Mommy, what would happen to me.
B.B.
: What happened?
Bill:
I was very sad. And that was when I learned, some things, once you do, they can never be undone.
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Americana
Movie: "Americana"

Character: Vietnam Vet.

Quote:
Shopkeeper:"What do you want a sickle for?"
Vietnam Vet: " 'Cuz I'm a communist and I already have an hammer."


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Bound For Glory

Movie: Bound For Glory

Character: Woody Guthrie

Quote: "This Land Was Made For You And Me"

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The Serpent's Egg

Movie: The Serpent's Egg

Character: Abel Rosenberg

Quote:
Rosenberg:"Go to Hell!"
Prostitute: "Where do you think we are?"

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Sundown


Movie: Sundown, The Vampire in Retreat

Character: Jozak Mardulak/Count Dracula

Quote(s):Jozek Mardulak: We must learn to coexist.
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Movie/TV title
:Bird on a Wire

Character name
:
Eugene Sorenson

Quote(s)
:(sorenson & diggs are leaving the house of a colombian mob boss in atlantic city)
Sorenson: What do these colombians want?...foolproof, we've got all the custom agents,borderguards,everything is in place
Diggs: we've got a little problem,its time to finish it, we've got to find him & take him out
Sorenson: easier said than done

(sorenson finally meets rick outside the garage in detroit)
Sorenson: you've got an interesting accent there
Rick: oh ****
Sorenson: then,you always were a kind of an actor were'nt you
Rick: you killed him,I had nothing to do with it
Sorenson: still a do gooder.... hey rick my friend mr diggs is kind of worried about that. Ive already served my time thanks to you
Rick:what the hell has he got on you?...you still his flunky?
Sorenson: what are you some kind of hero?....hiding your ass in some kind of grease pit for 15 years


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Movie/TV title
:
Death Race 2000

Character name
:
Frankenstein

Quote(s)
:
[Annie has just taken off his mask; he is supposed to be hideous to look at]
Frankenstein: What'd you expect, another pretty face?

Frankenstein: You want to make love to me because I drive the Monster and wear this costume.


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Movie/TV title
:Crank 2

Character name
:
Poon Dong

Quote(s)
:


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Movie/TV title:Lone Wolf McQuade

Character name:Rawley Wilkes

Quote(s)
:
Rawley Wilkes: The boys are just having a little fun.
J.J. McQuade: You wanna join the fun?

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Movie/TV title:Boxcar Bertha

Character name:Big Bill Shelley

Quote(s)
:
'Big' Bill Shelly: Hey, Bertha!

Big Bill (to other railroad worker): "Spike your ass."

After Bertha initiates the prison break:
Bill:
Well, at least I wouldn't be about to hand that God damned deputy my ass on a platter.
Bertha: You needn't to honey. As far as I could tell he already had it.

Sartoris: [John Carradine] "Hey you. You there, with what you think is a cuspidor. 'Lay not up for yourselves treasures on Earth...'"
Big Bill: "'... where thieves break in and steal.'"
Sartoris: "I see you sort of know your Bible."
Big Bill: "What do mean 'sort of'?"
Sartoris: Well, you forgot something. the passage goes 'lay not up for yourselves treasures on Earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven...' "
Big Bill: [motioning with his gun] "This here's my Bible."
Sartoris: "Oh."

Last dialogue before the crucifixion:
Bertha
: The fighting's really over for ya now, huh?
Bill: Hell, no. Not 'til I'm dead.
Bertha: Ya don't have'ta rush it.
Bill: The point of each man to die is the judgment.
Bertha: Well, you don't have'ta rush it.

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Movie/TV title:Q

Character name:
Detective Shepard

Quote(s)
:


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Movie/TV title
:
The Long Riders

Character name
:Cole Younger


Quote(s):Cole Younger: When this is all over, I'm goin' to write a book; make myself more famous than I already am.
Frank James: I trust you'll give me a copy.
Cole Younger: Nope. You gotta pay, Frank; you gotta pay.

Cole Younger: First getting shot, then getting married - bad habits.

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Movie/TV title:North & South (6 episodes, 1986)

Character name:
Justin LaMotte

Quote(s)
:Justin LaMotte: Would you like to watch while I kill your lover?
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Movie/TV title:The Misfit Brigade

Character:
Col. Von Weisshagen

Quote(s)
:Col. Von Weisshagen: I will send you ALL to the Eastern Front!

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Movie/TV title:Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II

Character:
:Dark One

Quote(s)
:Dark One: See ya next quest.

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Movie/TV title:Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (84 episodes, 1993-1997)

Character:
Kwai Chang Caine

Quote(s)
:KCC: Like the jackal who mocks his prey, you use fear to intimidate. The weakness of the jackal is his arrogance, and arrogance is the downfall of anyone who subverts the truth

Priest: You find the trappings of our faith (Christianity) curious.
KCC: There is wisdom in all traditions, every ritual.
Priest: Some, but not all. Exorcism is an empty ritual. It has no place in the modern church.
KCC: And yet your superiors prescribe it.
KCC: You have the weakness to defend your injury with killing. Have you not the strength to forgive?

KCC: The first moment that you feel the displacement of air (an attack forthcoming) you must strike out, without hesitation. But, you must feel the stillness of the air first. In stillness you can see the flight of the bird, and the opening of an eye.
Peter: I was cheating (he opened his closed eyes, to intercept an attack).
KCC: I know. Why would you compromise your honor for such a small thing?
Peter: I wanted to do it right.
KCC: A man who has no skills can be taught, a man who has no honor has nothing. You must guard your honor. It is the most precious possession that you will ever have. The one thing that cannot be taken away from you (forcibly).
Peter: I’m sorry.
KCC: No need to be sorry, we have both learned a valuable lesson

KCC: When you physically abuse someone, perhaps you see in that victim, all that you have lost in yourself (i.e.- They are always there for you). The negative impact of society has not seeped in or taken over. It has always been there. No one can do anything about it. It is in the bone. Peace, walking side-by-side with rage. All the violence and all the evil that you find in yourself, I have in me. Perhaps more strongly. We are all men.
Man: How do you deal with it?
KCC: You cannot suppress it, it is too powerful to drive out, and you must not ignore it. Embrace it! That is what binds us together. Knowing that it is in us all, enables us to understand each other, and it allows us to forgive one another and ourselves. To try is all any of us can do

KCC: What do you see?
Peter: The fire.
KCC: And within the fire?
Peter: The color of the flame and sparks floating up to the sky, the wood being consumed into nothingness.
KCC: The joining - do you not see that as well?
Peter: No. I see nothing coming together.
KCC: That is the pretense, not the truth. The fire is a marriage between the air, wood, and flame. Between them they become something which neither is, and yet each are.
Peter: I do not see that.
KCC: No. You see the pretense. As you go through life, you will find many things that seem obvious, then you will remember the fire. Everything is not what it pretends to be. That is the lesson of the fire.
Peter: How will I know when something is not what it pretends to be?
KCC: Ask. But every once in a while, you will find that the pretense may be the truth

KCC: Fear will fill your being. It will consume your thoughts, but it can only live and breath as long as you allow it to. When you can embrace it and make it one with your hopes and joys. It will cease to have power over you.

KCC: Fear is your companion, your friend, your ally. If our hands tremble it is because your body responds to your thoughts. Beware of your enemy - who he is, where he is. When you become one with him, your hands will cease to tremble. When you vanquish him. You will no longer be afraid
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Kain
Movie/TV title: The Warrior and the Sorceress

Character: Kain

Quote(s):


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Golden Boys

Movie: The Golden Boys (AKA: Chatham)

Character: Captain Zebulon Hedge

Quote: " It's queer how trouble acts on people. Sorta like hot weather; It spoils milk but sweetens apples.'

Quote:
John Bartlett: "Suppose God called you to break man's law and keep His, what would you do?
Capt. Zeb: Well, I guess the first thing to do would be to make sure it was the Almighty that was calling."

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Permanent Vacation

Movie: Permanent Vacation

Character: Old Man

Quote:
Old Man: [explaining what he has in common with Karl Marx] " I'm just a theoretician, the practitioners will come later."

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Pearl

Movie: Sonny Boy

Character: Pearl

Quote: "If you lay one hand on this child, Slue, honey, I'm leaving you. I mean it."

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Movie: Deathsport

Character: Kaz Oshay

Quote: "We'll shoot together,one at a time."

David Carradine Quotes
Help construct the ultimate crib sheet of quotes about career, costars, the Hollywood fame game, and more! Add an attribution, when possible.
On Ingmar Bergman: It is hard to describe what it was like working for Ingmar. He was a very strange man,both likable and hateable. The closest I can come is to say that working for him was exactly like being a character in an Ingmar Bergman movie. [Carradine, David (1995) Endless Highway, pg. 438]

More on Bergman: [After Carradine had had a very bad reaction to a scene in the Serpent's Egg (which was not in his script) which involved the slaughter of a horse in the street] I told him [Bergman], "Killing animals and photographing the act for profit is extremely perverted. It makes your movie a 'snuff film' " He said he didn't hurt actors. I said "What's the difference?" He said "Actors are people." I said, "So are horses." [sic] He said, "I'm doing this for Art..." I said, "Ingmar, there is nothing more artistic than a live horse." He said,"That's not true. I'm showing people this horror so they can be shocked into seeing something. They are used to going to the movies. I'm showing them something to shock them out of their complacency." At this point, we stopped. I grabbed him and said, "What about your soul?" [sic] For a moment he didn't know what to do...he didn't expect someone to come up and ask him about his soul. Then he recovered himself. He looked at me as though I were a stupid child. That's probably what he thought I was. He said "Little brother, I'm an old whore. I have shot two other horses, burned one, and strangled a dog." I just stared at him. What could I say? [Carradine claimed that this confrontation caused the abandonment of elaborate plans that he and Bergman had for further collaboration- Carradine, David (1995) Endless Highway, pgs. 439-441]

On Being The Inspiration For "Desperado": Glen Frey told me that he had written the song, "Desperado", about me. I replied that he probably told that to every movie star he met. Years later, The Eagles' manager, without prompting, told me the same thing, so maybe it's true. [Carradine, David (1995) Endless Highway, pg.482]

The Rules of Freeloading
: [taught to him by a friend named Stan] If someone lets you crash at his pad; Never take the last one of anything out of the fridge. Once in a while, buy something. Milk is good. It's big so he will notice it, and it is cheap. Never make long distances phone calls. Never sleep in his bed. It's a violation of his sovereignty. Never be in bed when he goes to work. He's working his ass off to pay the rent. If he sees you sleeping in, it will depress him. Get up early and leave the pad. Come back when he is gone. Then you can crash all day, but don't be in bed when he comes home. Be gone. People will ask him, "How's Jack working out?" [His name was "Jack" before he changed it to David]. And he'll say, "Fine. I hardly see the guy." A little housework will extend your welcome. Don't let him see you doing it, it will make him nervous. Empty ashtrays, wash the dishes. Take out the trash. Make your bed. Flush the toilet. [Carradine, David (1995) Endless Highway, pg. 173]

Because you know how you say I`ve got to really get down and really do some training and then of course, you never do or you do it for a couple of weeks and slough it back off again but I`m being forced to do something that I really want to do and I loved it.

I think there`s also something that Quentin wants to tell us - they are comic book characters, the people in Kill Bill, but that they are sort of superheroes, or super villains, or super something. They are beyond the problems of humanity, beyond the day-to-day stuff.

I remember when I did the pilot, and I though no network is going to want to do this. How could that happen? A half Chinese guy walking the old west that doesn`t fire one gun and never gets on a horse?

I like Bill a lot. As Bill is presented, I mean you don`t ever see Bill blow her head off? You know? And I think what Quentin has done is he created a monster.

I don`t need to convince anybody that I know kung fu, but maybe somebody needs to know that I really can act, without doing a Chinese accent or a funny walk.

But, Tarantino has seen all of my movies. He`s seen my good stuff, he`s seen my bad stuff, he`s seen the ones I directed, he`s read my autobiography. There`s an awful lot of things he knows about me, all of which I think had something to do with his casting.

In the second installment, I pretty much dominate the show. Somehow or another, though, I manage to apparently dominate the first show pretty well with just my voice and my hands and a shot of my boots kicking cartridges out of the way.

If you cannot be a poet, be the poem.

I`ve worked with a lot of real heavy hitters, and Quentin is maybe heads and shoulders, at least a forehead, above just about anybody I`ve ever worked with.

I`m not regretful about dropping acid, but I could have stopped it a little sooner.

Quentin and I were constantly finding something new that we had in common and comic books were one of them. I think we were talking about comic books much earlier in our relationship, before I had the part.

My big fight is not in the movie and I don`t understand that decision but I know he`s right about it, whatever it is. Quentin did not hire me because I`m a kung fu expert; he hired me because he liked to listen to me talk.

Most actors spend a lot of time training themselves to be an actor. And I kind of didn`t do that. I just started doing` it in front of an audience and had to deliver.

It was pretty extensive - we worked out 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 3 months, which I think is more than anybody in the Olympics. I thought well I don`t need this, the girls need it, but it was a gift.

It turned out that this stuff that the Chinese guys do is not really kung fu. It`s very different and I did need to learn how to do that.

There`s an alternative. There`s always a third way, and it`s not a combination of the other two ways. It`s a different way.

The success of the `86 movie with Brandon Lee demanded some kind of continuation. Plus, I had always contemplated a modern version.

Tarantino is the coolest damn guy; he`s just so much fun to work with. He might be the best director I`ve ever worked with. He just seems to know how to do it and he knows how to make you feel good about it. He`s having so much fun you start having fun. You can`t help it.

Quentin wanted to create this special world in which everybody walks around with a samurai sword, extras in the airport, a special little place in the airplane to stick your samurai sword.

Quentin is very organic; there was no way that he was going to put someone else`s hand in there and anyway, my hands are kind of famous. It seemed right.

You`ve got to be so hip to be into these things, and Quentin is that hip. Nobody I`ve ever worked with has been that hip to so much of that stuff.

You know, I`ve never actually really believed that death is inevitable. I just think it`s a rumor.

Why would you be afraid of death? It would be an inconvenience. I have a lot of undone things and it`s bound to get in the way. But, no, it doesn`t scare me at all.

Well I would never say to anybody that Warren Beatty got fired, but uh, I think he and Quentin fell out of love, and I think Warren told Quentin to hire me for the film.

[On his late friend and one-time co-star, fellow actor Brandon Lee] "He was always giving 110%, and it produced a light in the eyes, which is what you look for in movies."

[reflecting on his lengthy acting career] "It`s always seemed to me like a mission. A holy one, like the Blues Brothers. It`s a marathon. You can`t quit, even coming in dead last has honor. Quitting doesn`t. Look, I had absolute faith in my future when I was starving in New York and no one believed in me besides me and my girlfriend. I`d be stupid to lose that faith after I`ve become a fucking icon. Oh, yes. And I love the work."

There`s an alternative. There`s always a third way, and it`s not a combination of the other two ways. It`s a different way.

Quotes About David Carradine
Quote:My Uncle David was a brilliantly talented, fiercely intelligent and generous man. He was the nexus of our family in so many ways, and drew us together over the years and kept us connected. I adored him as a child, and as an adult I admired and respected him.
"We will all miss him terribly, and are so grateful for everyone's condolences. The passing of someone so loved is extremely difficult under any circumstances."
Who said/wrote it:his niece martha plimpton

Quote: he lived a very full and charmed life.
"(I don't know) what demons may have been battling him towards the end, but I would have never, ever thought that he would kill himself. I find that to be almost unbelievable - that he hung (sic) himself. He did not seem like the person that would take his own life. It just seems so out of character."
Who said/wrote it:vivica a fox

Quote:David was one of the first actors I ever worked with when I started my career and the closest person to a brother that I ever had in my life
"I had been thinking about calling him for the last several days and advise anybody who has been thinking about reaching out to a loved one to do so. I have so many great memories of David that I wouldn't even know where to begin."
Who said/wrote it:Michael Madsen

Quote: You were a true hero to so many of us children of the 70s. We'll miss you, Kwai Chang Caine
Who said/wrote it:Rainn Wilson


Quote:We met when we made Boxcar Bertha together, almost 40 years ago. I have very fond memories of our time together on that picture and on Mean Streets, where he agreed to do a brief cameo. "David was a great collaborator, a uniquely talented actor, and a wonderful spirit. He loved movies, acting in movies, making movies, and he was always extremely generous.
Who said/wrote it:Martin Scorsese


Quote:"Then too, David Carradine wanted to accompany us. He was about twelve and we did not want him tagging along.[sic]...we said he could come with us on the condition that he swear to secrecy and never tell anyone about our activities. He agreed so we took him with us. Tom turned on the Wellesley College campus radio station and started broadcasting. I left after ten minutes, but young David Carradine went squealing all over campus and I was the one who got blamed for turning on the station by the Wellesley police detective. I never forgot David Carradine's name. During the mid 1970's, while I was having lunch with David Rawlings [sic] Rawlings reintroduced me to David Carradine [sic] as the two Davids had just begun working on a tv series entitled Kung Fu. Carradine did not recall me, or my name, but I remembered his name. [NOTE: Supposedly Carradine had accompanied his father, John, who was performing in a play at Wellesley, to Massachusetts where, on the campus, he was introduced to Phillip Lambro as "David". In reality, at the time that Carradine was twelve years old, he was called "Jack". He did not change his name to 'David", or even thought to change his name, until he was well into adulthood. Whether or not the Wellesley incident took place, Lambro could not have "always remembered" his name was DAVID Carradine.]
Who said/wrote it: Phillip Lambro [a composer known for movie scores]