120 best Morgan Freeman quotes: Wisdom from Hollywood's voice of reason
Morgan Freeman is a highly acclaimed American actor, producer, and narrator. The actor has had a prolific career spanning over five decades. He has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Morgan Freeman's quotes about life, love, success and hard work will motivate you.
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Key takeaways
- Freeman is known for his roles in films like The Shawshank Redemption, Driving Miss Daisy, and Million Dollar Baby.
- His quotes often emphasize the importance of challenging oneself as a path to growth.
- One of Morgan Freeman's most famous quotes is, "If you want to see a miracle, be the miracle"
Morgan Freeman quotes
Freeman is regarded as one of the greatest actors of his generation. He rose to fame in the 1970s for his role in the children's television series The Electric Company. Below is a compilation of his quotes touching on a wide range of topics, including love, life, kindness, and success.
Best Morgan Freeman quotes
Over the years, Morgan Freeman has shared many inspiring and thought-provoking quotes. Here are some of the best quotes from Morgan Freeman that can motivate and inspire you.
- If you live a life of make-believe, your life isn’t worth anything until you do something that does challenge your reality. And to me, sailing the open ocean is a real challenge, because it’s life or death.
- Was I always going to be here? No, I was not. I was going to be homeless at one time, a taxi driver, a truck driver, or any kind of job that would get me a crust of bread. You never know what’s going to happen.
- Challenge yourself; it’s the only path which leads to growth.
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- Don't be different just for different's sake. If you see it differently, function that way. Follow your own muse, always.
- Dr. Martin Luther King is not a black hero. He is an American hero.
- Let me be the first to tell you, drinking alcohol is the worst thing to do in cold weather. Hot soup is the best because the process of digesting food helps to warm you up.
- The best way to guarantee a loss is to quit.
- We humans are more concerned with having than with being.
- When you have made your choice, it is providence that is your guide. Good, bad, or indifferent. Your fate lies in that.
- I can say that life is good to me. Has been and is good. So I think my task is to be good to it. How do you be good to life? You live it.
- One of the things you can always depend on – this is one of the truths of the universe, and you heard it first from here – whatever we decide we want to do is what we do.
- I don’t want a Black History Month. Black history is American history.
- Fatigue, discomfort, and discouragement are merely symptoms of effort.
- And some places you been before are so great that you don't ever mind going back. Some places you been before you don't ever want to go back, you know, like Montreal in the Winter.
- Attacking People With Disabilities is the Lowest Display of Power I Can Think Of.
- Anyone who spends a significant amount of time with me finds me disagreeable.
- The highest power is the human mind. That’s where God came from and my belief in God is my belief in myself.
- I’m a firm believer that things happen as they should. The universe unfolds just as it’s supposed to.
- It’s what I learn from the great actors that I work with. Stillness. That’s all and that’s the hardest thing.
- How are we going to get rid of racism? Stop talking about it!
- That’s your job as the actor, to understand the human part of the character, to make it real.
Morgan Freeman’s quotes on life
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Morgan Freeman is known for his wise and inspiring words about life. He shares thoughts on staying strong, never giving up, and enjoying every moment. Here are some of Morgan Freeman’s best quotes about life.
- Learning how to be still, to really be still and let life happen – that stillness becomes a radiance
- I have to remind myself that some birds aren’t meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away the part of you that knows it was a win to lock them up does rejoice.
- I've got a lot of life left in me and I want to live it doing things I like to do.
- Life doesn't offer you promises whatsoever so it's very easy to become, 'Whatever happened to... ?' It's great to be wanted. I spent a few years not being wanted and this is better.
- If your life turns out to be good and you have a tremendous amount of luck in your life, it's a good thing to turn around and make it work for others.
- Life will go on, we will prevail.
- These walls are funny. First, you hate ’em, then you get used to ’em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That’s institutionalized.
- Finding joy is probably tantamount to finding yourself and being comfortable in your own skin.
- If I wasn’t acting, I have no clue what I’d be doing ’cause I have no other talent.
- I’m making a great effort because sometimes life is not enjoyable. Sometimes it’s painful and sometimes it’s stressful, sometimes it’s agonizing even, so I think once you get around those humps: strive for pleasure and peace.
- One of the things you can always depend on – this is one of the truths of the universe, and you heard it first from here – whatever we decide we want to do is what we do.
- If you look back on your life and where you started from it’s like looking back down a mountain back to the desert floor. It’s like now I can’t believe I had whatever it takes or perceived whatever it took to get here.
- You don’t know how much you appreciate your privacy until you don’t have it.
- I’ve been living with myself all of my life, so I know all of me. So when I watch me, all I see is me. It’s boring.
- Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.
- I’m always trying new things and learning new things. If there isn’t anything more you can learn – go off and die.
- Insanity is coasting through life in a miserable existence when you have a caged lion locked inside and the key to release it.
- Not only do I have to live, right, I have to get some cash for my troubles; it's a scary thing, and people need to start to think about the messages that they send in the movies.
Inspirational Morgan Freeman quotes
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Inspirational Morgan Freeman quotes encourage strength, confidence, and never giving up on your dreams. Here are some of the most inspirational quotes by him to motivate and uplift you.
- Don’t be afraid of what you want. This is your time. The barriers are down.
- Truth has many shades. It’s not a matter of black and white, but gray.
- The best way to confront, or deal with, technological innovation is to keep moving technologically.
- I’m not intimidated by lead roles. I’m better in them. I don’t feel pressure. I feel released at times like that. That’s what I’m born to do.
- If you wake up and the snow is knee-deep outside, you are not filled with rage. It’s just something that you’ve got to cope with. If you’re living in a situation it’s the only situation that you know, and you’ve got to deal with it.
- I try to keep my mind active. I’m a solitaire and puzzle addict. I exercise religiously. I don’t do many things religiously and I’ve taken up golf to have something to do when I have nothing to do.
- You can’t take credit for talent; you can only take credit for using it.
- Very often, you know, you stop walking because you say, ‘Well, I’m tired of climbing this hill. I’m never going to get to the top.’ And you’re only two steps from the top.
- As you grow in this business, you learn how to do more with less.
- I believe it doesn’t really matter where you work as long as you work. Keep sharpening your teeth.
- I don’t have to work. I could stop and never have to worry about paying the rent. I’m working for the joy of doing it.
- All you have to do is believe, then you will see everything.
- Sometimes the best way to solve a problem is to walk away from it for a while.
Morgan Freeman quotes on persistence and opportunity
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Morgan Freeman is known for his wise, powerful and encouraging words that motivate people to keep going. These motivational Morgan Freeman quotes will push you forward and keep you inspired.
- I always tell my kids if you lay down, people will step over you. But if you keep scrambling, if you keep going, someone will always, always give you a hand. Always. But you gotta keep dancing, you gotta keep your feet moving.
- People hear that and say I’m being modest. But I am not a modest person, but I have to be truthful about what I’m doing and what I’m doing is channelling.
- If you’re not living on the edge then you’re taking up a little too much space.
- I was lucky in that when the opportunity came, I was prepared to meet it.
- I feel fine, I don’t care who the director is. All you have to do is know what your doing – all of us – everybody in the business – that’s all you ask anyone – you know your job, I know mine, let’s go do it.
- The fact that the people who are making the decisions about moviemaking are not moviemakers is a big problem.
- Some people say the most important thing a fighter can have is heart. Show me a fighter who was nothing but heart and I’ll show you a man waiting for a beating.
- Apathy is the solution It’s easier to steal what you want than it is to earn it. It’s easier to beat a child than it is to raise it. Hell, love costs it takes effort and work.
- I’ve always been a fan of or desired to or responded to variety. I like variety in life, so variety in work is a must.
- If we don’t save the oceans, if we don’t do something about what we’re doing to the oceans, as well as the planet at large, we’re going to be really sorry.
- I always wanted to be a fireman, a cop, an Indian chief, a doctor, a lawyer. I always wanted to be all these things, so I am drawn to these kinds of characters.
- Nobody is trying to save energy. We’re trying to shift our use of fuel. Forget saving energy; if we get the right kind of energy, there are endless amounts.
- I don’t think that anyone learns anything. Well, I mean, you do always learn something if you have your eyes and ears open. You do learn something from every outing, every time that you go for it. But for me what actors do is interact and that’s why you have to do that.
Morgan Freeman’s quotes about love and kindness
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Morgan Freeman’s quotes about kindness and love encourage care for others, spread kindness, and appreciate the people in your life. Here are some of his best quotes about love and kindness you can share with your family and friends.
- How do we change the world? One random act of kindness at a time.
- Kindness in thinking or giving creates profoundness and happiness. Kindness in saying creates an everlasting love.
- I don’t get off on romantic parts. But I often think if I had had my dental work done early on, well, maybe.
- If you get called on to help somebody pull focus to some good cause, that’s good use of your fame. I don’t try to avoid that.
- Forgiveness liberates the soul, it removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon.
- I once heard a wise man say there are no perfect men. Only perfect intentions.
- You measure yourself by the people who measure themselves by you.
- Love is the only energy I’ve ever used as a writer. I’ve never written out of anger, although anger has informed love.
- In the harshest place on Earth, ... love finds a way.
Morgan Freeman’s quotes about success and hard work
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Morgan Freeman believes that success comes from hard work and determination. His quotes about success and hard work remind you to stay focused, keep working, and never give up on your goals.
- Never let pride be your guiding principle. Let your accomplishments speak for you.
- Stage is really hard work. You’ve got to do it every night. Not like doing it once and walking away.
- The trick to any profession is making it look easy.
- Literacy could be the ladder out of poverty.
- Every job has a challenge. The challenge is to do it and make it look right like you belong there – wherever that is.
- To be included among this group of highly accomplished actors is just magical.
- I think you take a job, you owe it as much passion as the job itself demands. And most jobs demand that you be totally committed.
- Everybody works the same, but the preparation very often may be different. You cannot work differently. You have to say the words that were written on the page, and you have to make your marks. That’s the work.
- Stillness. It's what I learn from the actors I work with. That's all, and that's the hardest thing.
- When I was doing theatre, I was very successful at believing that I was great, God's gift to the theatre.
Funny Morgan Freeman quotes
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Morgan Freeman is not only wise but also has a great sense of humour. His funny quotes bring laughter while still sharing smart and meaningful messages.
- I’m easy going for the most part but sometimes in the morning if I didn’t sleep well I can be kind of grumpy. But my grumpiness doesn’t have that much to do with my dissatisfaction with my station in life.
- I am going to stop calling you a white man and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man.
- Is there a movie I think I should have won the Oscar for? Yeah. All of them.
- How do we stop racism? Stop talking about it!
- I’m not a comedian. I don’t make things funny if they’re not funny. I don’t invent funny stuff.
- If I stay at home, I’m not famous. I’m only famous when I’m out in the streets, so I don’t go out on the streets much.
- I think you have to be left-brained, to a certain extent, to understand science. I can talk about it, but I can’t do it.
- I was a B student in math, simply because my teachers liked me, as an actor.
- That’s really just the worst part of life really, you get bracketed somewhere and the next thing you know people are saying, ‘No. No. That’s not the type. Get me so and so.’ I’m not a type. I’m an actor.
- If you’re comfortable on a horse, you’re comfortable on a horse. It’s like being on a motorbike.
- I have to deal with being famous. Sometimes I have to tell people I don’t do autographs, thank you very much. At certain places, I refuse to have my photograph taken.
- I’ve been living with myself all of my life, so I know all of me. So when I watch me, all I see is me. It’s boring.
- This kid came up with Napster, and before that, none of us thought of content protection.
- I'm not good at anything else. Certainly not golf. -- on why he is an actor.
- I grew up in the South but I started dancing in my twenties when I got out of the Air Force, and studying dance, you’re surrounded by gay guys all the time. You get to know them and you have to shift gears!
- I got my first job as a card-carrying actor in New York in 1967. Before that, I was a very desperate wannabe.
- I find it difficult to watch myself... I find it boring.
Short Morgan Freeman quotes
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Morgan Freeman's short quotes are easy to remember and can inspire you to do great things in life. Some of them include:
- If you want to see a miracle, be the miracle.
- Your best posture is your next posture.
- I just wanted to be an actor. It’s better to be well-rounded.
- I don’t have to do anything. The character is shaped on the page.
- Never give up the ganja.
- You're going to relegate my history to a month.
- I like the blues a lot. I grew up on it.
- You don't just play a character, you live it.
- I don't like tension on a set -- at all, of any kind.
- Race seems to me to be less and less a subject worth discussing.
- As long as you feel like a victim, you are one.
- I gravitate towards gravitas.
- I'm not one for blaspheming, but that one made me laugh.
- From early childhood, my thrust was to get into the movies.
- Never pay for what you steal.
- Acting means living, it’s all I do...
- Working on stage is really a great voice developer.
- I can only be so long without work before I start getting antsy.
- Actors cannot work against each other. It’s totally impossible.
- I was lucky in that when the opportunity came, I was prepared to meet it.
- I don’t do cold. My reaction to cold is drastic. I’m a Southern boy.
What is Morgan Freeman's most famous quote?
The actor's famous line is: If you live a life of make-believe, your life isn't worth anything until you do something that does challenge your reality.
What is Morgan Freeman best known for?
Morgan Freeman is known for his roles in many films, including Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption, and Million Dollar Baby. He is also known for his distinctive voice and knack for drama.
Why is Morgan Freeman respected?
Freeman is respected because he has won countless awards throughout his long career. His emotional depth and versatility made him one of the most respected performers of his generation.
The above Morgan Freeman's quotes are more than just words—they teach important life lessons. They motivate and inspire you, and encourage you to stay strong, and never lose hope.
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