What do you know about Matthew McConaughey? We all know the Dazed and Confused line “Alright, alright, alright” by now. You’re probably familiar with his weirdly serene Lincoln commercial. You might have a partner who waxes poetic about his abs. If you have a particularly great memory, you might recall the infamous “naked bongo drum” incident. But… do you really know McConaughey? Do you know what he believes in and what he stands for? He obviously has a “cool” vibe — and reading through some of the best Matthew McConaughey quotes, it seems clear this proud Texan is genuinely chill.
Bottom line? He’s more than just the caricature of a laid-back guy he’s been sketched out to be. He’s an impressively hard worker and notoriously thoughtful about the roles he takes. McConaughey isn’t his left-behind stoner character, Dazed’s Wooderson, or the guy who hooked up with J.Lo in The Wedding Planner. These quotes are, quite honestly, a wild and inspiring ride that offers more than just proof of who McConaughey is — they also offer some great advice for living your best life (as cliche as that may sound).
1 “I don’t want to just revolve. I want to evolve. As a man, as a human, as a father, as a lover.”
2. “If I’m doing something, I do like to take it to the limit. I’ve got a high ceiling. A wide threshold for seeing what those boundaries are for myself. I’m very resilient inside. I find things that I like and do, and boy, I do like to stick to them.”
3. “The good part about jealousy is that it comes from passion. It’s also the dangerous part, and it’s an ugly emotion that hurts.”
4. “Life is not fair. It never was, and it isn’t now, and it won’t ever be. Do not fall into the trap — the entitlement trap of feeling like you’re a victim. You are not.”
5. “Every hero doesn’t do this great big hero thing. They do the simple thing over and over… and they stick to it.”
6. “My life is a road, man. I need to keep moving.”
7. “Now, you lose something in your life. And there’s gonna come a time that you’re gonna know: There was a reason for that. And at the end of your life, all the things you thought were periods, they turn out to be commas. There was never a full stop to any of it.”
8. “I believe in living in the present and making each day count. I don’t pay much attention to the past or the future.”
9. “I’m a fan of the word selfish. Self. Ish. When I say I have gotten a lot more self-ish, I mean I am less concerned with what people think of me. I’m not worried about how I’m perceived. Selfish has always gotten a bad rap. You should do for you.”
10. “Life’s barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you get good at.”
11. “The first step that leads to our identity in life is usually not ‘I know who I am,’ but rather, ‘I know who I am not’ process of elimination.”
12. “The best advice comes from people who don’t give advice.”
13. “The best education I’ve had in my life is to travel.”
14. “I’ve never been a jealous person, and I’ve never felt built up by someone else’s failure — that’s a cheap thrill.”
15. “It’s a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates.”
16. “There’s two sorts of fear: One you embrace and one you should listen to and turn the other way.”
17. “We dissect failure a lot more than we dissect success.”
18. “Instead of denying these fears, declare them. Say them out loud, admit them, give them the credit they deserve. Find the courage to overcome them.”
19. “My rule is to break one sweat a day.”
20. “Just because you can? Nah, it’s not a good enough reason to do something. Even when it means having more, be discerning. Choose it, because you want it; do it because you want to.”
21. “We have a big appetite for putting people down, but at the heart of everyone, there’s enough room for all of us to succeed.”
22. “One day, I said, ‘Mom, no one forgives themselves quicker than you. Do you ever have any regret, or do you ever at the end of the day say, ‘I could work on that?’ She goes, ‘Honey, every single night when I go to bed, I have a long list of those things. But the thing is, when I wake up in the morning, I’ve forgot them all.’”
23. “Steinbeck says it’s a state of mind. In Texas, there is a certain honor of being a Texan that is a measure of doing something the best that you can.”
24. “There’s a gap between what I want to do, what I do on camera, and what gets edited. Right? So the goal is to try and close the gaps. What’s the biggest compliment is if I read a review and it’s exactly what I wrote down in my diary before ever filming it. That’s really cool. That’s the biggest signifier of closing the gaps.”
25. “The challenge for me as an actor is if you become a celebrity, you don’t meet strangers anymore. And strangers are where we have our anonymity. And I believe it’s essential for the soul to be anonymous, especially if you’re going to be an actor.”
26. “My number one thing? Don’t over leverage yourself. Don’t say you can do something when you really can’t.”
27. “What the heck is true love? I remember feeling, back when I was 12 and ‘going’ with this girl, ‘Is this true love?'”
