Quotes
37 Positive Robert Downey Jr. Quotes
Robert Downey Jr. is one of the highest paid and most celebrated actors of our time. However, he spent much of his life overcoming drug addiction and alcoholism before breaking out into the iconic roles that we know and recognize him for today. Downey credits much of his success to staying humble, positive thinking, and always giving back.
Here are 37 of Robert Downey Jr’s most positive quotes:
1. “I know very little about acting. I’m just an incredibly gifted faker” – Robert Downey Jr.
2. “The lesson is that you can still make mistakes and be forgiven” – Robert Downey Jr.
3. “Remember that just because you hit bottom doesn’t mean you have to stay there” – Robert Downey Jr.
4. “There is unpanned gold in every soul you run into, no matter what walk of life they are from” – Robert Downey Jr.
5. “Mediocrity is my biggest fear. I’m not afraid of total failure because I don’t think that will happen. I’m not afraid of success because that beats the hell out of failure. It’s being in the middle that scares me” – Robert Downey Jr.
6. “There’s somewhere you’re suppoused to go, and if you get quiet enough, you’ll make it” – Robert Downey Jr.
7. “Listen, smile, agree, and then do whatever the f*&k you were gonna do anyway” – Robert Downey Jr.
8. “I used to be so convinced that happiness was the goal, yet all those years I was chasing after it I was unhappy in the pursuit. Maybe the goal really should be a life that values honor, duty, good work, friends and family.” – Robert Downey Jr.
9. “People rise out of the ashes, because, at some point, they are invested with a belief in the possibility of triumph over seemingly impossible odds” – Robert Downey Jr.
10. “There’s a little bit of asshole in every nice guy, and there’s a little bit of genius in every moron” – Robert Downey Jr.
11. “I’ve always felt that if you’re not on your side, why should anyone else be. So I always encourage people to be confident, and sometime even a little falsely so, just so you can give yourself an opportunity” – Robert Downey Jr.
12. “I’ve always felt like an outsider in this industry. Because I’m so insane I guess” – Robert Downey Jr.
13. “I have a sense of destiny that you are led to the things you are supposed to do” – Robert Downey Jr.
14. “To me, friendship means loving tolerance” – Robert Downey Jr.
15. “Nothing will serve you better than a strong work ethic. Nothing. And it’s something that you can’t teach. You have to be thrown into it, where you’re going to sink or swim. It’s amazing how self-correcting and how clarifying a good, hard, shitty job can be. Because at the end of the day, any profession I’ve seen anybody in, when you peer behind the curtains of ‘Oh, wouldn’t that be a great job? Wow, what an amazing thing, a philanthropic endeavor!’ it really just comes down to ‘It’s a f**king grind.’” – Robert Downey Jr.
16. “I want to give myself the freedom not to have to be projecting my whole life ahead” – Robert Downey Jr.
17. “It’s really not that difficult to overcome these seemingly ghastly problems…what’s hard is to decide” – Robert Downey Jr.
18. “People never change because they are under threat or under duress. Never. They change because they see something that makes their life seem valuable enough to start moving toward a life worth living” – Robert Downey Jr.
19. “Life is just so painful and messy and hard and worth it and all that stuff” – Robert Downey Jr.
20. “I think that we all do heroic things, but her is not a noun, it’s a verb” – Robert Downey Jr.
21. “Sometimes you just gotta be drop-kicked out of the nest” – Robert Downey Jr.
22. “I understand reversal of fortune; that usually has come through my own hand, but you know, you live life on life’s terms” – Robert Downey Jr.
23. “I just think it’s good to be confident. If I’m not on my team why should anybody else be?” – Robert Downey Jr.
24. “The higher the stakes, the happier I am, the better I will be” – Robert Downey Jr.
25. “Everyone has a story, and the story changes, and the more I can root into the truth of things – it’s so hard – I don’t think anyone ever really puts it all together. But somewhere along the way it all became fused” – Robert Downey Jr.
26. “I think it’s miraculous that anybody survives themselves” – Robert Downey Jr.
27. “It’s hard to get out of the barrel. It’s slippery around the edges and people are happy to see you fall back in” – Robert Downey Jr.
28. “Job one is to get out of that cave. A lot of people do get out but don’t change” – Robert Downey Jr.
29. “Look, even bad years are pretty good years I think” – Robert Downey Jr.
30. “I think you end up doing the stuff you were supposed to do at the time you were supposed to do it” – Robert Downey Jr.
31. “I’ve noticed that worrying is like praying for you don’t want to happen” – Robert Downey Jr.
32. “Do I want to be a hero to my son? No. I would like to be a very real human being. That’s hard enough” – Robert Downey Jr.
33. “Nothings a break for me. Not even the breaks are breaks” – Robert Downey Jr.
34. “Discipline for me is about respect. It’s not even about self-respect; it’s about respect for life and all it offers.” – Robert Downey Jr.
35. “Whenever I watch someone doing something, even if it doesn’t turn out so great, I at least admire their intentions and stuff” – Robert Downey Jr.
36. “I always think part of success is being able to replicate results, taking what is interesting or viable about yourself as a professional person and seeing if you bring it into different situations with similar results” – Robert Downey Jr.
37. “I think that the power is the principle. The principle of moving forward, as though you have the confidence to move forward, eventually gives you the confidence when you look back and see what you’ve done” – Robert Downey Jr.