Robin Williams was a legendary actor and comedian known for his wit and humor. He was also a powerful advocate for mental health awareness and treatment. In honor of his life and work, here are some of Robin Williams quotes.
Robin Williams was born on July 21, 1951, in Chicago, Illinois. Williams began performing stand-up comedy in San Francisco in the 1970s and soon made a name for himself in the industry. Williams went on to star in a number of popular films, including Dead Poet’s Society (1989), Awakenings (1990), and The Fisher King (1991). He was also a popular television actor, appearing in series such as Mork and Mindy (1978-1982) and The Crazy Ones (2013-2014). Williams tragically took his own life on August 11, 2014.
50 Robin Williams Quotes
- “You will have bad times, but they will always wake you up to the stuff you weren’t paying attention to.”
2. “Some are born great. Some achieve greatness. Some get it as a graduation gift.”
3. “I used to think the worst thing in life is to end up all alone. It’s not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone.”
4. “We get to choose who we let in to our weird little worlds.”
5. “Self-reliance is the key to a vigorous life. A man must look inward to find his own answers.”
6. “What’s right is what’s left if you do everything else wrong.”
7. “Marriage is a triumph of imagination over intelligence.”
8. “Nobody takes a picture of something they want to forget.”
9. “You can fool some of the people some of the time and the rest you can jerk off”
10. “The things we fear the most have already happened to us.”
Robin Williams Quotes About Life
11. “Reality is just a crutch for people who can’t cope with drugs.”
12. “The only weapon we have is the comedy.”
13. “Some people can’t believe in themselves until someone else believes in them first.”
14. “Death is nature’s way of saying, ‘Your table is ready.”
15. “Sometimes you got to specifically go out of your way to get into trouble. It’s called fun.”
16. “The human spirit is more powerful than any drug, and that is what needs to be nourished: with work, play, friendship, family. These are the things that matter.”
17. “You will have bad times, but they will always wake you up to the stuff you weren’t paying attention to.”
18. “A hungry stomach, an empty wallet, and a broken heart can teach you the best lessons of life.”
19. “Being a famous print journalist is like being the best-dressed woman on the radio.”
20. “Reality is just a crutch for people who can’t handle drugs.”
Famous Robin Williams Quotes
21. “You have this idea that you’d better keep working otherwise people will forget. And that was dangerous. And then you realize, no, actually if you take a break people might be more interested in you.”
22. “Sometimes you can have a whole lifetime in a day and never notice that this is as beautiful as it gets.”
23. “Don’t associate yourself with toxic people. It’s better to be alone and love yourself than surrounded by people that make you hate yourself.”
24. “I’m a very tolerant man, except when it comes to holding a grudge.”
25. “I don’t do well with snakes and I can’t dance.”
26. “You’re only given a spark of madness. You musn’t lose it.”
27. “My children give me a great sense of wonder. Just to see them develop into these extraordinary human beings.”
28. “It’s a wonderful feeling when your father becomes not a god but a man to you — when he comes down from the mountain and you see he’s this man with weaknesses. And you love him as this whole being, not as a figurehead.”
29. “The human spirit is more powerful than any drug and that is what needs to be nourished, with work, play, friendship, family. These are the things that matter.”
30. “See, the problem is that God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time.”
Robin Williams Inspirational Quotes
31. “There are no rules. Just follow your heart.”
32. “We’ve had cloning in the South for years. It’s called cousins.”
33. “When you have a great audience, you can just keep going and finding new things.”
34. “Most of all, I want to thank my father, up there, the man who when I said I wanted to be an actor, he said, ‘Wonderful. Just have a backup profession like welding.”
35. “I think it’s great when stories are dark and strange and weirdly personal.”
36. “Age makes you more confident. When you realize that it’s time now to just do things. When there’s not the pressure to perform on some level of expectations, there’s more to just explore.”
37. “All it takes is a beautiful fake smile to hide an injured soul.”
38. “Stop being afraid of getting older. With age comes wisdom and confidence.”
39. “You know, you get that tattoo of barbed wire when you’re 18, but by the time you’re 80, it’s a picket fence.”
40. “There is still a lot to learn and there is always great stuff out there. Even mistakes can be wonderful.”
41. “Never pick a fight with an ugly person. They’ve got nothing to lose.”
42. “Don’t associate yourself with toxic people. It’s better to be alone and love yourself than surrounded by people that make you hate yourself.”
43. “The genie was only supposed to be a few lines, but I asked, ‘Do you mind if I try something?’ and went off to the recording studio. I emerged, 22 hours later, with a stream-of-consciousness improvisation in 41 characters.”
44. “Many newspapers always talk about how many people have died, but they never say how many people have lived.”
45. “There is no shame in failing. The only shame is not giving things your best shot.”
46. “The idea of having a steady job is appealing.”
47. “Being in the same room with people and creating something together is a good thing.”
48. “You’ll have bad times, but it’ll always wake you up to the good stuff you weren’t paying attention to.” – from “Good Will Hunting”
49. “Time is the best teacher. Unfortunately, it kills all of its students.”
50. “Everyone has these two visions when they hold their child for the first time. The first is your child as an adult saying “I want to thank the Nobel Committee for this award”. The other is “You want fries with that?”