John Malkovich Quotes

If you chase something too desperately, it eludes you.

When you're obsessive, like me, searching for something unattainable can become unhealthy... it's like falling through the air and grabbing at the clouds.

As failures go, attempting to recall the past is like claiming to grasp the meaning of existence. Both make one feel like a baby clutching at a basketball: one's palms keep sliding off.

You can imagine thistle-down so light that when you run after it your running motion would drive it away from you, and that the more you tried to catch it the faster it would fly from your grasp. And it should be with every man, that, when he is chased by troubles, they, chasing, shall raise him higher and higher.

Anything a person chases in life runs away.

Most vagabonds i knowed don't ever want to find the culprit that remains the object of their long relentless quest. The obsession's in the chasing and not the apprehending, the pursuit you see and never the arrest" - Tom Waits "Foreign Affairs

So many times, I have a speech ready but no dice. Always a bridesmaid, never a mother.

When you are desperate to get someone who isn't all that interested in you, you lay siege as hard as you can.

The most frustrating part of trying to direct everything is not that it alienates you from people who genuinely want to help, but that it's actually impossible.

There are two things that won't last long in this world, and that's dogs chasing cars and pros putting for pars.

I knew I wanted to play 'Dr Cox' really bad, which is always a huge mistake because as soon as you want something really bad, maybe you rip up a little bit.

You must have to want it so badly, if there is any way you can live without it, get out of it. Being an unsuccessful actor is like having a skin disease. Make sure your passion is not misplaced.

Americans are good at pursuing happiness. And the Americans who pursue happiness most diligently show that we're also good at running it down and killing it.

Dreams that are planned are called frustration.

Chasing perfection can make you go mad.

I saw a man pursuing the horizon;Round and round they sped.I was disturbed at this;I accosted the man."It is futile," I said,"You can never-""You lie," he cried,And ran on.

So we gave up. I'd finally had enough of chasing after a ghost who did not want to be seen. We'd failed, maybe, but some mysteries aren't meant to be solved.

Not to get what you have set your heart on is almost as bad as getting nothing at all.

Subtlety chases the obvious up a never-ending spiral and never quite catches it.

They had dreams but they called them dreams because they were unrelated to reality, they were a distant unknown, an impossibility, they would never come true.

Pleasures seem solid in their pursuit; but are mere clouds in the enjoyment.

In my experience, ghosts are made up only of the living, people you know are out there but are forever out of range

We shall now seek that which we shall not find

What follows I flee; what flees I ever pursue.