Top 100 Why I Do It Quotes
#1. I'm a strange person. Sometimes I hardly know what I'm going to do or say next. Sometimes I seem a stranger to myself. Sometimes what I do surprises me and I can't understand why I do it.
Philip K. Dick
#2. My favourite thing about touring is really the shows, because early on you can say it's definitely things like travel and seeing the world and stuff like that, but over time you don't really get to see the world. The most important thing in the day is the show. So that's why I do it.
Gerard Way
#3. I hate to look at the stuff I've written and consider what it means or why I do it.
J.J. Abrams
#4. I've always thought of acting as a tool to change society. I watch a lot of actors and I see panic in their eyes because they don't know why they act and I know why I act. Whether I'm a good or a bad actor, I know why I do it.
Andy Serkis
#5. Our society is intertwined with the economy that we've built, which is a fantastically complex system. I hope that my writing about it might do some good, but that's not why I do it.
Tim Harford
#6. I ask myself why I do it. Maybe it's to prove I'm still around. It takes a lot out of my body. I'm not an NBA player anymore. At my age, very few people can handle it.
Jerry Stiller
#7. I don't want to sound too silly or pretentious about this, but, you know, I love being in Paris. I love working at Louis Vuitton. I love fashion. That's why I do it. No one's forcing me to do this. And nobody forces anyone to buy it. It's a real love affair.
Marc Jacobs
#8. Yes, I need the money. I mean no, I don't. It can't be reduced to money. I can't explain why I do it. It's a kind of impulse.
Rachel Kushner
#10. I cannot claim to thoroughly enjoy coaching, because it is very hard work if you are even moderately conscientious. Nevertheless it does provide a degree of satisfaction - not to mention a steady income, which is why I do it occasionally.
Nigel Short
#11. As far as I'm concerned, an audience is an audience. Whether it's an audience in Hull or the National Theatre, that's who you play to. It's not money - it's good to get some, but that's not why I do it. You do it because you have to, to tell a story.
Sylvester McCoy
#12. You're afraid of the audience, aren't you?"
"Yes, but it's not stagefright. It's that I'm there as the geek. They like to watch me eat my shit. But it pays the light bill and takes me to the racetrack. I don't have any excuses about why I do it.
Charles Bukowski
#13. I've gone through a lot of different phases on what I do and why I do it - morally and ethically. I've tortured myself about it, especially in dealing with success and money.
Daria Werbowy
#14. The talking shows allow me to come out of my cave and that's why those shows go on for so long. I hate walking off stage. Sometimes I walk off and I miss them as I'm walking off the stage. I wonder if they'll let me go another hour. That's why I do it: to communicate, to get points across.
Henry Rollins
#15. When you do a really good play, the audience and the performers are looking into the same looking glass, the same microscope. And the specimen they are looking at is human life and that's why I do it, that's why I like it.
John Malkovich
#16. Being physically fit helps me think better and feel better. I only have this one body. I want to make the most impact that I can; taking care of my body helps me help others. That's a big reason why I do it.
Tim Tebow
#17. From 13, I wanted to play drums. I wanted to play with good people and I'm still doing it. I still love it so that's why I do it.
Ringo Starr
#18. I feel that the music that I do is somewhat of a lost art and it's not as popular as dance or pop music and people are not as interested in it. But it's something that I believe in and I feel that it's needed, so that's why I do it and I will keep doing it until everybody hears it and gets it.
Jazmine Sullivan
#19. I hope that my work makes a difference because I think that's why I do it.
Renee O'Connor
#20. It's a balance. Like, we are shooting the big car chase at the end and it's me with everybody. And I got my stunt coordinator who shot some stuff and I'm like, you are right next to me, why don't we do it together.
George Tillman Jr.
#21. Somebody came up to me after a talk I had given, and say, "You make mathematics seem like fun." I was inspired to reply, "If it isn't fun, why do it?"
Ralph P. Boas Jr.
#22. It definitely seems like we are connecting with people, which is nice, because I've had a lot of music do the same for me. It's not like I don't I understand why we get the reactions we do.
Jon Crosby
#23. I feel like I have to do the best job I can to basically say, "OK, I understand - you have every right to be angry, but anger is not a plan. Here's what I want to do, and that's why I hope you will support me, because I think it will actually improve the lives of Americans."
Hillary Clinton
#24. I have that thrill-seeking mentality, so when people want to know why my incarnations keep changing, or why I'll do something different than I did before, it's that same impulse.
Liz Phair
#25. I do have an important question, but I can ask it from out here. Are you dry?
Of course I'm dry. Why do you ask that?
So many daughters have come home wet lately.
Jeanne Birdsall
#26. I can understand going for Botox at 45-50, when you want to keep things in place. But I don't understand 25 year olds going for Botox or under the knife. You don't require it. Your skin is fresh, young. Why would you do that to yourself?
Kajol
#27. The word Palestine always brought to my mind a vague suggestion of a country as large as the United States. I do not know why, but such was the case. I suppose it was because I could not conceive of a small country having so large a history.
Mark Twain
#28. I think when you wear the brand anyway, why not go out and try to promote it and make it as cool as you can? The fact that I can continue to do what I've always done and kind of become the face of that brand is to me, kind of just makes sense. It doesn't make sense not to do it I guess.
Jason Aldean
#29. I don't know why I do what I do. I tend to go for the really weird, bizarre stuff. I actually have to tone it down for the show.
Andy Milonakis
#30. Hey, er ... " said Zaphod, "what's your name?"
The man looked at them doubtfully.
"I don't know. Why, do you think I should have one? It seems very odd to
give a bundle of vague sensory perceptions a name.
Douglas Adams
#31. 'Why do you think it is ... ', I asked Dr. Cook ... 'that brain surgery, above all else-even rocket science-gets singled out as the most challenging of human feats, the one demanding the utmost of human intelligence?' [Dr. Cook answered,] 'No margin for error.'
Michael J. Fox
#32. Let's do, let's get some handles. I don't know why I'm talking about this stuff. Look, I love you and I miss you and you're doing the right thing. It's costing you too, I know that. I'm here and I'll be here whenever you come home, or I'll meet you anywhere, anytime. That's what.
Thomas Harris
#33. She thinks you're stalking me."
"Why the hell would I do that? I see too much of your ugly mug as it is.
Margaret Watson
#34. Why, if one were Queen, would one ever want to marry? If one is ruler, is it not better to both King and Queen? That is exactly what a woman can do if she remains without a mate.
Kathryn Lasky
#35. Studio press agents make up anything they want to, and reporters go along with it. One flack created the legend that I had been blown up in an air crash during the war, and my face had to be put back together by way of plastic surgery. If it is a 'bionic face,' why didn't they do a better job of it?
Jack Palance
#36. Caroline, do you value your neck?"
"Yes, I'm rather fond of it. Why?"
"Because if you don't shut up, I'm going to wring it.
Julia Quinn
#37. It's too hard to explain. I can't say why I love the book. I just do. You don't pick the books you fall in love with any more than you pick the people you fall in love with. It just happens, and when it happens, you know. Who's to say where love comes from?
Sarah Combs
#38. To me, unconventional thinking is approaching a problem and asking, 'Why not? Why can't something be done?' If someone can't give me a good reason why you can't do something, I find a way to do it.
Eli Broad
#39. When I was younger, my dad did want me to be perfect, so that's probably why that's installed in me to this day. I want to be perfect at whatever I do. I can't help it. It's just installed in me.
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
#40. It makes you feel good when a movie works. Usually when I see an old movie I've made, I say to myself, 'Oh God, why did I do this?' and 'Why didn't I change that?' and things like that.
Warren Beatty
#41. I can't do this Ash. It's killing me. Having you this close and not touching you is driving me insane. You're his Ash. You're his. You made your choice and I understand why you chose him. I don't hold it against you but dammit Ash it hurts
Abbi Glines
#42. Why do you come here?"
"I promised."
"I release you from your promise!"
"It wasn't you I promised," the angel said quietly.
Elizabeth Knox
#43. Why do people assume? If I hate you, I'll tell you. In this case, it's not hate. It's hurt. I'll lick my wounds, which only oozed because I gave a damn, and be over it before the sun rises.
Donna Lynn Hope
#44. Why is monotheistic faith better than polytheistic? I mean, either you believe - if you believe in, like, a magic person who can do magic things, why is it different - so different if it's Superman or the Fantastic Four?
Bill Maher
#45. Denying what you are didn't keep people from knowing what you are."
"And flaunting it isn't what saved you."
Ykka takes a deep breath. The muscles in her jaw flex, relax. "And that would be why I asked you do this, Cutter. But let's move on."
So it goes on.
N.K. Jemisin
#46. The theater is a kind of international language, and I like it. But I have a practical bent of mind, too. In any other field, I could make only about a tenth as much as I do acting. That's why I want to be a producer. It pays better, and you have more control.
Carolyn Jones
#47. Why it's simply impassible!
Alice: Why, don't you mean impossible?
Door: No, I do mean impassible. (chuckles) Nothing's impossible!
Lewis Carroll
#48. why do I want to appear to be drinking more than I am?'
'Make it a habit. Men in their cups are fools, more often than not. And it can be wise to look the fool at times.
Raymond E. Feist
#49. The only phrase I've ever disliked is, 'Why, we've always done it that way.' I always tell young people, 'Go ahead and do it. You can always apologize later.'
Grace Hopper
#50. Perhaps he finds beauty saddening
I do myself sometimes. Once when I was quite little I asked father why this was and he explained that it was due to our knowledge of beauty's evanescence, which reminds us that we ourselves shall die.
Dodie Smith I Capture The Castle
#51. Do you know why the characters in my book look like us?"
"Pure coincidence?" he asked with a smile.
"Because I was fantasizing about us doing all those things together when I wrote it."
"Are you trying to make me cry?
N.M. Silber
#52. I even get tired performing standup, which is normally a low-impact exercise in futility but looks hard the way I do it. That's why I take a lot of breaks, often stopping in the middle of a joke to catch my breath, or blame the crowd for not laughing before the punchline.
Andy Kindler
#53. I guess nobody assumes anybody is a libertarian. It's a more complex political discussion than most people are used to, to explain why you think the way you do about public education or drug laws, and why it's not as simple as being for or against something.
Dave Barry
#54. I had to be the world's biggest loser, writing about hair, and stuff about my body. No wonder I stopped keeping a journal. It was like keeping a record of my own stupidity. Why would I want to do that?
Benjamin Alire Saenz
#55. Laughter is the greatest music in the world and audiences come to my shows to escape the cares of life. They don't want to be embarrassed or insulted. They want to laugh and so do I - which is probably why it works.
Ken Dodd
#56. I was never able to analyze my own performance that way I can now. I've realized why certain actors work. I think I'm very in control of what I do in there now. I know how to listen, how to make it real and how not to go to jokes, but to go for a sense of reality.
Steve Dildarian
#57. When I get home and people ask me,'Hey, Hoot, why do you do it, man? What are you? Some kind of war junkie? I won't say a goddamn word. Why? They won't understand. They won't understand why we do it. They won't understand that it's about the men next to you. And that's it. That's all it is.
Black Hawk
#58. I didn't introduce thug life to America. Thug life is America. I don't get why the whole world is fearing me. I am scared, but so are they. It's like I am having a panic attack cause I have 15,000 people wanting to do what I want, listing to everything I say.
Tupac Shakur
#59. There was a time when I said, "I'm going to go do a television thing," after doing all these theatrical films, and heard, "Television? Why are you going to go back to television?" It's an interesting place.
Barry Levinson
#60. Although just being employed as an actor is a big thing, I'm not sure I'd be satisfied playing the same character for 30 years; it's not why I want to do this for a living.
Jamie Dornan
#61. I got a lion on my back because I'm a Leo, and I also just love lions. But I wish I'd researched the artwork a little more. My little sister saw it and said, "Why do you have the Lion King on your back?"
Stephen Dorff
#62. I am amazed about how everyone wants to know about my love life. They whisper to me, 'Tell me the truth? Is it true?' Who cares? Because we have this job, we are to say to everybody what we do, or with whom we sleep? It's a bit absurd, but that's why everybody lies so much.
Penelope Cruz
#63. There are many things that people do happily that I can't imagine why they would do it ... But I have to say that even though I am critical or judgmental of society at large, I'm not critical of people individually. We are who we are.
Ian MacKaye
#64. Well, I need a job. Something that'll leave me the free time I want."
"I like the way you arrange your life. What do you intend to do with this free time?"
"I intend to use it." I didn't like the implication of this. Why should he need his time free and I be questioned?
Saul Bellow
#65. And I won't be laughing at the lies when I'm goneAnd I can't question how or when or why when I'm goneCan't live proud enough to die when I'm goneSo I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here.
Phil Ochs
#66. I'm not buried in that plot, Karoline. Some woman claiming to be me from the future is."
"Why do they call it a plot, anyway?"
"Because this is how every story ends.
Brian K. Vaughan
#67. What I collect? Interesting jobs. Always to my thrill and excitement, but ultimately to my exhaustion, I collect interesting jobs. If an interesting job comes along, I take it; that's why I do so many things. I'm lucky to be able to.
John Hodgman
#68. There are tons of different reasons why you do TV series and why you don't, and how it'll affect your career, and all that. Without a doubt, it has always come down to the script for me. I'm an actor who wants to do great parts, and I've been very fortunate, for a long time, to get meaty roles.
Patrick Wilson
#69. Acting is like sex: you either do it and don't talk about it, or you talk about it and don't do it. That's why I'm always suspicious of people who talk too much about either.
Humphrey Bogart
#70. But, my dear, if you should be caught out in the storm!"
"Why, I don't know but I should like it! What harm could it do? I'm not soluble in water - rain won't melt me away! I think upon the whole I rather prefer being caught in the storm," said Cap, perversely.
E.D.E.N. Southworth
#71. It's too many questions about what I'm going to do, why I'm retiring, and this and that. So I answer the same question, I don't know, a thousand times.
Marat Safin
#72. For another thing, we're under martial law, so I can do very nearly whatever the fuck I want. Including march through your precious little ship there towing you along behind in a ball gag and lacy underwear. So your warrant bullshit? You can roll that up and fuck it. Now tell me why I'm here.
James S.A. Corey
#73. Theria snarled at him.
"Careful my dear, your teeth are showing, and I imagine that is frowned upon here too ... Why don't you do yourself a favor and go pluck something. It will really do you the world of good," said Abaddon.
Patti Roberts
#74. A child, I'm miserable admitting it, a child stands like a priest under his father's sky. Why do you fate me to fail you?
Denis Johnson
#75. I honestly don't know where the high voice thing came from in the first place. Why do people have high voices? Emotional problems? What is that? It could easily be that. And now I'm getting more normal, and my voice is getting deeper.
Leslie Mann
#76. To me, God is an intelligent, loving, conscious energy and why do I say that? Well you need energy to create. You have to have a source. It's undifferentiated energy which has intelligence or it couldn't create.
Bernie Siegel
#77. My kids have been incredibly supportive of the work that I do. They understand why it matters.
Susan Rice
#78. I often ask myself, 'Why is it that most of the lies come out of Islamic countries, and why is it that most of the social corruptions are in the Middle East and in these Islamic countries?' The answer is, when you control something, when you suppress something, people try to do it another way.
Bahman Ghobadi
#79. I almost feel like we do live in a world like 'Caprica.' The fact that it's so close to home is why it appeals to me so much. You're making statements about what's going on right now. You take Facebook and Wii and add it together, and that's what the virtual world in 'Caprica' is.
Magda Apanowicz
#80. Why did you do it? Give up everything to raise another man's son?'
His father did look up at that. 'I didn't raise another man's son,' he said sharply. 'I raised my own.
Courtney Milan
#81. One of the things about writing a novel is you can do it any way you want. It's your voice that's important and I see absolutely no reason why a screenplay can't be the same. It makes it a hell of a lot easier when you're the writer and the director.
Quentin Tarantino
#82. I can't see anyone coming out, because the players feel it is no one's business. We all stick together. We're a very tight group. It would be too hard for just one person to do, too stressful. And why should it make a difference? The LPGA is about golf.
Hollis Stacy
#83. There's a world I could do without: public underwear showings. There was a time in my lifetime when you had to open a J.C. Penney catalog to see people in their underwear. Now it's like the national pastime, hanging out in your underwear. I don't see why they have to pay anyone to model it.
Kristin Billerbeck
#84. I began to tremble and he noticed. Why do I have to like the worst ones? I thought, why do I have to be attracted to the most brooding, least cultured, most desperate ones? It's a question I ask myself twice a year. I still haven't found an answer.
Roberto Bolano
#85. Why do you have to be out of town to write a postcard? I want a to write a postcard to my neighbor: "I still live near you!" The guy sees me go into my apartment, flips the card over, it's just a picture of me holding a rifle.
Jim Gaffigan
#86. As a rapper, I feel like image is always important but even more so than image, I really love clothes, that's why I don't use stylists. I want to do it myself because I really love it.
Kanye West
#87. I hope to stay on 'Glee,' I hope to still be a 'Housewife' and I hope to do 'The New Normal.' I just want to do it all! Why not? I'm only going to be young for a little while longer.
NeNe Leakes
#88. why are so many people fighting so hard to do it? I had even convinced myself that it wasn't a big
La La Anthony
#89. Hat up, go kill her. Problem solved." "Bob," I said. "You can't just go around killing people." "I know. That's why you should do it." "No, no. I can't go around killing people, either." "Why not? You've done it before. And you've got a new gun and everything.
Jim Butcher
#90. One of the things that personally kept me in music was that it has always been my passion,my vision and change. No matter how far I may think I can go without it, it always tend to slap me right back in the face! So why not do what naturally fills your soul. Music completes me.
Mandisa
#91. He leans forward and kisses me hard on the mouth.
"Don't ever do that again," I tell him.
"Why? Because you liked it or because you didn't?"
"Both.
Rick Yancey
#92. I see something, find it marvelous, want to try and do it. Whether it fails or whether it comes off in the end becomes secondary ... So long as I've learned something about why.
Alberto Giacometti
#93. My grandmother always used to say, "If you know your past and you know where you have to go, why do you rehearse?" I always remember this and it's true. You have to start each day again-you can't repeat what you did.
Marian Seldes
#94. Why did she do this to me?" I mumble. "Actually, Samuel, from my preliminary scans of your internal organs, it does not appear that our mother has done anything to you. Were you in need of repair as well? If so, I am certain she will -
James Patterson
#95. Most of promoting seems unnatural to me, and I wish I didn't have to do it. I'm not especially good at tooting my own horn. However, I do love to connect with readers. That's why I try to keep up with my social media even when I don't have a new book coming out.
Linda Conrad
#96. If what you do is being threatened as a profession, that could be scary. But that's the same reason why I walked out on stage many times after receiving death threats. I couldn't live without doing what I wanted to do. So at the same time I have to be willing to die for it.
Marilyn Manson
#97. That's actually one of the most disappointing things about doing user interviews and user feedback, which is why I think ... people don't do it. You're going to get negative news about your favorite pet feature most of the time.
Emmett Shear
#98. I'll tell you why I'm Shirley," Count Olaf said. "I'm Shirley because I would like to be called Shirley, and it is impolite not to do so.
Lemony Snicket
#99. I am really attracted to films. It's nice to do something new, all the time. That's why I like being an actor.
Jane Levy
#100. The real question is, Why do you feel as though that's emasculating? A man can't have a conflict? When you try to do art, it's how it lands on people, and hopefully some people will see it the way that I saw it, which is all of these awful choices come from the place of a man who's damaged.
Wendell Pierce
