Son, never throw a punch at a redwood.

I`ve never reacted well to other people telling me what to do.

If I can be an advocate of individualist solutions to our society`s problems that are affirmative solutions, that`s to me what conservatism means.

To me, the excitement is in ordering a fine shotgun, going through the process that everybody who has bought one has gone through for 100 years. You order it, you make a significant down payment, and then you wait three or four years for the gun to be custom-made for you.

I feel the other element of a western is the land, which is very important in this movie. I mean the land is another character in the piece, actually.

I don`t know if my political opinions ever lost me work, but I know for sure they never got me any.

[Explaining why he refused a cameo in a film adaptation of his TV series `Magnum PI`]: I tell you what worries me - because I love Magnum and we have loyal fans - is they take these TV show titles, and they buy them and they spend $100 million on special effects, and then they make fun of them and trivialize it. Then they try and get the actor who used to be in it to do some ridiculous cameo to prove to the audience that it`s OK. And I will not do that.

It`s not that conservatives don`t care. We do. We just have different answers than liberals do. It`s a difference of the mind, not of the heart.

[about the movie Monte Walsh]: "I just really want people to see this movie and I hope they like it, because to me Monte Walsh probably reflects my sensibilities more than any other I`ve done in the Western genre. I`m really proud of it and I think it may be the best role I`ve ever had."

Having had that experience... I think, what modern culture wants to see is the relationship with the woman. I don`t think you can tell a story on film nowadays where the woman simply is there for the man when he decides to settle down.

I`ve learned by hanging out in Hollywood, where I disagree politically with most people, that most people`s hearts are in the right place, and the only thing we have to argue about is the way to solve the problems.

If you buy an expensive thing and you never use it, I don`t think there`s a point to it.

There was a time I could have been mistaken for Burt Reynolds. I had a mustache and so did he. But he was the number one star in the world, so there wasn`t really much confusion.

I praise CBS for taking a risk, which is always the price you pay for opportunity. This is not standard movie of the week storytelling. I think movies of the week have fallen into a niche and that isn`t my niche.

I guess after Dances With Wolves they probably tried some derivative westerns, and if they didn`t work, they said the western is dead and moved on to something else.

You know I grew up watching the TV series The Rifleman.

And besides, because of all she has accomplished, Barbara Jordan has always been a hero of mine.

Do you like my suit? I think this is an amazing suit, don`t you think?

I don`t feel the obligation to have a big explosion in the first 20 seconds so the audience doesn`t turn on another channel. We are trying to make something that looks like a feature film that was bought for television and I think we are succeeding.

I love big, oaky California Cabernets.

Obviously, it`s one passion of mine. I mean, I don`t always want to do westerns, but it`s nice to always kind of have one in the works.

It is scary for an actor when you get hired as a lead. No matter what the plot is, it is your job to do something interesting enough to make them want to get inside the lead character`s head.

I had a strong, really good upbringing, not puritanical.

I realized I really liked the screen. I knew it was a challenge, but I wasn`t afraid of risk.

It`s not that conservatives don`t care. We do. We just have different answers than liberals do. It`s a difference of the mind, not of the heart.

I live a pretty simple life.

There was a time I could have been mistaken for Burt Reynolds. I had a moustache and so did he. But he was the number one star in the world, so there wasn`t really much confusion.

All I see is people out there who are hungry for more. - Tom Selleck talking about the public`s desire to see more Western films in interview with Taylor Fogarty of American Western Magazine/ReadTheWest.com, January 2003.

Saber River was a darker story. That character was at a darker point in his life and was carrying a secret that was kind of eating away at him.

I think a lot of Magnum was me.

Popularity is the pocket change of history. The true measure is courage. There will never be another Charlton Heston.

Why westerns get segregated into a genre in Hollywood, I don`t know... It`s just good entertainment. (in interview with American Western Magazine, January 2001 issue)

Which to this day is a source of enormous guilt, because I left with three classes to go in the business school to sign a contract with 20th Century Fox.

You know, there`s so much imitation and so much pandering in Hollywood.

Shooting clay targets is a very cleansing experience. It`s very relaxing. It takes a lot of concentration. It`s also very social, since you`re usually shooting with friends. You can talk and forget about almost anything else that`s on your mind.

If a guy as good and decent with as much grace as Chuck Heston can stand up for an issue that I think is very important ... then I certainly could stand up and I plan on remaining a life member for life.

I was Planning to Go into Architecture. But when I arrived [to sign up for courses] Architecture was filled up. Acting was right next to it. So I signed up for acting instead. - televised interview broadcast the day before "Laguna Heat" was shown on N.Y. cable.

I`m very proud of Quigley and I love playing Jesse Stone. That`s not hype. We`ve got to do about fifty of these, but there are only five books.

But, you know there`s a lot of westerns - not that they were bad - it`s just that they can be remade because they`re great stories that aren`t indelible in an audience`s mind when it comes to both the cast and the story.