Take it from one of the wisest men on the silver screen.
By Brittany Berke — Written on Apr 09, 2021
Ah, the beloved Tom Hanks. If you have never heard of him, you're certainly living under a rock, as this acting legend has starred in some of the most influential movies of the last few decades.
With personal favorites like "Forrest Gump," "The Polar Express," "Big," and "Philadelphia," there are countless movies and times Tom Hanks' quotes snuck into our hearts and made us want him as our dad or best friend.
You might remember some of his most famous lines from his films: "My mama always said, 'Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get,'" from "Forrest Gump," "Houston, we have a problem," from "Apollo 13," or "Are you crying? Are you crying?! There's no crying! There's no crying in baseball," from "A League of Their Own."
But Hanks' movie credits extend far beyond those films. In fact, the actor has been in almost 100 movies throughout his career! Those movies include "Toy Story," "Saving Private Ryan," "Sleepless in Seattle," "Splash," "Cast Away," "Captain Phillips," "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood," "The Post," "Greyhound," "Sully," and "Catch Me If You Can," "The Da Vinci Code," among many others.
Not only is he a prolific actor, but Hanks is one of the highest-paid actors to have ever exist. He has a net worth over $350 million! His first big break came with his role in "Bosom Buddies," where he made $5,000 a week. Years later, he earned $60 for his part in "Forrest Gump" and $40 million for "Saving Private Ryan."
However, you may not have realized Tom Hanks is known for something that has nothing to do with his work on the big screen.
Tom Hanks and wife of 30 years, Rita Wilson, are just as smitten and in love as they were when they first got together. Sadly, many of us are so used to seeing marriages fail when it comes to Hollywood, yet Hanks and Wilson continue to push the boundaries.
So, if you care to know the secrets of what really makes love last for 30 years (and beyond!), as well as words of encouragement and wisdom, these Tom Hanks quotes and feel-good advice will get you thinking.
Tom Hanks Quotes About Marriage
1. "I wish there was a secret, you know. We just like each other. You start there."
2. "They say it must be hard work. No it’s not. Every now and again you know, you gotta get over some stuff but life is one damn thing after another and its actually more pleasant to be able to go home with someone you like to spend time with in order to get with it."
3. "No one should get married before they’re 30."
4. "That woman has loved me skinny, she’s loved me fat. She’s loved me bald, she’s loved me hairy. That woman I know, loves me. So, I’m a lucky man."
5. "I’m not a smart man, but I know what love is."
6. "If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. It’s the hard that makes it great."
7. "My secret to a happy marriage is just being married to the right woman."
8. "If you’re funny, if there’s something that makes you laugh, then every day’s going to be okay."
9. "I wish everyone could share their life with as good a friend, a passionate lover, as close a partner, and as beautiful a woman as I have been able to with the mate of my soul."
10. "You know, I just want you to know, that you never have to change anything about who you are in order to be with me."
11. "I knew I had fallen in love and things were profoundly different with me. It happens. You gotta be lucky enough to stumble across it."
12. "We’ve been married for 25 years and it seems like we’ve been married 2-and-a-half to me, it’s blown by so quick. And we have two more kids and four of them all together and I tell you every day is fun."
13. "This is what it’s supposed to be like when you are married to someone. It’s supposed to be this carefree and easy and, you know, oddly enough, weighty."
Tom Hanks Quotes About Love
14. "All I can do is bow down before the courage of my wife."
15. "It was a million tiny things that, when you added them all up, they meant we were supposed to be together... and I knew it."
16. "It's just as hard... staying happily married as it is doing movies."
17. "There's no substitute for a great love who says, 'No matter what's wrong with you, you're welcome at this table.'"
18. "Again and again, we're searching for that person who's a magic key for us, makes us feel connected, secure, part of something bigger than ourselves. Without it, the world ain't any fun."
19. "My wife keeps on telling me my worst fault is that I keep things to myself and appear relaxed. But I am really in a room in my own head and not hearing a thing anyone is saying."
20. "If you look at romantic comedies as a piece of commerce, the audience is looking for wish fulfillment."
21. "But I also think all of the great stories in literature deal with loneliness. Sometimes it's by way of heartbreak, sometimes it's by way of injustice, sometimes it's by way of fate. There's an infinite number of ways to examine it."
22. “The success of our relationship was a matter of timing, maturity, and our willingness to have an intimate connection."
23. "How about coffee, drinks, dinner, a movie... or as long as we both shall live?" — Joe Fox, "You've Got Mail"
24. "I guess sometimes the past just catches up with you, whether you want it to or not."
25. "Adorable. Damnit, why can't you look terrible? I've been out walking the streets trying to convince myself I wasn't in love with you, and I come back here and you're barefoot and you're adorable." — David Bradley, "Every Time We Say Goodbye"
Tom Hanks Quotes About Life
26. “Never give up because you never know what the tide will bring in the next day."
27. "You cannot look up at the night sky on the Planet Earth and not wonder what it's like to be up there amongst the stars. And I always look up at the moon and see it as the single most romantic place within the cosmos."
28. "A hero is somebody who voluntarily walks into the unknown."
29. "From now on, we live in a world where man has walked on the moon. It's not a miracle; we just decided to go."
30. "Some people are cowards... I think by and large a third of people are villains, a third are cowards, and a third are heroes. A villain and a coward can choose to be a hero, but they've got to make that choice."
31. "May you live as long as you want and not want as long as you live."
32. "I try to do what I call the three Es — educate, entertain, and enlighten."
33. "Even the simplest choice can make a jaw-dropping difference in our world."
34. "You can always try to do something. Keep moving forward. Keep trying stuff."
35. "Being kind always works."
36. "We can choose either to approach our fellow human beings with suspicion or to approach them with an open mind, a dash of optimism, and a great deal of candor."
37. "All that most parents hope is that their children are happy, funny, well adjusted, and have a passion for something in their lives."
38. "Reach for the sky." — Woody, "Toy Story"
39. "Help, and you will make a huge impact in the life of the street, the town, the country, and our planet."
40. "There's millions of survivors out there, make it one million and one."
41. “My mama always said you can tell a lot about a person by their shoes, where they going, where they been.” — Forrest Gump, "Forrest Gump"
42. "Everybody has something that chews them up and, for me, that thing was always loneliness."
43. "Truth is, I'll never know all there is to know about you just as you will never know all there is to know about me. Humans are by nature too complicated to be understood fully. So, we can choose either to approach our fellow human beings with suspicion or to approach them with an open mind, a dash of optimism and a great deal of candor."
44. "You learn more from getting your butt kicked than getting it kissed."
45. "The cinema has the power to make you not feel lonely, even when you are."
46. "I think 80 percent of the population is [made up of] really great, caring people who will help you and tell you the truth. That's just the way it is."
47. "At the end of the day it's got to be a good movie, it's got to be a funny movie, and it's got to make people think, 'Hey, I couldn't have spent my time any better.'"
48. "There isn't any great mystery about me. What I do is glamorous and has an awful lot of white-hot attention placed on it. But the actual work requires the same discipline and passion as any job you love doing, be it as a very good pipe fitter or a highly creative artist."
49. "[It's] going to take a while but if we take care of each other, help where we can, and give up some comforts ... this, too, shall pass. We can figure this out."
50. "It's that every now and again — not often, but occasionally — you get to be a part of justice being done. That really is quite a thrill when that happens." — Andrew Beckett, "Philadelphia"
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Brittany Berke loves to story-tell through the art of writing and acting. Her work has been featured in Elite Daily, Bustle, Odyssey and more.