Quotes from Tom Hanks

I think I'm lucky that I had kids as spread out as much as I did, 'cause my son, my oldest, was born when I was 21. And my youngest is 15 now. He was born when I was 40, you know?

As long as you as an individual... can convince yourself that in order to move forward as best you can you have to be optimistic, you can be described as 'one of the faithful,' one of those people who can say, 'Well, look, something's going to happen! Let's just keep trying. Let's not give up.

The truth is that everyone pays attention to who's number one at the box office. And none of it matters, because the only thing that really exists is the connection the audience has with a movie.

Directing is a constant test of your communicative powers. You're constantly trying to explain people your vision of what you want and steer these tiny little details into a cohesive thing.

Most people want to be able to go off and deal with their day - stop in here, run errands there - and when you can't do that, going out becomes a chore.

By and large, the making of motion pictures is all about, 'Let's ratchet it up.' And I always think, 'We don't need to ratchet this up.' If you do, don't call it 'Captain Phillips' or 'The Maersk Alabama.' Call it something else, and then you have carte blanche to do anything, down to sea serpents and aliens.

I would not want to live in a country that would have me as a leader in any sort of political bent.

It just so happens that my body type and my lifestyle gives me a preclusion for high blood sugars.

I'm glad I didn't have to fight in any war. I'm glad I didn't have to pick up a gun. I'm glad I didn't get killed or kill somebody. I hope my kids enjoy the same lack of manhood.

The more men I kill, the more far away from home I feel -- Saving Private Ryan

If you can feel like a good man in your 40s, you can feel like a better man in your 50s, a Superman in your 60s, and maybe a Spider-Man in your 70s.

I've made over 20 movies, and 5 of them are good.

I don't cause riots, but I do cause confusion. People freeze when they spot me.

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.

If you have to have a job in this world, a high-priced movie star is a pretty good gig.

It's just as hard... staying happily married as it is doing movies.

Everybody has something that chews them up and, for me, that thing was always loneliness. The cinema has the power to make you not feel lonely, even when you are.

I'm not interested in doing something edgy with a capital E just so everyone knows, 'Oh, OK, now he's showing us he can do edgy.'

I understand the concept of optimism. But I think with me what you get is a lack of cynicism.

Growing up in northern California has had a big influence on my love and respect for the outdoors. When I lived in Oakland, we would think nothing of driving to Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz one day and then driving to the foothills of the Sierras the next day.

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.'

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.

Saying no to something is actually much more powerful than saying yes.

It's always a combination of physics and poetry that I find inspiring. It's hard to wrap your head around things like the Hubble scope.