95 Matthew McConaughey Quotes To Elevate Your Life

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Looking for some inspiration and motivation? Look no further than this extensive collection of Matthew McConaughey quotes!

Matthew McConaughey is one of the most charismatic actors in Hollywood today. Not only is he a phenomenal talent on-screen, he’s also a source of incredible inspiration off screen.

He’s always open about sharing the lessons that he’s learned on his journey to success. And that’s why in this article, we’re diving into his best quotes that will inspire you to find direction and live your life with a purpose.

So without further ado, let’s get into the list.

 

Best Matthew McConaughey Quotes On Life

 

  • “There’s three things that I need each day; one is something to look up to, another is something to look forward to, and another is someone to chase.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Happiness is an emotional response to an outcome. It’s an “if-then” standard that we cannot sustain because we immediately raise it every time we attain it.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “I like pursuing the things that scare me because they cost me something. It’s not really a risk unless you lose. I feel alive in those moments.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Most of the time, it’s not so much about what choice we make. Just make a choice and commit to it. Dive in and don’t look back.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Life’s more than just straight Saturdays with as much cake as you wanna eat, it just is. We’ll see how long you last doing that.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Don’t fall into the trap of feeling like you’re a victim, you’re not. Get over it and get on with it.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “We should never create restrictions on our life. Who are we to think that we don’t deserve or we haven’t earned these gifts when we get them.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “In this world that our young people are living in, we’re all connected but nobody is with each other. They have more outreach than any of us ever had, but they’re more isolated than ever before.”

 

  • “As an actor, I started enjoying my work and became more happy when I stopped trying to make the daily labor a means to an end. For example, “I need this film to be a box office success.” When the work became the reward itself for me, I got more accolades than I could imagine.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “To actually have true freedom, we have to be more responsible for certain things. We have to be constantly interrogating and investigating our better selves.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Keep the things that are important to you in good shape. Where you are not is just as important as where you are.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “What we often forget in life is that there can be a greater pleasure found in going through pain as opposed to avoiding it.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “We need to be confident enough to go, “Well things are going well, and I can’t take this for granted. What is it I’m doing?” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “If happiness is what you’re after, then you’re gonna be let down frequently, and you’re gonna be unhappy much of your time. However, joy can be found in doing what we’re fashioned to do.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Guilt and regret kill many men before their time. Get off the ride. You are the author of the book of your life. Turn the page.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Always remember that you will have a thousand crises in your life, and most of them will never happen.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Don’t miss the process for the clenching seek of the result. Don’t let the result tell you that you’re significant.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

matthew mcconaughey quote

 

  • “Instead of denying these fears, declare them and say them out loud. Give them the credit that they deserve, and then find the courage to overcome them.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Joy is always in process. It’s under construction. It is in constant approach. Alive and well in the doing of what we’re fashioned to do.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “The problems we face today eventually turn into blessings in the rearview mirror of life. In time, yesterday’s red light leads us to a greenlight.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Be brave, have courage, and when you do those things…you get stronger, you get more aware.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Life is not fair, it never was and it won’t ever be. Do not fall into the entitlement trap of feeling like you’re a victim, you’re not.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “I believe in living in the present and making each day count. I don’t pay much attention to the past or the future.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “We remember the stuff we earn, the stuff we experience, more than what the teacher gives us or what someone told us for free.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Give thanks. Appreciate what you do have..the more we give thanks, the more we receive to be thankful for. Gratitude is the gift that always gives back.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

Matthew McConaughey Quotes On Success

Enjoying this collection of quotes so far? Well, then you’d probably also enjoy these Denzel Washington quotes or this list of inspirational quotes for men.

If you’d just prefer to keep reading, then here’s more inspirational Matthew McConaughey quotes on success.

 

  • “Every day, every week, every month of my life…my hero is always 10 years away. I’m never gonna be my hero, I know I’m not. But that’s just fine with me because it leaves me with someone to keep on chasing.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Greatness is about staying the race and committing to the chase. All you gotta do is stay in the race and keep achieving in the pursuit of the unachievable.” ~ Matthew McConaughey 

 

  • “We love to dissect problems. Well, we need to start dissecting success. Start looking and deconstructing your life, your choices, when things are going well.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Stay in the zone, in the process. I’ve found that more results will come your way. I’m always reminding myself to stay in the journey.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “What you do today can matter tomorrow. If you do something really well today, you can be rewarded for that with a green light later in life.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “In America, we have put fame and money at the top of the ladder for success. There’s nothing wrong with money, I love money. But the better question you need to ask yourself is this; what do I want to be relevant for?” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “If you voluntarily choose resistance and then you go through it, then you have greater pleasure waiting for you on the other side of it.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

motivational quote

 

  • “If we stay absorbed in the process and truly enjoy the act of doing, then we will never choke at the finish line. Why? Because we aren’t thinking about the finish line.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Think before you click and before you put something out. Are you putting out something today that you’re going to look forward to looking back at?” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Most things are more rewarding when you break a sweat to get them.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Prioritize who you are, who you want to be, and don’t spend time with anything that antagonizes your character.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “All of us are so results-oriented, but there’s no “ta-da” moment. We’re always chasing, you’ve gotta realize that you’re achieving your way to the unachievable, and that the job is never finished.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Responsibility is appreciation of the past, it’s the building of a lineage, it’s investing in ourselves, it’s investing in something today that we started to build yesterday that we want to take into tomorrow. That’s what gives us freedom.” ~ Matthew McConaghey 

 

  • “The easiest way to dissect success is through gratitude, and to give thanks for what we do have.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “We all want to succeed right? Well, then the question that we need to ask ourselves is, “What is success to us?” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “You shouldn’t ignore your failures, because you can definitely learn from them. But you have to look at them constructively, as a means to reveal what you’re good at and what you can succeed at.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “The greatest snipers and marksmen in the world don’t aim at the target, they aim on the other side of the target. We do our best when our destinations are beyond measurement.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Delayed gratification is about recognizing that there are choices I can make today that will pay me back later in life.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Life is not a popularity contest. Be brave, take the hill, but first, answer the question, “What is my hill?” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Every hero doesn’t do this great big hero thing. They do the simple thing over and over…and they stick to it.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

matthew mcconaughey quote on wall

 

  • “Take the lid off the manmade roofs that we put above ourselves and always play like an underdog.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “We dissect failure a lot more than we dissect success.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “You want to be a writer? Start writing. You want to be a filmmaker? Start shooting stuff on your phone right now.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Life’s barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you get good at.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “If I’m doing something I do like to take it to the limit. I’ve got a high ceiling. A wide threshold for seeing what those boundaries are for myself. I’m very resilient inside.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “We have a big appetite for putting people down but, at the heart of everyone, there’s enough room for all of us to succeed.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

Matthew McConaughey Quotes From Greenlights

In 2020, McConaughey released a memoir titled Greenlights

In the book, McConaughey talks about his journey to success and offers powerful advice about finding greater satisfaction in life.

So let’s keep this list of Matthew McConaughey quotes rolling with some of the best pieces of wisdom from the book.

 

  • “Don’t walk into a place like you wanna buy it, walk in like you own it.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Too many options can make a tyrant out of any of us, so we should get rid of the excess in our lives that keep us from being more of ourselves.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “I’ve never felt like a victim. I have a lot of proof that the world is conspiring to make me happy.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Sometimes which choice you make is not as important as making a choice and committing to it.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “The question we need to ask ourselves is: what is success to us? More money? That’s fine. A healthy family? A happy marriage? Helping others? To be famous? Spiritually sound? To express ourselves? To create art? To leave the world a better place than we found it?” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “We have to be thrown off balance to find our footing. It’s better to jump than fall. And here I am.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “We don’t live longer when we try not to die, we live longer when we’re too busy livin.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “I loved the work, the process, the construction, the architecture of building and owning my man.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “If you’re not a starter and you think you should be, give them no choice in the decision. Play so well it’s undeniable.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

quote on blue wall

 

  • “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze. When you’re stuck in the storm, pray for luck and make the best of it.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “A denied expectation hurts more than a denied hope, while a fulfilled hope makes us happier than a fulfilled expectation.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “We are made for every moment we encounter, whether the moment makes us or we make the moment. whether we are helpless in it or on top of it, the predator or the prey. we are made for that moment.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “I think that’s what we all want. To believe in and be believed in. We all must earn belief in ourselves first, then for each other.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Life is our resume. It is our story to tell, and the choices we make write the chapters. Can we live in a way where we look forward to looking back?” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Knowing who we are is hard. Eliminate who we’re not first, and we’ll find ourselves where we need to be.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Great leaders are not always in front, they also know who to follow.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “We are not here to tolerate our differences, we are here to accept them. We are not here to celebrate our sameness, we are here to salute our distinctions. We are not born into equal circumstances but to equal abilities, but we should have equal opportunities. As individuals we unite in our values.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “I’ve found that a good plan is to first recognize the problem, then stabilize the situation, organize the response, then respond.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “We must be aware of what we attract in life because it is no accident or coincidence.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “The inevitability of a situation is not relative; when we accept the outcome of a given situation as inevitable, then how we choose to deal with it is relative.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “More often than we care to admit it, we don’t get what we want because we quit early or we didn’t take the necessary risk to get it.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

inspirational quote from matthew mcconaughey

 

  • “It’s a matter of how we see the challenge in front of us and how we engage with it. Persist, pivot, or concede. It’s up to us, our choice every time.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Sometimes we don’t need advice. Sometimes we just need to hear we’re not the only one.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “When we mentally give a person, place, or point in time more credit than ourselves, we create a fictitious ceiling. A restriction over the expectations that we have over our own performance at that moment.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “We cannot fully appreciate the light without the shadows. We have to be thrown off balance to find our footing.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

Matthew McConaughey Quotes On Love & Family

 

  • “I come from a family of disciplinarians where you better follow the rules, until you’re man enough to break em.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Earn it with you, then earn it with me, then we earn it for we.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “We feared him. Not because he ever hurt or abused us but because he was our father. We looked up to him. He was above the law and government, and he didn’t suffer fools, unless you admitted to being one.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “I feel sound of myself; my spirit feels good. I got three children and an amazing wife, so life has really blessed me.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “My wife and I don’t compete. We know each other’s preferences, and we work to provide those for each other. One will take over when he or she is faced with something he or she dislikes. That’s what friends do.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Best thing you could probably do as a father is make sure they see how much you love their mother.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “I’ve been waiting to have my own family since I was young. It just took me a while to find the perfect woman.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “I got a mother who knows that all of my talents came from her, and she needs to be up there, and she didn’t get her chance to be in the Golden Girls. So now is her chance, so come on with it.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “I do not remember the last time we partied when she didn’t go to bed after me and get up before me.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “I’m a pretty loyal guy with friends and family. I’ve had the same friends for a long time.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

quote about friends and family

 

  • “We were not allowed to gripe about anything growing up. She was like, ‘You know what you sound like? You sound like the kid crying about having no shoes. Well, let me introduce you to the kid with no feet.'” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “To my wife and kids; the courage and significance you give me everyday I go out the door is unparalleled. You are the people in my life that I want to make the most proud of me.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “My mother is a true baller. She’s living proof that the value of denial depends on one’s level of commitment to it. She beat two types of cancer on nothing more than aspirin and denial.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “My father taught me what it is to be a man. My mother demanded that me and my two older brothers respect ourselves. And what we learned in turn is that this made it easier to respect others.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “My last name is originally Irish. I’m not exactly sure where it’s from, but I’ve got family branches that were traced back there.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

  • “Death, family, crisis, and newborns; the end of a life, trying to keep a life, and welcoming in a new one — these are the things that will shake your floor, give you clarity, and give you courage to live harder, stronger, and truer.” ~ Matthew McConaughey

 

Powerful Matthew McConaughey Speech

In 2014, Matthew McConaughey received an Oscar for his performance in Dallas Buyers Club, a movie about a man who is diagnosed with AIDS and told he has 30 days to live.

And while his performance was extraordinary in that film, what he did after was even more captivating. After receiving the award, McConaughey proceeded to give one of the most legendary acceptance speeches of all-time.

If you haven’t seen it, then do yourself a favor and check it out below. I have a feeling that it will inspire you to chase the best version of yourself today.

 

 

Final Thoughts

I hope that you enjoyed this powerful collection of Matthew McConaughey quotes! 

Through his experiences and insights, he encourages us to live life to the fullest, embrace change, and follow our dreams. 

Most importantly though, he encourages us to embrace the journey. Success is full of ups and downs, and we need to be ready for all of it if we wanna become the best version of ourselves.

We need to be prepared for the setbacks, the self-doubt, and the hard times because those moments are what build our character.

Those moments are the ones we look back on fondly when we’re standing on top of the mountain.

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