Sometimes I think I could have got some better results if I had a different mentality; if I could have pushed hard and attacked. But then I would have had a good chance of making a mistake.
If I could have half the career of Diane Sawyer, I’d be a happy woman.
I’ve been a storyteller all my life. When I was in high school, I used to amuse myself by driving through the woods at night and see how long it would be before I scared the pants off my friends – and if I could do it before I scared myself.
When I wrote ‘Kidulthood,’ I didn’t even know there was going to be a ‘Kidulthood.’ I just wanted to test myself to see if I could write a script.
I felt inferior. I had this tremendous need to perform. I wanted to be acceptable to my peers. I thought if I could just be a big star, I’d feel like somebody, too.
I think if I could do it over again – as much as I loved meeting the people I did on the films after ‘Matilda’ – I wish that I had stopped after ‘Matilda.’ I wish that I had just focused on my own life for a while.
I was a baseball player. I played in high school and a little bit in college. I was a catcher. I don’t know if I could have played any other position. As a catcher, you’re always on the ball.
I’m obsessed with ‘Hamilton.’ I’ve seen it, like, three times, and if I could get a weekly pass, I would.
I love writing books – I really do. If I could just quit everything and work on a book every day, I would love that most.
If I could make a device where people could just intuit everything you are thinking – a little cable you plug into, like, a USB port, I would make a billion dollars.
If – when someone asks me a question, if I could just focus on not joking, I think that would be great, because for some reason, I can’t.
I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other.
It’s a hard life… but if I could, I would do it all again.
We don’t have a good legal justification for breaking up the banking system. But if I could wave a magic wand, I’d break up the banking system.
If I could do anything, I’d ride horses all day.
If I could miracle myself away, I would live out West.
If I could pass along anything that my mother or my sisters taught me, I feel like my kids would be very well off.
One can’t change one’s life experience, but even if I could, I wouldn’t change it because of all the wonderful things that have happened to me.
If I could never work again and I could just listen to music and walk, I’d be very, very happy.
If I could only get people to rub my belly for good lucky and then throw money in my fountain, it’d be a perfect world.
If I could grill for breakfast, I would.
Everybody, every tradesman that worked for Shafin or built my house got fully paid, well paid. Everybody got paid. I would like that to be said if I could because I haven’t said it before, and it’s important. People kind of think we left all these plumbers or electricians without getting paid.
I feel like I don’t really have a sense of humor… I don’t know if I could characterize it dark or light. I just – I do like humor.
If I could remake any Eighties project, it would be less an action flick than a character-driven drama with a rich story to tell.
If I could have anyone’s mind for a day, I really can’t think of anyone other than Einstein.
I thought if I could create a convincing cat I could say and do anything I wanted on the human condition.
Growing up, I thought it would be great if I could do big theaters. Now we’re doing arenas.
I think it’d be the coolest thing if I could get a role in a dance movie. That’s something I’m always going to love.
If I could go back in time and give Rookie C.J one piece of wisdom, it would be that sometimes less is more. Off the court, sometimes it’s just better to shut up and be quiet.
Most movies use older actors, but I thought, if I could just put kids on camera and get them to be themselves, what could be easier?
Writing songs helped me figure out how to communicate with other people. I finally figured out that if I could express something in a song, I could probably express it in my real life, too.
If I could make every movie with Richard Linklater, I would.
If I could create an ideal world, it would be an England with the fire of the Elizabethans, the correct taste of the Georgians, and the refinement and pure ideals of the Victorians.
If I could have one superpower, I’d be like Mel Gibson in ‘What Women Want,’ where he reads women’s minds.
If I could be granted a wish, I’d shine in your eye like a jewel.
I like both potatoes and rice. You can do a lot with both of them. But if I could eat only one carbohydrate for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t choose bread, potatoes or even noodles. I’d go for rice instead; I eat more of that than anything else.
If I could, I’d change the way I came up through the football ranks. I’d love to have had an academy life the way the boys have it. I think female footballers would be so much better for having that opportunity, and we’d be more effective because we would be better players.
If I could pick any story idea or script I had that I wanted everything to go exactly right for, it would probably be ‘Pacific Rim.’
If I could learn to treat triumph and disaster the same, then I would find bliss.
If Spider-Man is your ground level superhero, I wanted to come up with a ground-level villain. I wanted to figure out if I could turn a regular guy into a super-villain.
I suppose that if I could have quit, I would have, because in those days I never wanted to be an actress, the acting was something to do while I waited for a chance to study writing and directing. But I guess I was just meant to be an actress. Because, here I am.
Sometimes things happen in life, sometimes they don’t. Don’t get me wrong: I have no regrets – if I could turn the clock back 10 or 20 years, I wouldn’t want to fundamentally change the path my life has taken.
If I could be anyone, I’d choose the lead singer of Arcade Fire, Win Butler.
I didn’t know that you were supposed to tune the guitar to an open chord, and I learned to play slide with a normal tuning. I think it’s a little more melodic that way and doesn’t sound so bluesy. Of course, if I could play like David Lindley or Ry Cooder, I’d be a happy man!
Yes, I love white, and I’d wear it all the time if I could. Some people think I have an issue with cleanliness, but to me it’s just so pretty.
I think that I’m so psychotic and so mentally ill that if I could tap into that I could do something really interesting.
It was complicated at Madrid. I was suspicious. The lack of recognition for Makelele over there scared me. I was scared it would happen to me. But I should have gone there. Today, I don’t regret the career that I have had, but if I could have changed one thing, it would be that: to go to Madrid.
All my life, I had this idea that if I could unravel the mystery that was my mother, then I could help save her. But it didn’t really work. We were close, but she struggled with mental illness and alcoholism, and it was rough at times.
My sole ambition is to rid Mexico of the class that has oppressed her and given the people a chance to know what real liberty means. And if I could bring that about today by giving up my life, I would do it gladly.
Until I was 21, I wasn’t going into the media. I was a professional show jumper; I was going to have a farm… Then my father died, and it changed my life. I realised I had to have a go at being a journalist to see if I could cut the mustard.
If I could choose to have one superpower, I would want to be able to make everyone love everyone!
I knew I wanted to be a professional triathlete, but I didn’t know it was possible until I won the junior champs. My dad said I should give Cambridge a go to see if I could do both, but it was only ever a trial.
I have scary eyes. I look like the guy in ‘American History X,’ yes. I remember coming home from school and asking my mum if I could get an eye transplant, and of course she declined.
In my family, I was loved, but only if I would fight this gay thing and not let it take over me. I would be loved unconditionally if I could be cured of my ‘sickness,’ but it certainly would not be OK if I couldn’t.
I was thinking on the rollers today that, before a race, if I could just pick my brain up and put it on the side of the track for four minutes, it would be perfect.
If I could have stayed independent from the jump, then, maybe, things would have been different. ‘Return of 4Eva’ would have been an album instead of a mixtape.
I think it’s good for an actor to bounce between stuff on camera and stuff in theatre. If I could do half and half every year I would be a very, very happy man.
To be totally honest, if I could be thinner without it causing a lot of pain and anxiety in my life, I would be. But today the reality is my life is more important to me than my weight – and thank God for that.
I wouldn’t mind seeing China if I could come back the same day.
I don’t know if I could go to another run-of-the-mill baseball department and work because it would probably feel like work. In Boston and Chicago, it doesn’t feel like work. It feels like a privilege.
