In Honor of Keanu Reeves' Birthday (Woah!), Here Are 57 of Keanu Reeves' Coolest Quotes

Believe it or not, '90s heartthrob, action-franchise king and major Hollywood star Keanu Reeves celebrates his birthday on Sept. 2. Our reaction to this mind-blowing news? As at least a couple of his iconic characters might say, "Woah!" (And you can quote us on that!)

While Reeves may be known as an actor of few words in his roles onscreen (see: "My name is Neo" and that aforementioned "Woah!"), in real life, Reeves has a habit of delivering thoughtful, well-considered bonmots that indicate just how deep and pensive of a guy he really is. (And yes, he can be just as succinct offscreen, as our quotes below will show.)

To celebrate this charming, crowd-pleasing and talented actor, director, producer and musician, we've rounded up Keanu Reeves' coolest, most thoughtful and funniest quotes out there.

57 Best Keanu Reeves Quotes

1. “My name can't be THAT tough to pronounce!”

2. “The simple act of paying attention can take you a long way.”

3. “Art is about trying to find the good in people, and making the world a more compassionate place.”

4. “Kissing someone is pretty intimate, actually very intimate, and your heart always kind of skips a beat before you do that.”

5. “I will always be in love with love.”

6. “Grief changes shape, but it never ends.”

7. "The best way to change is to make mistakes. You can learn from your mistakes and then keep moving on.”

8. “It's always wonderful to get to know women, with the mystery and the joy and the depth. If you can make a woman laugh, you're seeing the most beautiful thing .”

9. "Life is good when you have a good sandwich.”

10. “I wear my heart on my sleeve and that can hurt. To be vulnerable is an enriching way to live, but when it goes wrong it can be agonizing. But if you don't open your heart to people, you end up being excluded from the rest of the world.”

Related: Keanu Reeves' 'Breathtaking' Relationship History, From Heartbreak to Love With His Best Friend 

11. “I am not handsome or sexy. Of course, it’s not like I am hopeless.”

12. "We're all stardust, baby!"

13. "I was an affable little lad. I had a lot of energy. I liked to run around, liked to laugh, I was pretty sweet."

14. "I don’t have kids or anything like that, so I get to be less responsible! The day is kind of like, 'What, creatively, can I do?'”

15. "Sometimes life imitates art."

16. "It’s believing in love. It’s believing that there’s someone for you. That there’s the ultimate person, the ideal who will be your soul mate and your perfect match and that all your pain and suffering will go away and you’ll live happily ever after and you’ll be together in a blissful union."

Related: Keanu Reeves Talks John Wick, Bill & Ted and His First True Love

17. "Money doesn’t mean anything to me. I’ve made a lot of money but I want to enjoy life and not stress myself building my bank account... We all know that good health is much more important.”

18. "I don't want to be part of a world where being kind is a weakness."

19. “I have no martial arts background... I only know movie Kung Fu."

20. "It’s called show business for a reason."

21. "Try and respect others. Try and continue to get the most out of life, and find ways to get that in this situation, but also to respect it. Find ways to connect. If you can. I mean, just .... survive."

22. "I am very grateful for the printing press and everything that has followed. Electricity is pretty great too."

23. "I hate giving advice."

24. "I like Sundays. Sunday is the day of rest."

25. "I'm absolutely a very happy person."

26. “Here comes 40. I’m feeling my age, and I’ve ordered the Ferrari. I’m going to get the whole midlife crisis package."

27. "I thought the one of the ultimate expressions of 'whoa' was in the first Matrix...The 'whoa' was wonderful in TheMatrix."

28. "I'm Hawaiian, everyone's got a cousin."

29. "You know, I'm the lonely guy. I don't have anyone in my life."

30. "I don't really have a hobby. Is reading a hobby?

31. "I like pretending. I’m an actor."

Related: Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter Open Up About Their Excellent Adventures in Bill & Ted Face the Music

32. “I was always hoping, even when I was young, that I could do different things. I’m really grateful for that. I’m very fortunate. I’m glad to be here.”

33. "I guess it's just to my tastes to keep life as simple as I can."

34. "You know, I'm not an air guitar aficionado. But once in a while, the air guitar comes out."

35. "If something is hurting you, why and how and how can it be changed?"

36. "Working on Bill & Ted was certainly an excellent adventure. I love those characters. I love the spirit of the film. I like the eternal goodness of these characters. I always thought of them as beautiful fools."

37. “I don't know how much intelligence I have.”

38. "I don't really do junk food anymore? But I hope hamburgers don't count as junk food."

39. "I think that a picture can tell a thousand words, and none of them can be right. Or true."

40. "All of these characters have some DNA of mine, I share it with the character."

Related: Count Down Keanu Reeves' 12 Best Roles to Celebrate His Birthday!

41. "I think if I had taken the blue pill, it says I would go back to sleep and I would have never known what was happening. Which sounds very depressing. So I'm glad I took the right pill."

42. "I do look back. I still sometimes wake up and go, 'Gosh, I shouldn’t have done that!'"

43. "Energy cannot be created or destroyed, they say."

44. "It's easy to stay grounded. The ground is very close. And we walk on it every day."

45. "Once in a while, I have the moments, where you drink the whiskey and you get the records out and you start doing the DJ thing until four in the morning.”

46. "I’m not the biggest film star in the world [laughs] at all."

47. "I’m always looking for catharsis."

48. "I has always been my hope to be a part of works of art that entertain and that people can come away with something more or positive as they walked out of the dark into the world."

49. "Riding a motorcycle is like being a puppy."

50. "I've been very fortunate in my life. Which I am grateful for."

51. "Toronto's become like a shopping center now."

52. "'Are we in The Matrix?' No!"

53. “I know that the ones who love us will miss us.”

54. "We are humans on a rock floating through space with a finite amount of time. So take that into account—how we treat ourselves, how we treat others and we are all in this together. Be excellent to each other!"

55. "I definitely have a bit of the gypsy in me."

56. "Grief and loss, those are things that don’t ever go away. They stay with you."

57. "Honestly, I try not to do anything I don’t want to do."

Next, read our 50 Mark Twain quotes on life, love, books and everything in between.