I think I understand the line between my job and the director's. I have no interest in directing. Not my movie, not your movie, nobody's movie.

That's probably the biggest secret of acting: If the actor believes it themselves, they can make you believe it.

Acting is the business of truth, so that we can see ourselves reflected back and learn.

Being an actor on a movie set is like going to the playground at recess.

The power of television - it's so present in our lives, we don't even know how powerful it is.

The key to acting has much more to do with listening than with talking.

I'm a little bit of a glutton for punishment, especially when it comes to work. I don't mind a bit of suffering. I think it's in suffering that we realize our best selves.

I am a smoker, I'm ashamed to say. I had given it up for many years, then picked it up again. It's a horrible habit. I struggle with myself all the time. And I love to smoke.

The climate informs the character.

As an actor, you live a little bit of a cloistered life. It's a lonely life. You oddly, strangely find yourself all alone, quite often, with a lot of time to think.

I think this notion of acting and glamour is getting in everybody's way.

Why do Twolegs do anything? If we knew that, our lives would be a lot easier.

When I'm writing fiction, I read nonfiction or biographies. Now I'm watching very old movies or old foreign films. I don't immerse myself in whatever's going on in whatever area I'm working in.

Common sense dictates the term hot fudge sundae has a totally different meaning in prison.

a society driven mainly by selfish individualism has all the potential for sustainability of a collection of angry scorpions in a bottle.

My uncle is a Southern planter. He's an undertaker in Alabama.

Practical people would be more practical if they would take a little more time for dreaming.

I love playing my music and I love sharing the music with people. But at the same time, it is pretty taxing.

[My mom] had always wanted to write a children's book. She was a children's librarian and an elementary school teacher, so of course she loves children and children's literature.

Philosophy aims at the logical clarification of thoughts. Philosophy is not a body of doctrine but an activity. A philosophical work consists essentially of elucidations.

Some of my ancestors were religious dissenters who came to America over three hundred years ago. Others were abolitionists in New England in the eighteen forties and fifties.