There is so much to do on a film set. It is an extraordinarily invigorating and wonderful place to be, when things are running well.

If I were to play somebody who ran a fish and chip shop, I would not work in a fish and chip shop for three months. Staring at chips is not going to help me in my performance.

I think the cinema you like has more to do with silence, and the theater you like has more to do with language.

One of the greatest things drama can do, at it's best, is to redefine the words we use every day such as love, home, family, loyalty and envy. Tragedy need not be a downer.

Family is family over the internet, over Skype, over the telephone. Love is love. You don't have to actually go through some ritual to prove that you love somebody.

Fifteen years before I became a screen actor, I was in the theatre. A lot of my work was comedy, which I loved doing. It's harder.

With narration, you have to be very accurate with your voice. It's a good exercise to do.

Equal partners aren't always what we envision as being manifestly equal. Equality can come in many different shapes and sizes and combinations.

I do remember, as a child, that I always imagined, when I was maybe 6 or 7, my fantasy was that everywhere I went I was being followed by an invisible film crew.

They're a very strange lot actors, very strange people.

You cannot learn a lesson of profound forgiveness unless you understand what it is to be wounded and forgive that which has wounded you.

And don't you let your guard down for a second because you think anything's inevitable.

You do not need to be a mountain to feel strong. Be like a little flexible stream to have true power.

What is beauty, but an extension of modesty?

Well, I loved variety in television, I loved sketch comedy. At 'Saturday Night Live,' I stayed almost seven years.

I directed a movie back in the '90s which had calf roping in it, and I got into it quite a bit back then.

Never allow the circumstances of your life to become an excuse. People will allow you to do it. But I believe we have a personal obligation to make the most of the abilities we have.

The nature of tragedy and accident is that we cannot predict.

Turn your vision inward and then the whole world will be full of the Supreme Spirit.

Be virtuous and you will be vicious.

Writing every day is a way of keeping the engine running, and then something good may come out of it.