Racism has a very quick expiration date when exposed to actual contact with people.

Donald Trump does not touch alcohol, which is really respectable. But think about that. That means every statement, every interview, every tweet - completely sober.

My dad's from that generation like a lot of immigrants where he feels like if you come to this country, you pay this thing like the American dream tax: like you're going to endure some racism, and if it doesn't cost you your life, well hey, you lucked out. Pay it; there you go, Uncle Sam. I was born here, so I actually had the audacity of equality.

Being healthy is the crown that only the sick can see. A lot of times, we take it for granted.

I have nothing to do with anything that happens to me.

I was trained on the stage, and I can do stage as well as I can do movies, but I prefer films.

The first film I ever remember - I think my mother took me to it - was called 'She Married Her Boss' with Melvyn Douglas.

What did we play in the Harry Dean Stanton Band? It was old blues and country - all covers. I never wrote anything.

I think any performing artist can do films, or, as a matter of fact, anybody out there in the street can be a film actor with no experience whatsoever if you've got a good director.

I'd love to meet Gandhi. And Christ. I'm sure he'd be interesting. And a lot different than a lot of people would think.

A friend is somebody who doesn't lie.

You can do stuff onstage that you can't do offstage. You can be angry as hell and enraged and get away with it onstage, but not off.

I've worked with some of the best of them. Not just directors like Sam Peckinpah and David Lynch, but writers like Sam Shepard and singers like Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson.

I could have made it as a singer, but I went with acting - surrendered to it, in a way.

I was singing the blues when I was six. Kind of sad, eh?

Singing and acting are actually very similar things. Anyone can sing and anyone can be a film actor. All you have to do is learn.

Every actor is a character actor.

Nothing is important.

I've had chances to record albums, which I haven't done.

I used to sing when I was six years old. When the family would leave the house, I'd get up on the stool and sing. 'T for Texas, T for Tenessee, T for Thelma, the gal that made a wreck out of me.' I was in love with my babysitter. She was 18. I was six.

The soul is an illusion.

I always had a dramatic flair. I'd like to dress up like a cowboy, play make-believe. But I didn't realize acting was something I had to do until I got to college.

I worked with the best directors - Martin Scorsese, John Huston, David Lynch, Alfred Hitchcock. Alfred Hitchcock was great.

'Paris, Texas' gave me a chance to play compassion, and I'm spelling that with a capital C.