There's really one character for every actor. The voyage is to find that one character.

When you work as an actor, you've got to feel safe even in what appears to be the simplest things.

When you work as an actor, you've got to feel safe even in what appears to be the simplest things.

It's not enough to say that the Olympics is an athletic contest outside of politics, because it's not. The Chinese clearly are using the Olympics to recreate how they are viewed in the world and how they view themselves.

America has never paid any attention to other people, so it's absurd for Bush to say that it's all in the best interests of the Iraqi people.

Food is the only beautiful thing that truly nourishes.

(Sometimes when) someone's directing for the first time, they're afraid to include everyone - they have to prove they're the director.

A lot of making a movie is the comfort level of the people. It's just feeling open. We need to get along. We have to know something about each other.

I think that as human beings we tend to compartmentalize, and we have a selective morality based on the situation we're in.

[on editing of the films] There is always a question of time, and the director. I've worked with a lot of directors who don't mind my involvement. They appreciated it.

I do my work as an actor, but another part of my work goes to the piece as a whole. I can be fairly detached looking at my work and be brutal on myself.

It's rare that a good writer will sit down and write a good script. Writers are greedy too, and they don't want to work without getting paid. But quality will find its way out.

Any political situation has many sides... We intellectualize the whole situation any way... We make our intellectual decisions based on our cultural background and how we live.

One of the joys of being an actor is that you're always learning new things. And I've been doing this since I was 19, so there's been a lot of new things I have learned for each part. I always assume that I can do it.

If people lose their land, they have nothing. You lose your land - you lose your culture, you lose self.

I'm less needy about needing to express myself through acting. I have many different lives outside of this that are extremely fulfilling.

I'm less needy about needing to express myself through acting. I have many different lives outside of this that are extremely fulfilling.

Before she left, she said, "Just remember one thing: Going along with something doesn't mean you give in to it.[...]

Sifting daylight dissolves the memory, turns it into dust motes floating in light.

Time is just memory Mixed in with Desire.

I don't go to church on Sunday, don't get on my knees to pray, or memorize the books of the Bible, I got my own special way

I'll never forget the moment I became a dad. It's hard to describe-that level of responsibility, the desire to give such joy, the clarity: Nothing is more important than this.

When you expect the world to end at any moment, you know there is no need to hurry. You take your time, you do your work well.

Hannibal at eighteen was rooting for Mephistopheles and contemptuous of Faust, but he only half-listened to the climax. He was watching and breathing Lady Murasaki...