"[on being a director] It's the best job in the picture business because when you're a director, you're God. And you know that's the best job in town."

"I always try to improve, to find new ways of expressing myself, to keep looking for truth and originality."

"If anyone should have gotten AIDS from an active sex life, it is me."

"Most people seem to think I'm the kind of guy who shaves with a blowtorch. Actually I'm bookish and worrisome."

"Whether you like it or not, when you're 62 you are fulfilled."

"I found marriage somewhat stifling. I don't know that I am the kind of man who ought to be married."

"My former wife is a truly wonderful person."

"Her stickly, muscly little body thrashes beside me every night .. even as I slipped my hand into my underwear .. I always pretended to hate it."

"I tried to have a child. Along the way, my body broke. My relationship did, too. In the process—because of it?"

"Three pieces of candy if I could kiss her on the lips for five seconds."

"Grace was sitting up, babbling and smiling, and I leaned down between her legs and carefully spread open her vagina. She didn't resist"

"Basically, anything a sexual predator might do to woo a small suburban girl I was trying."

"Whatever she wanted to watch on TV if she would just "relax on me.""

"The reason I created Jimmy in the first place was I’ve always been a huge fan of science and technology and space, but I was never smart enough to actually become an astronaut or become a scientist — my math skills aren’t strong enough."

"There’s nothing sexy about nice; there’s nothing alluring or intriguing. And yet, I really love it when people are nice. Because honestly, I just think life is so hard. There are so many things that can get you down—that are so frustrating and so maddening. As cornball as it sounds, kindness is a thing that can defuse it a little bit. Kindness and laughs."

"I don’t have any sort of grand statement to make, to anybody. I don’t want people to know that much about me, really. I don’t have much of an interest in being an open book."

"I also think there’s something about the Midwest. The people that I grew up with in the Midwest — there’s something hardwired in them that they just don’t take themselves too seriously. They don’t get too big for their britches."

"I don’t come from a family of actors, I didn’t grow up around it and so when I go to Los Angeles for work, or to a premiere, I like it because it feels like I’m just popping in."

"When you’re playing a part you’re not just thinking about genre. ‘Oh this part is gonna be action then drama and I’m gonna tell some jokes and be funny…’ I don’t compartmentalise it like that."

"I call myself an action figure in real life and a superhero in fake life."

"Actors talk about a love of craft and contributing to artistic welfare. But, really, I think [the desire to act] came for me from wanting more attention from my parents."

"I figured early on [acting] was what I wanted to do for a job. And I certainly hoped it would work out, and that I would be playing lots of different parts. But I don't think I anticipated being an ant!"

"Over the last 10 years, I never made a very concerted effort to mix it up. I just wanted to work on things that I liked. But I think I was feeling some fatigue over that and wanted to try something different."

"You hear some comics that used to play colleges all the time. They don’t want to do that any more, because there’s no room for any kind of daring comedy. Everybody’s gonna be pissed off about something. And that’s… a drag."

"I keep up on the news, and there's all this noise out there, with all of the media and people on their phones all the time. I think we've become a schizophrenic culture primarily as a result of the genie getting out of the bottle with all this media stuff."

"You don’t survive as a screenwriter-for-hire if you’re not willing to incorporate other people’s ideas or at least be willing to consider them. What I’ve found is that other people have really good ideas, which make you look better. It’s part of the process. At all stages of production, including pre- and post-, your film is going to change because it’s being shaped by all these people and ideas."

"People treat actors and people in the public eye differently from how they’d treat anybody else in their lives. You would never come up to a stranger, throw your arm around them and say, ‘Hey, buddy, lemme get this picture.’ You think it’s OK to do that?"

"I think I’m somewhat defined by my race for sure, and I’m good with that and I actually want that to be a part. I think that should be fodder for our work — we should use all aspects of ourselves. I’m always trying to find a place where that’s actually an impact on what I’m doing as opposed to going, “Well, we’re all just people and we’re the same.”"

"This [Racism] is a systemic, institutionalized problem that we are all fully aware of."

"I hope to use my ‘celebrity’ to motivate people and contribute to moving our global society back from the brink. I am surprised environment is not at the top of the agenda. What is more important than food and clean air? We need a big push."

"I think this is the greatest threat to our republic ever. Not the Depression, not World War II, not the Civil War. This is it … This moment of all these intersecting viruses, of novel coronaviruses and of racial injustice — [a] 402-year-old-virus. And it’s an age-old human virus of lying and misinformation and paranoia and conspiracy. This is the pill that will kill us unless we do something."

"One would think that making a film is an ; you're building this—it's not, it's . The best metaphor I know of is we make in [] and it takes forty gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup. And that's what the process is."

"Being an American means reckoning with a history fraught with violence and injustice. Ignoring that reality in favor of mythology is not only wrong but also dangerous. The dark chapters of American history have just as much to teach us, if not more, than the glorious ones, and often the two are intertwined."

"I'm a risk-taker. Most of my career has not been a joyful experience, but it has been challenging. I like the dangers."

"If your work isn't exciting, doesn't stir the emotions, where's the challenge? Where's the progress if you always play it safe?"

"Do you know what absolute happiness is? For me, it is to wake up my kids in the morning - these little pieces of innocence - to wake them and find they're so happy to see me! It is unequivocal love, no question about it."

"Cancer didn't bring me to my knees, it brought me to my feet."

"The Cold War's end pushed disarmament down most leaders' agendas. It's a sophisticated issue, which I think is one reason why it is not so hands-on to many people. It's not visceral. It's not like a starving child."

"I'm impressed with the people from Chicago. Hollywood is hype, New York is talk, Chicago is work."

"It's difficult for me to meet women because my crowd is much older. I know that for some of the young women I do meet, a relationship with me can be envisioned as a benefit to their career."

"This year, 2020, is the worst year of my life. I was born in 1944, so I took no part in the Second World War. But this is one of the worst things I can imagine. The pandemic affects everyone, regardless of their financial status. The only hope I have is that it brings us all a little closer. But it is a tragedy, and it indicates which countries have strong governments and those which do not. I hope that it will prepare us for the next time."

"People have this idea that I'm part of show business royalty. I cherish the relationship I had with my father, and I'd love to fulfill the fantasy. But when I was young, he was a working actor and hadn't quite made it yet."

"You rack your brain. You take it personally in the beginning, you start blaming yourself. My career came before my family. My marriage was not great, and so you do hide yourself in your work. I should have focused more on my family. But that's hard to say when you're in the midst of your career, when you are in your own mind stepping out of your father's shadow, trying to create a life of your own."

"A work ethic. Courtesy to your fellow human beings. And kindness. Which are traits you have to work at and rehearse. Particularly compassion — I feel a certain responsibility to conduct myself as somebody who has been blessed and fortunate simply because I was born a white male. And also to teach them to be good citizens of the planet. I'm conscious of us all being in this together."

"I said it as Gordon Gekko, but I don’t believe that greed is good. The size of fortunes in finance have increased. It’s an accumulation of our political system over the past 30 years; the amount of money that’s invested in certain politicians, so the politician is not responsible to his constituency, but to the people who financially supported him. What you’re seeing now is the result of years of choosing the person who has the best financial connections. I’m sure Gordon Gekko would have been friends with Donald Trump. I’ve known Donald fairly well over the years, in New York. They would probably play golf together!"

"I read the script, and I think, 'That's a good movie, and that's a really good movie, moves me, makes me laugh, this and that.' I don't worry about the part. Then I'm looking who's around me? Who's the director? Who's the cast? And I would much rather have a little part in a good movie than a big part in a crappy movie."

"My favorite scene is the one I’m shooting at the moment. When people ask me which of my movies is my favorite, I always say, “the next one”. Perhaps the same is true of every scene. The next one is perfect. It is finished in my mind without a flaw. Untainted by the reality of time running out, actors forgetting their lines, light dropping fast, wagon stuck in the mud or mismatched piece of clothing that must be found and brought to set."

"“I don't suffer the same things that they do, but I stand with them to defend and protect [their lives and homeland]"

"Whenever I look at any environmental story, whether it’s oceans, jungles, Antarctica, or the Amazon, I look at the human side to translate it in a relevant way for human beings. It makes it more relevant and compelling to people who are watching, listening, reading."