I make a list of what I have in common, and what I don't have in common, with someone I'm playing.

I play chess badly and I've been beaten by my 10-year old son.

It's great to watch someone get the most out of what they can do, whether they're a beautiful performer or just a really gritty performer. It's something to behold.

My interest lies in my self-expression - what's inside of me - not what I'm in.

Levi is one of the best authors I've ever read. It's hard not to have an immediate personal response to his work. He has such a quiet tone.

When the day's work is over, it's over.

If I was a criminal, stationery stores and bakeries would be the two kinds of places I would concentrate on.

I've done nudity. I'm an exhibitionist. It doesn't matter.

I think I've had more of a variety in what I've done than most actors.

When you sit down and watch something alone, you're going to watch it for what it is.

The romance stuff is easy. A sex scene... that's hard, because you don't know what to do. Those scenes are awkward.

In my first film, Five Corners, I played a very scary, violent crazed character, and it exposed me to a lot of directors.

Games sometimes can reveal things. To watch someone in movement, unconscious movement, can be very stimulating and revealing, whether they win or not.

The past has to inform the present.

A lot of films need planning in order to survive at all. It's part of the dog and pony show.

I love to act, and I try to be challenged by what I do.

If a film doesn't play, people aren't going to be that nice.

I make a list of what I have in common, and what I don't have in common, with someone I'm playing.

When I see these guys write all this macho stuff I want to smash their heads.

I think you learn more from looking at how things occurred and what happened afterward, not just at the event.

Al Michaels is a good announcer. I think Keith Jackson is a terrific announcer. I always loved him on Monday Night Football. I never understood why they got rid of him.

You think of stars as ambitious or aggressive or self-oriented.

If you are not sure where you stand with someone, then it might be time to start walking.

The biggest accomplishment, in racial terms, for Barack Obama was being elected. He had to overcome his blackness to be elected. He climbed the Mt. Everest of American politics, becoming an historic first.

One Direction is the main thing I'm doing and I'm 100 per cent dedicated to the group.

I raced in London in the 2012 Olympics, and it was incredible to be a part of, with half a million people watching and then later seeing kids going back to cycle.

Good girls go to heaven bad girls go everywhere.

When you start believing youre something special then youre not going to be striving to move forward.

I was raised to be kind. My parents were underdogs. Immigrant Jews. I spoke with an accent. I didn't speak English even - I spoke French and Yiddish mostly. I was picked on.

Surely the job of fiction is to actually tell the truth. It's a paradox that's at the heart of any kind of storytelling.

With my hours, I don't hang out with anybody. I work and come home to my Upper West Side apartment.

I was very aware of office politics because I was so baffled by them. So much so goes unsaid. No one says 'you're a cheeky so-and-so,' no one says 'you're so moody,' nobody ever confronts anyone else about anything. But I'm very crass, and I'm very confrontational, and I have a temper. I had to be hyper-vigilant in every office I worked in.

Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn and you will.

Sometimes we tend to be in despair when the person we love leaves us but the truth is its not our loss but theirs for they left the only person who wouldnt give up on them.

It must be remembered that the Bush White House has a separate talent for character assassination that must not be confused with a talent for governance.

At 16 the world is yours to have. You can do, you can be, anything you put your mind to.

Anyone who has the kind of inventive and inspired comic sensibility to be able to do that kind of work must be pretty talented.

In Barcelona, Bayern Munich, in Spain and Germany we were able to do it. But people say, 'You only did it because you were in Barcelona and Bayern Munich. You will not be able to do it in England.' So, let's do it. We are going to try.

We journalists tell the public which way the cat is jumping. The public will take care of the cat.

If there is a way to delay an important decision the good bureaucracy public or private will find it.

A holy man is a mighty weapon in the hands of God.

History shows that there is no more potent engine for reform than the passion of voters who feel betrayed by the politicians they hoped would do the right thing.

Miso makes a soup loaded with flavour that saves you the hassle of making stock.

Sometimes I feel like a Buddhist and I need to chant; sometimes a Baptist and I need to holler and shout; and sometimes I need to be a Catholic and need to purge my sins and confess. It just depends on where I am.

I write in the morning, I walk in the afternoon and I read in the evening. It's a very easy, lovely life.

The types of climbing that I choose to do I'm good at justifying. I do really try and pick things that I'm going to live through. I don't want to die, and I'm relatively cautious. I play with that line all the time. I want things that are very exciting, so much so that they can feel almost spiritual.