When you're starting out as an actor, there isn't much food around. I was lucky to have a hit pretty early on. I didn't starve too long.

Let's look at people as artists and try to support them; just because Picasso painted a couple of bad paintings, that's no reason to say he's a lousy painter.

No matter how bad your life gets, you can always turn it around.

I love the fame and the money and the power. You have to keep working to have that.

From 1980 to 1990, I shot more films than any other actor in the Screen Actors Guild, apart from Gene Hackman.

I'm not bragging but my movies have grossed well over a billion dollars.

I've only had good experiences with actors. Starring next to them and directing them, for the most part they're all inspiring, special people.

I'm somebody who deserves to be supported and encouraged to continue my work because I have a lot to give.

I'm lucky to be in this business. I'm very grateful.

Directing is a tremendous art.

If you're an underdog, mentally disabled, physically disabled, if you don't fit in, if you're not as pretty as the others, you can still be a hero.

You never know who's going to become your friend. Friends are always chance meetings.

I'm somebody who's really contributed to culture. Popular culture.

You can tell when you're in a hit.

If you put down a list of jobs, doctor, lawyer, janitor, teacher or movie star, everybody would pick the movie star. And why? So you could lie around the pool, drink margaritas and send money to your parents. So that's what I did.

Typecasting is a good thing. It's good to be known for what you do.

A gay man can be friends with a straight man. That can happen.

It's good Xerox is known for its copying machines, and it's good Jim Carrey is known for comedy.

Everyone keeps asking me, What are you doing? I say, Why do I need to do anything? I'm rich.

When you're starting out as an actor, there isn't much food around. I was lucky to have a hit pretty early on. I didn't starve too long.

I'm sure if you dig deep, Joe and Ralph Fiennes do it because they want to be noticed.

A career is a series of ups and downs, of comebacks.

Underneath all the skin, we're all the same.

I'm not going to say, I'm an actor and I'm changing the world. Who cares?

When people are nasty, it gets everybody's attention, and it gives them a name.

I've made a lot of people a lot of money, and I've made a lot of people really happy. I've entertained millions and millions of people.

The allure of Hollywood is huge when you don't know anything. You don't know the knives behind the smiles.

In Utah, there are no bad things in the water there. It's just smooth, really beautiful.

Someone's just told me the English are still trying to take over the United States - is that true?

Unless you're Jack Lemmon or Cary Grant, there are few guys who can do comedy and drama.

There are 100,000 actors in the Screen Actors Guild. Only 2,000 of them make more than $75,000 a year.

Every film can be fun, even if it's a terror.

For 15 years I did two to three movies a year, sometimes four. I didn't get to spend time building my personal life.

Sometimes its good to miss a bus. It might be the wrong bus.

My favorite actor is Wallace Beery.

I've been a very lucky actor.

I don't think I could be happy as an actor if there was a tyrant on the set.

When I was starting to get noticed as an actor in the 1970s for something other than the third cowboy on the right who ended up dying in every movie or episode, Burt Reynolds was the biggest star in the world.

Most parts that can be played by one actor can equally well be played by another, but not this.

I think, frankly, that I'm a better director than I was an actor.

I knew an actor's career goes up and down and back up again. Your standing in this business can't be your whole identity; otherwise, you're doomed.

I don't think any actor feels comfortable watching themselves in movies. You must be very narcissistic. The problem with your own opinion of yourself is that contrary to the normal spectators, when you watch a film you are in, you only watch yourself.

I don't think there has been any increase in sophistication in the audience. When people are aware of a concept that's easy to understand, and there's an actor who will attract them to the theater and it's a movie that's funny three-quarters of the time, it will be successful.

I never dreamed about being an actor, because that was out of reach. Coming from a small town that was big in farming, and also big in clothing factories, you don't dream about being a professional football player or an actor.

My goal was always to be recognized as a good actor but no one was interested in that, simply because society just wants to warm towards your appearance. This is the great blemish of society.

If you really do want to be an actor who can satisfy himself and his audience, you need to be vulnerable.

To be honest with you, when I got into this I never thought about reviews. I never thought about what people would say about me. I was just a young guy who was excited to become a comedian and an actor and I just wanted to get to do what I got to do.

It was very natural for me to want to disappear into dark theater, I am really very shy. That is something that people never seem to fully grasp because, when you are an actor, you are meant to be an exhibitionist.

I think that I've still not been successful at playing the role of the retired actor, and I'd like to work on that.