“It doesn’t mean we don’t take it seriously, but no one is under the delusion (that we’re) bringing world peace.”

Either you’re growing or you’re decaying; there’s no middle ground. If you’re standing still, you’re decaying.

I had a bunch of lean years where I had to do things, a lot of which I wasn’t wildly enthusiastic about.

I’ve always considered myself an actor, but I wasn’t making a living as an actor.

Ten years ago, it would have been impossible to imagine a Cockney singing group with a Southern Negro style and Indian and electronic music.

All I can say is if the part doesn’t delight me in some way, or I can’t feel any compassion for it, I just can’t do it.

Things are never going to turn out how you think they will.

A product is most easily sold when it has an identity. So they wrap you all up and put a label on you.

Even at that age, six and seven and eight, why I was moved by certain things they did

And then that’s what you have to be. But what I’m looking for is the opportunity to explore what I can do, probing the limits, learning.

If you want to be an actor and you love acting, you can do it whether you’re doing something else or not.

Creativity means learning where the rules exist, and then breaking them! Saying, “It’s better this way.” But you have to know the rules in order to break them with any grace.

I don’t love the business. I never wanted to be a part of it. I don’t think any actor does.

” Education does not mean jamming information into somebody’s head. Rather, it’s that ancient idea that all knowledge is within us; to teach is to help somebody pull it out of themselves.

We might just as well let the rest of it go, join the party, and dance our hearts out.

There’s a familiarity that sometimes shocks and annoys the hell out of me.

TV has taken reflection out of the human condition. People didn’t use to have a ready answer for everything, whether they knew something about it or not.

If I have a song where I hit some really high notes, I want to try to bring in equivalently low notes somewhere in there.

Written words still have the amazing power to bring out the best and worst of human nature

They want you to bring out your intestines.

Dressing is a way of life. It brings you joy. It can give you freedom and liberation, help you to find yourself and to move without restraint. Isn’t elegance forgetting what one is wearing?

The prestige you acquire by being able to tell your friends that you know famous men proves only that you are yourself of small account.

How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads; to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams.

Creativity is the process of bringing something new into being. Creativity requires passion and commitment. It brings to our awareness what was previously hidden and points to new life. The experience is one of heightened consciousness: ecstasy.

I think about my sons and the legacy I have to leave for them – and it always brings me back to reality.