“I have my own vocabulary. I love linguistics. That surprises people.”

One of the great pleasures of going to see a Daniel Day-Lewis film: you haven’t seen him in five years. Where have you been?

I don’t choose to insulate myself in engaging in real life. Hence, the public kind of almost knows me as much through my real life that they see through the rag mags.

Life is a series of commas, not periods.

I go on The Daily Beast. The Daily Beast is one of the websites that I check out.

In whatever adulation you get, there’s truth and there’s not truth. And wherever they dog you, and they say it was horrible – there’s truth and there’s not truth. It’s human nature to like to read the adulation more.

I’d rather go around in a good pair of jeans that you don’t wash every day, because they get more and more comfortable.

When I first starting making money, when I first made my first six-digits.

What’s the biggest compliment is if I read a review and it’s exactly what I wrote down in my diary before ever filming it. That’s really cool. That’s the biggest signifier of closing the gaps.

The challenge for me as an actor is if you become a celebrity, you don’t meet strangers anymore. And strangers are where we have our anonymity. And I believe it’s essential for the soul to be anonymous, especially if you’re going to be an actor.

I’m not arrogant enough to look back on my career and criticize my choices. It’s really not my place.

Don’t say you can do something when you really can’t.

I’m a golfer, and what are the two sports you can do till you drop? Golf and surfing. They’re great for you limber-wise, they’re great for you health-wise, and they put you in sweet locations.

I’m for gay power, straight power, male power, female power; everybody should feel empowered without oppressing anyone who’s different.

See, ‘A Time to Kill’ was the one I got famous off of. Big ka-boom, over one weekend. After that, I did films that I really wanted to do.

If you want your hair to be thicker, cut it when the moon is about to be full – a heavy, full, waxing moon. Do not cut it when the moon’s waning.

There’s a gap between what I want to do, what I do on camera, and what gets edited. Right? So the goal is to try and close the gaps.

Through the act of translation we break out of linguistic confinement and reach many other communities.