“I want the best product for my audience, and if I don’t care 100%, who will? It’s my name, my likeness that goes out there.”

How could such a destructive man [referring to Bush] be so popular with the American people?… Not only is he poisoning our air and water – he’s poisoning our political system as well.

We have a president who stole the presidency through family ties, arrogance and intimidation, employing Republican operatives to exercise the tactics of voter fraud by disenfranchising thousands of blacks, elderly Jews and other minorities.

You know, I can’t remember my good reviews. I remember negative ones. They stay in my mind.

I never liked stardom. It’s weird to me. I only like the creative process. I only like the work.

Success to me is having ten honeydew melons and eating only the top half of each slice.

I do have friends that are Republicans, and we have very spirited conversations on a whole range of issues. I am often baffled by why they are Republicans, but I enjoy the dialogue and can move beyond politics to find common ground in my personal relationships.

I like simple things. Elastic waists, so I can eat.

The result [Republicans winning the Senate] would be devastating for reproductive choice, the environment, civil liberties, Social Security and health care, as well as corporate accountability.

I don’t feel like a legend. I feel like a work in progress.

I hear these melodies. I hear horn lines and string lines. That’s what’s fun about recording with an orchestra.

I’m sure that I don’t know everything I want to know. I have so much more to learn.

My friend Quincy Jones says we won our first Grammys together in 1963. I have no recollection. I don’t even remember the room. When he showed me the picture, I remembered what I wore. But it’s like awards don’t mean anything.

It’s like an American tradition. A person gets successful and then he’s supposed to change for the worse. It’s silly.

The dream – you never achieve it. The excitement of life lies in the hope, in the striving for something rather than the attainment.

Issues of foreign policy have a place in every election for President.

Everyone has a right to love and be loved, and nobody on this earth has the right to tell anyone that their love for another human being is morally wrong.

You’ve got to keep your finger on the pulse of what your audience is thinking and know what they’ll accept from you.

If you are halfway smart, and you could really listen to the audience, you could really learn a lot.

Hong Kong film audiences are very quiet. It’s their culture.

I’d rather an audience like me than dislike me, but I’d rather they disliked me than be apathetic, because that is the kiss of death.

And lot of Asian audiences and reporters don’t like me to act as a bad guy. But I think I want to become an actor, I want to try different way.

The audience makes the decision of what kind of actor they want to watch. I always have said in the last 20 years, the real boss is the audience.

Very difficult to understand American audience, what they like, what they don’t like. Some movie I like very much, it doesn’t work. Some movie I don’t like, it gets big box office. Very difficult.

My philosophy is, it’s always very rewarding when you can make an audience laugh. I don’t mind making fun of myself. I like self-deprecating comedy. But I’d like you to laugh with me occasionally, too.