“We can’t control the impressions others form about us, and the effort to do so only debases our character.”

There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will.

Imagine for yourself a character, a model personality, whose example you determine to follow, in private as well as in public.

He who is not happy with little will never be happy with much.

Don’t live by your own rules, but in harmony with nature.

Circumstances don’t make the man, they only reveal him to himself.

When you are offended at any man’s fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.

No matter where you find yourself, comport yourself as if you were a distinguished person.

It is our attitude toward events, not events themselves, which we can control. Nothing is by its own nature calamitous, even death is terrible only if we fear it.

Other people’s views and troubles can be contagious. Don’t sabotage yourself by unwittingly adopting negative, unproductive attitudes through your associations with others.

All philosophy lies in two words, sustain and abstain.

No matter what happens, it is within my power to turn it to my advantage.

A ship should not ride on a single anchor, nor life on a single hope.

Happiness and personal fulfillment are the natural consequences of doing the right thing.

The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.

We all carry the seeds of greatness within us, but we need an image as a point of focus in order that they may sprout.

Individual character is in the right that is in strict consistence with itself. Self-contradiction is the only wrong.

Some actors are brilliant character guys. They submerge.

Nothing comes easy when I’m in character, because everything I do in character, I take seriously.

I’ve always been intrigued by cutout silhouettes. They are so intriguing, so poetic-the shadow of a soul. They tell everything about a character and they are open to be filled with one’s own imagination.

You take what you know, and you put it through your own prism. If I play characters that break down or cry, it’s Gary Oldman crying; it’s not the character crying.

I auditioned for the role of an angel in the Nativity play at school. I didn’t get it. I auditioned for Mary; didn’t get it. So I made up the character of the sheep who sat next to Baby Jesus.

Yeah, it is, because it’s a real discovery of your inner resources, you know. That’s what my character is all about and what my playing is all about. But to get up there and just go inside and draw out something that makes you feel good first and foremost.

Characters I’ve played, they used to impact my paintings, like 80 percent of the time, and especially when I was doing an action film.