“My passion and energy get mistaken for anger.”

As a drama student I got into Thirties and Forties suits.

The great thing about having been in a lot of make-up, and stuff like that, is that when you’re working with someone who’s in it, and you’ve been there and done it, but you’re not in it anymore, you feel so good.

At the Oscars, if you didn’t vote for ’12 Years a Slave’ you were a racist.

Well, I needed the work – that’s the honest answer. I haven’t worked for a while, a couple of years. So I thought it would be nice to get back to work and earn some money.

I have three kids who like Harry Potter so I was sort of aware of it. You can’t really move from it: it’s on buses, in stores, it’s everywhere. One of my kids has read the books; the other two are too small but they like the movies.

How many movies do you see when you can say this director really knew what film he wanted to make? I can count them on the fingers of one hand.

I know I’m pretty, but I ain’t as pretty as a couple of titties.

Each role you play, they set a bar of challenges that you meet. And in the past, I’ve played characters that emotionally expressed themselves a bit more in a physical way. It was a joy, actually.

I want my weekends off and I want to put my kids to bed. Those are good reasons to want to be in ‘Batman 2’.

On set I keep myself to myself; I’d rather the director speak up. I’m not gonna direct a younger actor. I think the power of example works best, actually.

The script is your map of the world, isn’t it? And if someone knows that if it’s well-written, you get all of the beats, it will tell you everything you need to know.

I’m rarely asked to play the smartest man in the room.

You always hope that the cloak of inspiration will fall, and you’ll be O.K.

I went and lived in Chicago for a year , and I studied at the police academy.

As an actor, you people-watch, you observe. And the more famous you become, the sad thing is you lose the ability to do that. Instead of people-watching, you become the focus of attention.

Reality TV to me is the museum of social decay.

Let the enemy rage at the gate; let him knock, pound, scream, howl; let him do his worst. We know for certain that he cannot enter our soul except by the door of our consent.

If, when stung by slander or ill-nature, we wax proud and swell with anger, it is a proof that our gentleness and humility are unreal, and mere artificial show.

Raw emotions – anger, frustration, bitterness, resentment – are the feelings we tend to hide from people we want to impress but spew on those we love the most.

In life, purpose is defined by the thing that makes you angry. Martin Luther was angry; Mandela was angry; Mahatma Gandhi was angry; Mother Teresa was angry. If you are not angry, you do not have a ministry yet.

Anger is a poison. It eats us inside. We think when we hate someone we hurt them, but hatred is a curved blade, and the harm we do to others we also do to ourselves.

There is no sin nor wrong that gives man such a foretaste of Hell in this life as anger and impatience.

Often people ask how I manage to be happy despite having no arms and no legs. The quick answer is that I have a choice. I can be angry about not having limbs, or I can be thankful that I have a purpose. I chose gratitude.

People don’t behave in angry ways unless they are feeling stressed and conflicted too.