“I’m the audience’s representative on earth.”

I’m not in the Lifetime Achievement area yet-I’m still battling it out in the trenches.

My most useful acting tip came from my pal John Wayne. Talk low, talk slow, and don’t say too much.

There’s only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people’s cultures and the Dutch.

A man’s body may grow old, but inside his spirit can still be as young and as restless as ever.

I’ve never been out with a married woman, never. I respect others’ properties.

For all my education, accomplishments, and so called ‘wisdom’… I can’t fathom my own heart.

To me, growing old is great. It’s the very best thing – considering the alternative.

There’s quite a lot of bad stuff written about me. My wife even says a lot of bad stuff about me. But she is wonderful.

I was so poor for so long that I didn’t use anything. I didn’t drive cars, I didn’t eat very much. So, I figured the world owed me a debt, so I’ve been eating very well and have had a very big car for a long time. But I still haven’t caught up with my youth.

I’ve always loved reprehensible people because they’re so much more interesting to play on screen.

I have a knack of making villainous people a little bit sympathetic, a bit of fun on screen.

What a lot of people dont realize about gangs, in my opinion, is that a gang is not there to attack you. Eighty percent of the people in a gang are there to stop anyone from attacking them. You join a gang for protection, not to go out and hit someone.

At age 11, I went to a Jewish school. I speak Yiddish. I’m Church of England Protestant. My father was Catholic, and my mother was Protestant. My wife is a Muslim.

I’m looking for me to disappear, and the acting to disappear, and all you see is a real person.

About Superman and Batman: the former is how America views itself, the latter, darker character is how the rest of the world views America.

I enjoy making people laugh. The trick is to tell them jokes against yourself. If you praise yourself, your stories aren’t funny.

It looks better when you do your own stunts, because seeing somebody’s face when they’re doing them is fun for the audience.

My main goal as an actor, with my craft or whatever poncy way you want to say it, is to always take the audience with me.

What strikes me about Jesus is that he is a remarkably true person; he never changes his personality to fit in with whatever crowd he finds himself. He is simply himself, and he never plays to his audience.

Most of what’s tricky about comedy is the perception of it and the audience’s expectation.

There are only a few genres, horror and comedy, where you can get that immediate feedback from the audience.

Any show that’s bringing in a young audience is doing a good thing, because that’s the only way that theater will continue to grow.

I think the British audience might be more open-minded with some of my imagery and weird choices.

There are jokes I tell in the show that don’t get laughs unless I am in front of an audience of critical thinkers.