“I don’t think a lot of actors talk about it, but there’s usually a process where you essentially purge yourself of the character that you played prior to the movie.”

You live these three months in this reality, in this dark reality, you don’t want to do those films every year because they’re taxing. I started smoking a lot of cigarettes.

You break her heart, I’ll break your neck.

Find your confidence, lead with love, the rest will follow.

You make movies for the people. If critics happen to like them too, well, that’s a home run.

I’m a perfectionist. I’m very critical, especially artistically.

The most important thing in life will always be family. The people right here, right now.

I believe in paying special attention to every project that you do and supporting the projects you do.

The thing that stood out above and beyond all the experiences was this relationship with the nine-month-old baby. On weekends, I’d be thinking about going back to set on Monday just to see the baby.

I’ve been auditioning since I was 7 years old.

It’s like you have a child and you think, ‘Everything that I’ve done up until this point is insignificant in comparison to being a father.’ It’s a beautiful, beautiful thing.

Filmmaking is such a collaborative piece of art that you can’t look to one person – you couldn’t look to me, you couldn’t say, ‘Because Vin’s in it, it’s this or that.’ It’s really all of us coming together for that period of time to try and make magic.

You get a timeless cool card in New York.

Of course, I don’t act in an extreme fashion in my day to day life. I don’t think any of us live do. I think we all have that reserve somewhere and we pull upon it when we need it.

I grew up with all kinds of people.

It’s really bizarre because no one knows this, but elephants have killed more animal trainers than any other animal.

I was the oldest of the children in my family. I had to do a lot of diaper-changing and lunch-making. I was taking my little sister to ballet, picking up my brother, sort of being a super-nanny.

Don’t let your special character and values, the secret that you know and no one else does, the truth – don’t let that get swallowed up by the great chewing complacency.

Money and success don’t change people; they merely amplify what is already there.

Let me give you a tip on a clue to men’s characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it.

A man has more character in his face at forty than at twenty – he has suffered longer.

I want friends, not admirers. People who respect me for my character and my deeds, not my flattering smile.

You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.

Racism does not have a good track record. It’s been tried out for a long time and you’d think by now we’d want to put an end to it instead of putting it under new management.

Liberty of thought is the life of the soul.