If the United States marches into Iraq without the backing of the United Nations, that will be done entirely without the backing of the American people.

Sharon Stone. She is one of the most dedicated people I know, but also highly unedited.

I've stayed good friends with most of my girlfriends.

People don't understand what happiness is, so they have an idea of what will make them happy, but it never does.

I'm not that tough; I'm not that smart. I need life telling me who I am, showing me my mind constantly. I wouldn't see it in a cave.

It's nice to have money, but the first thing I did with money was buy my father a snow-blower, because my job was to shovel snow, and I wasn't there to do it any more, so I was able to buy him a blower.

I'm rarely in a situation where, if you have a good idea, it's not embraced. That's stupid. And I don't work with stupid people.

Things come out of nowhere, and you start evaluating the director, the cast, and all those other things going into it.

If you have any question in your mind, don't do it. If you go in thinking it's going to fix something that's wrong, don't do it.

I'm a 50 year-old guy and I'm not in shape like I was when I was 30.

I can see the character in a photograph, in the way a guy stands or holds his hands, the way he buckles his belt. I fantasize a lot looking at photographs. I'm sure that doesn't work for many people.

Even in comedies, you've got to feel safe for things to just happen in a way that is natural and free, and recognizable as human.

It was important for me to have a partner who was ballsy.

I don't know any of us who are in relationships that are totally honest - it doesn't exist.

Sometimes I'm kind of spacey. I'm like Ferdinand the bull, sniffing the daisy, not aware of time, of what's going on in the real world.

I've had an interesting life.

Mindfulness is a quality that's always there. It's an illusion that there's a meditation and post-meditation period, which I always find amusing, because you're either mindful or you're not.

If you can see the terrorists as a relative who's dangerously sick and we have to give them medicine and the medicine is love and compassion. There's nothing better.

I can't say I have control over my emotions; I don't know my mind. I'm lost like everyone else. I'm certainly not a leader.

I don't mean to toot my own horn, but if Jesus Christ lived in Chicago today, and he had come to me and he had five thousand dollars, let's just say things would have turned out differently.

To read your own mind is to look at your self and read your soul. Hatred becomes love and that is the path I am working on

Anything that's expanding the mind and heart is happiness. But it's not a goal.

I've got a lot of opportunities, a lot of love in my life, a lot of things going for me. Still, it's not complete. I know this is not the whole thing. There's much more.

I've lived in New York when I've had nothing, and I've lived in New York when I had money, and New York changes radically depending on how much money you have. It's the texture of life.

If you have a built-in level of respect and trust and openness to essentially be yourself, it allows for a deeper uncensored communication [with your partner].

You've all heard some rumors about me over the years. I guess this is the moment to do it. My name is Richard Gere and I am a l*sbian.

When you get up in the morning, set your motivations.

There is a way of looking at an awful place from a certain angle that allows it to take on a beauty because it is what it is.

People get offended by animal rights campaigns. It's ludicrous. It's not as bad as mass animal death in a factory.

I don't think that bravery is about skin. Bravery is about a willingness to show emotional need.

There are times when telling lies are not a bad thing. It can be a compassionate thing. But to make it benign, you have to be aware of your compassionate reasons for telling that lie.

I'm younger than I once was. Internally. Less self-conscious. Less insecure.

Always walk towards open doors. And if they slam shut in your face, kick that sucker in and keep going.

Relationships are like sharks. They've got to keep going into deeper, colder water, sometimes scarier, darker territories ... to stay alive.

I don't regret anything. Everything happens for a reason-it's part of the healing process. Life is a healing process.

The reality is, we can change. We can change ourselves. We can change our minds. We can change our hearts. And therefore the universe changes.

Movie acting is primarily listening. If you're really engaged, that's all a movie audience wants to see is you processing what's happening in your world.

Mindfulness is a quality that's always there. It's an illusion that there's a meditation and post-meditation period, which I always find amusing, because you're either mindful or you're not.

There are some problems on this planet that seem to be intractable.

I think people do want to relate their entertainment to what's going on in their lives. Not everything.

I've lived in New York when I've had nothing, and I've lived in New York when I had money, and New York changes radically depending on how much money you have. It's the texture of life.

My life is pretty simple and normal.

I've had an interesting life.

I have a lot of beautiful friends.

I've got a lot of opportunities, a lot of love in my life, a lot of things going for me. Still, it's not complete. I know this is not the whole thing. There's much more.

I think life is self-examination. Certainly the voyage that one takes.

People don't understand what happiness is, so they have an idea of what will make them happy, but it never does.

I would say that the West is very young, it's very corrupt. We're not very wise. And I think we're hopeful that there is a place that is ancient and wise and open and filled with light.

I have no sense of time, and I'm a dreamer.

Everyone seems to think they know what acting techniques are. Techniques just help you get to a certain place, but if the thing is happening just by itself, you don't need those techniques.