The ideal life is you don't sell a single magazine, nobody's interested, but they want to come see your movie. Because that gives you true freedom.

It's pretty easy to kind of lose your way. Having kids is really helpful. They kind of disabuse you of the notion of your greatness pretty quickly.

The first time I smoked was at home with my mother and stepfather; they were like, If you are going to do this, we'd rather you did this with us.

As actors, we react to the material that's out there, and I probably just react more strongly to things that I feel will have some social value.

I usually play characters that are a lot different than me. I mean, I'm never in a fight in a movie and if I'm in them, I'm usually losing.

I honestly if I get a vacation I'm gonna go and sit on my couch in New York cause that's the one place I haven't been for a very long time.

The better the actor, the less you know about his life. I mean, nobody's better than De Niro and you don't know anything about him, right?

For a lot of actors, our biggest fear is that we're going to start talking about things we don't fully understand and sound like idiots.

I need to know if she [Sarah Palin] thinks dinosaurs were here four thousand years ago... because she's going to have the nuclear code.

Now I feel I have an unspoken deal with the paparazzi: 'I won't do anything publicly interesting if you agree not to follow me.'

I've been really lucky. I'll completely forget that I'm a celebrity. And then something will happen, and I'll go, 'Oh, right.'

It was shameful and embarrassing that there were two years in a row without a single actor of color nominated. That's insane.

Maybe if we sit out for the next few years and let Clint Eastwood get a little experience, he's going to be a good director.

My mother is a professor of early childhood education. When I was two she would say she knew I was going to be an actor.

If Brad Pitt walked down the street, cars would crash into each other. I'm really lucky not to have to deal with that.

Listen, here's the thing. If you can't spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker.

Paranoid is what people who are trying to take advantage call you in an effort to get you to drop your guard.

If we listen to the better angels of our nature, there are creative and good solutions to serious problems.

It's just better to be yourself than to try to be some version of what you think the other person wants.

[Americans] can't understand that the water in our toilet is cleaner than 880 million have access to.

I'd love to be a dad. I hope I'd be great at it. That's every man's fear, yet his most important job.

I’ll play Pretty Pretty Princess with you if you just let me watch a little bit of March Madness.

As a struggling actor, youre not looking for parts that define you; youre just looking for work.

I believe a solid, really strong middle-class is the key to making the country in the best way.

If I had a bucket list, I'd say raising my four girls to be strong, good women would be No. 1.

I don't see as many movies as I used to. Or, I should say, as many movies as I would like to.

For Ripley I learned to play some songs on the piano, and I never really played them again.

If there's an idea I think is really good and I feel like I can write it, then I'll do it.

I think marrying somebody who's not a celebrity, it just takes a lot of the pressure off.

Right before 'The Bourne Identity' came out, I hadn't been offered a movie in a year.

I should have done it years ago. It's amazing I didn't even want cigarettes anymore.

Generally, the bigger the budget, the less interesting the characters become.

Clint Eastwood just runs an incredibly tight ship, but it's really laid back.

Some people just see the glory and they don't want to know about the story.

All you have in the end is to look back and like the choices you've made.

If you can't help people, then what is the point of being successful?

If anybody wanted to photograph my life, they'd get bored in a day.

You will never solve poverty without solving water and sanitation.

My wife is my soul mate. I can't imagine being without her.

If your movies don't perform, they just stop calling you.

Sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage

It's better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody.

History is change happening one person at a time.

If you work at something, you get better at it.

Life is on the wire. The rest is just waiting.

He's famous for being obsessive about details.

Liberty is a soul’s right to breathe.

Our problem is civil obedience

Clean water is only as far away as the nearest tap, and there are taps everywhere. There's a faucet everywhere. But the reality is, the water in our toilets is cleaner than the water that most people are drinking.

The thing that I like about Germany is that Germans are so much like us. It's not like going to some other countries, where the differences are overwhelming and you walk around in a fog. Germans are so similar to Americans.