From Drew Barrymore to Robert Downey Jr., there's a long list of people who have faced their troubles, wildly overcome them, and succeeded.

Anytime you take on a character... you just have to find the parts of the character that you can understand.

I have worked hard to get where I am.

At the end of the day, you have a job to do, and if you don't do your job, you're going to get fired. You just have to kind of put your head down and do it.

Mediocrity scares me. It's the fear of not being as good as you want to be. If you give over to that fear, it will sabotage you. As much as I can, I try to use that fear to guide me.

Growing up in a family of actors, what's great about it is that they're very supportive and they understand what it's like to be an actor - the rejections, the highs and lows... and having a common language with them is great because you have shorthand speech.

For me, I love exploring ideas and throwing stuff against the wall and seeing what fits, and if I had a really nice collaborative team around me who could deal with the more day-to-day minutia, that would be fun. And directing sometime in the future and writing... yeah, I can see that all in my future. But I can be incredibly lazy.

It's really interesting that, in 'The Avengers,' the character that people relate to is The Hulk, and I think the reason why they relate to The Hulk is because he's fragile and human and faulty.

I think the most dangerous word in the English language is 'should.' 'I should have done this.' Or 'I should do that.' 'Should' implies responsibility. It connotes demand. Which is just not the case. Life ebbs and flows.

Whether you're scared of getting into a relationship; or taking the new job; or a confrontation - you have to size fear up.

I really like the ritual of shaving. I like getting the perfect brush and finding the right sandalwood soap. The act of shaving, though, is not fun. I like beards and the ease of them.

I don't think there's anything less attractive than a man over-dyeing things on his face, so I'm going to try, for as long as I can, to age as my male forefathers before me. My father started getting grays when he was in his 30s, as did my grandfather before him, so I don't want to look perpetually young.

The great thing about theater is that you have so much time to prepare, and to fail, before presenting it to the public. In film, the high-wire act seems to be that much farther up, and the net seems to be less there.

I like a deep sports massage - a casual beating up. I try to get them whenever I can, usually more if I'm getting in shape for a role.

I don't usually read self-help books, but I read a great book by a guy called Wayne Dyer: 'The Power of Intention,' which I loved.

As an actor, it easy to be so self-critical, saying to yourself, 'Am I good enough? Am I good looking enough? Am I smart enough?'

I think the western is about people in harsh places trying to tame an unfriendly wilderness. Because life is defined by struggle, it's kind of the perfect microcosmic experience to explore that. 'Here we are, struggling.' It's about people persevering and persevering and persevering.

If I had let myself off the hook in college, I could have enjoyed myself a lot more. Knowing that I can't have those years back, I have learned to get the most out of living in the now.

I think the great thing about the Jack Ryan films is that the plot and the story always take center stage. If you've done your job as the actor portraying Jack Ryan, you are present enough to make an impact, but you let the story shine.

The mythic journey is always about selflessness.

You either listen to the naysayers and fall into the pit of self-loathing, or you stay on the path and move forward.

After many years of self-flagellation, I've realised that beating myself up doesn't get me anywhere.

The more you are positive and say, 'I want to have a good life,' the more you build that reality for yourself by creating the life that you want.

What am I going to tweet about? My sneakers?