I don’t live in L.A. on purpose because I don’t wanna be immersed in that. I have to have a real life, with real people, in order to inform what I’m doing; otherwise, it just...

I wrote my epitaph: He started out a particle and ended up a wave.

But one of the things I learned from improvising is that all of life is an improvisation, whether you like it or not. Some of the greatest scientific discoveries of the 20th century came out...

Unless you’re doing Shakespeare or Chekhov… the written word is not sacrosanct.

You have to think of your career the way you look at the ocean, deciding which wave you’re gonna take and which waves you’re not gonna take. Some of the waves are going to be...

A director without a vision is a catastrophe.

I used to watch the world as if it was a performance and I would realize that certain things that people did moved me, and certain things didn’t move me, and I tried to analyze,...

I had a hard time treating my field as if it’s horse racing, putting actors in competition against each other. I see how the industry and the studios feel it’s important, but I don’t really...

I’ve always been an improviser. I was one before I knew even what the word was… And acting, that I’ve been doing since I was 5.

I can’t even pretend to play golf.

I’m an actor. My life as an actor depends on who sends me what. I’m just taking the best stuff that I can find that’s sent my way, regardless of how big or little the...

I did a couple of movies in Brazil, and the actors were incredibly congenial and hung out together a lot. Even the biggest stars would do radio commercials – they’re not put on a pedestal...

All I can say is if the part doesn’t delight me in some way, or I can’t feel any compassion for it, I just can’t do it.

I’d have to say that my favorite kind of film is serious comedy. Comedy with serious underpinning. ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ is like that. That’s my fave genre, if I had to pick one.

I don’t sense that I am someone’s hero, though I’m happy when people like my work. I’ve learned how to be gracious about it, but I try to let it go by. I’ve seen how,...

It’s not that there is a terrible morality in Hollywood. I think there isn’t any. There isn’t any, by and large.

I don’t know what I’m proudest of. The fact that my kids still talk to me.

My favorite thing about making movies is that it’s the only area of human life that I’ve ever discovered where I can walk away from somebody in the middle of a conversation with somebody and...

I would like to have a movie under my own control sometime, and see what could be done with it. Who knows? Maybe Hollywood will make an improvisational movie someday.

Every physicist knows that things connect with each other. To isolate things is not the way the universe works – winning best actor is arbitrary.

If you’re playing a negative character, sooner or later it rubs off on you. Some people don’t mind living in that state, but I don’t want to be there anymore. I don’t want to live...

I love insane, stupid comedy, but I can only make it work if it’s a character I can give some history to and make real. Like the guy I played in ‘Little Miss Sunshine.’ He’s...

Marriage requires searing honesty at all costs. I learned that from my third wife.

I don’t mind watching plays once in a while, but as long as I don’t have to be in them.

The last time I heard real screaming in the theatre was when I went to see a movie I did years ago, called ‘Wait Until Dark.’ Now, my mother was the least emotional person on...

No matter what you do or where you are, you’re going to be missing out on something.

I don’t believe in competitions between artists. This is insane. Who has the authority to say someone is better?

It’s murder to doubt yourself in life. It took until I was 45 to get to that point. As hard as it is in your work, it’s harder in your life. But it can be...

Something I miss terribly from the ’60s – the most important phrase in the English language was, ‘I got hung up.’ Somebody says they got hung up, it’s unassailable, you know? You don’t go near...

The years I spent paying my dues are in the background, and so are my concerns about whether my performance is good or bad.

I gotta keep busy. I’m not happy unless I’m working on two, three things.

A product is most easily sold when it has an identity. So they wrap you all up and put a label on you. And then that’s what you have to be. But what I’m looking...

That’s the privilege of old age: You don’t have to remember.

I get a little upset, yeah, if a year goes by and I don’t get a script. Thank God I have other interests that keep me from becoming a nervous wreck.

My father was a painter. There was a lot of singing. We hung around with a lot of folk musicians. My family knew a lot of great folk musicians of the time, like Woody Guthrie,...

I don’t believe there’s anything in life you can’t go back and fix. The ancient Vedas – the oldest Hindu philosophy – and modern science agree that time is an illusion. If that’s true, there’s...

I want to feel like I’m doing something creative and trying different things, putting different hats on and playing. I don’t know what’s the point otherwise; otherwise, it’s just a job. You punch a time...

I love doing kids’ shows, and I love working with kids. I’ve done a lot of it. A lot of people don’t like working with children, but I love it.

‘Catch-22’ was a huge failure, and it rubbed off on everybody connected to it. I had a bunch of lean years where I had to do things, a lot of which I wasn’t wildly enthusiastic...

Everybody’s career has ups and downs. I like to take chances; I don’t like to stand still. And I don’t give a damn what the market is interested in; I want to try things.

I know that if I can’t move people, then I have no business being an actor.

My favorite thing is to be working with people I enjoy working with. I’ve reached the point where, emotionally, I don’t need to act any more. Financially, I do. But emotionally, it wouldn’t matter to...

I had to jump around in the arts for a while just to survive. I earned a little money here and there, playing the guitar at union meetings, functions. I sold some science-fiction stories. I...

I’m not sure if I’ve learned anything from show business. Life in general has taught me if you’re kind to people, everything gets easier. Being a decent person really smoothes the way for you and...

I never had a better role than I had in ‘Little Miss Sunshine.’ That was one of my favorite roles ever.

Education does not mean jamming information into somebody’s head. Rather, it’s that ancient idea that all knowledge is within us; to teach is to help somebody pull it out of themselves.

I love working if it’s with people who are capable of having a good time. People with a little bit of enjoyment of what they do. If it’s enormous pressure, and people feel that their...

I wanted to make it in New York. I thought if I went out to the Midwest, I’d be burying myself. But I was wrong.

Over the years, I played with a couple of spectacular guitar players, and playing with them has made me play better than I knew how to play. I hope the same thing is true with...

If you want to be an actor and you love acting, you can do it whether you’re doing something else or not. You can be connected with community theater or make your own little movies....