A gun in a film is so culturally specific to America. It looks odd in world cinema unless it’s ironic. I wonder if there are more balls in English films than guns, more nipples in French films. Guns in America’s story are a constant, a plot device, like coffee cups in European films. Guns are Hollywood

I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! That is character!

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.

I’ve always considered myself smarter than everyone around me, and sometimes, believe me, I’ve been ashamed of it. At the least, all my life I’ve looked away and never could look people straight in the eye.

I’m vile and perverted. I’m obsessed and deranged. I’ve existed for years but very little has changed. I’m the tool of the government and industry too. For I’m destined to rule and regulate you. You may think I’m pernicious, but you can’t look away. I’ll make you think I’m delicious with the stuff that I say. I’m the best you can get… Have you guessed me yet? I’m the slime oozing out of your TV set.

From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me.

Envy is an eyesore engendered by looking at another’s success thru the spectacles of our own inferiority.

The key responsibility of leadership is to think about the future. No one else can do it for you.

Why lie? I’m not going to be a hypocrite and say the opposite of what I think, like some others do.

I believe in believing. My coach John Kavanagh is a big atheist and he is always trying to persuade people to his way of thinking, and I think what a waste of energy. If people want to believe in this god, or that god, that’s fine by me, believe away. But I think we can be our own gods. I believe in myself.

I studied every move, I became fascinated by thinking what I could have done differently. And I take that approach now as a professional. I am on it, all the time, never stop thinking, learning. You don’t get to be world champion unless you do that.

I don’t think we handled the aftermath of the fall of Baghdad as well as we might have. But that’s now history.

But just as they did in Philadelphia when they were writing the constitution, sooner or later, you’ve got to compromise. You’ve got to start making the compromises that arrive at a consensus and move the country forward.

The best color in the whole world is the one that looks good on you.

They’ve got this crazy actor who’s 82 years old up there in a suit. I was a mayor, and they’re probably thinking I know how to give a speech, but even when I was mayor I never gave speeches. I gave talks.

Early on, I used to think it was really cool and macho to jump out of the car and tackle the bad guy. But then when you see the stunts in the movie, you realize it could’ve been a lady in a poncho.

People ask all the time, “What are you thinking?” It’s my least favorite question in the world. The last bastion of solace is my mind. It’s an invasion.

We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.