I mean, I would never want to do anything to hurt my family, but then again I would never want to do anything to hurt myself. And I think they go hand in hand.
I'm trying to figure myself out through my movies. Whether it's big stuff like what we're doing here, or little stuff like, 'Why aren't I happier?' With every film I feel like I'm apologising for something. I feel I'm most successful when I'm looking for something that embarrasses me about my character that I'd like to expose.
I like to think of myself as a New Yorker, which is pathetic.
What I love about my job is challenging myself and finding weird, different roles.
Everyone has their own path in life, no matter if it's being a celebrity or a singer. Quite frankly, I didn't move to Nashville and tell myself I wanted to be a singer because I wanted to be a celebrity or I wanted to be somebody that people admired. I wasn't about that. I just loved music.
I never weighed myself when I was at my lightest because I didn't want to know.
For me the writing, when I'm going to direct it myself, is really just the first draft, and I don't change it very much; I only change it on average about two lines per movie.
I consider myself a student of many religions. The more I learn, the more questions I have. For me, the spiritual quest will be a life-long work in progress.
My goal was to be able to be alone without food, sugar, phone, men, TV, anything and to feel O.K. about myself.
I taught myself to play the piano, because I wanted to play it.
So much about living life, to me, is about humility and gratitude. And I've tried very hard to have those qualities and be that person and I'm just so disappointed in myself that I allowed it to slip.
I don't hold myself out as a role model. I don't believe that everyone should make the same choices; that everyone has to want to be a CEO, or everyone should want to be a work-at-home mother. I want everyone to be able to choose. But I want us to be able to choose unencumbered by gender choosing for us.
When I am putting looks together, I dare myself to make something work. I always look for the most interesting silhouette or something that's a little off, but I have to figure it out. I have to make it me. I think that's the thrill in fashion.
I have resolved on an enterprise that has no precedent and will have no imitator. I want to set before my fellow human beings a man in every way true to nature; and that man will be myself.
I submerged myself in all the information that I could find about Idi Amin. I mean, before I left Los Angeles, I was studying Kiswahili. I was working on the dialect. I was studying every documentary and tape of him that I could find - not just visual, but also audiocassettes, even in other languages when he was speaking in other dialects.
I consider myself a good layman's cook. Ninety percent of the time, I'm successful with what I set out to make, and I can improvise. Yes, I own a mandoline. Yes, we have a Vitamix.
For me, half the joy of achieving has been the struggle and the fight, the pitting myself against the world and all its competition - and winning.
I have lots of brothers and sisters, two of whom are younger than myself, so I rely on my phone, text messaging or e-mailing to stay in the loop and communicate when I'm away for big chunks of time.
With this new album, I prepared for it a long time, and I was happy with the songs and the production. I felt that I proved myself with the first album, and with this new album, I just want to share some of my music. And that was always my feeling and my intention.
Even though I wasn't sure I could make it as an indie, almost immediately I felt as if a weight had been lifted off me. To be as independent as I am and to be able to support myself is incredibly satisfying. Everything I want to do myself, I can.
A very wise author once said that a writer writes for himself, and then publishes for money. I write for myself and publish just for the reader.
I expect greatness out of myself.
I like them all - I don't always approve. I see myself as a sort of benevolent uncle to these characters, and I can see why they do what they do; sometimes they make some mistakes, but at heart I think they're decent.
I know that the arts are important. I'm not denying that, but I can't associate myself with all the claptrap that goes on around it.
Seeing my book on a billboard in New York was a bucket-list-type thing, but also a deeply surreal moment. I had to keep reminding myself that, oh, yes, I wrote that book.
I never felt hard done by and never wanted for anything, but I grew up in a wealthy area where I saw people being handed things on a plate. So it made me want to earn some money and be able to buy things for myself.
My health may be better preserved if I exert myself less, but in the end doesn't each person give his life for his calling?
I recently read some of the transcripts of Nixon's Watergate tapes, and they spent hours trying to figure out who was leaking and providing information to Carl and myself.
There are movies where actors aren't characters but movie stars, being cool beyond belief throughout the whole movie. That is what it is. And we reveal ourselves when we act, very often without noticing. But if I can manage to do a character without showing anything of myself, then that's the ultimate goal for me. No leakage.
I think at times I read too much of my own press. I wish I was better at taking in how great my life is, but that's surprisingly elusive. I tend to be very hard on myself and insecure about failing no matter what happens.
Processionalism is primary - how you get from one place to another, the relationships and effects of spaces as you move about in them. That's worked out awfully well in the State Theater. I'm a 'straight-in' man myself; I'm too nervous, I like to know where I am. I also like to know where I'm going.
I express myself a lot on Tumblr, especially through my diary entries, but my Instagram is my modeling portfolio. I have my game face on at all times.
Our job is quite strange in that we hire a coach, and therefore, we're the boss. But coaches tell us what to do, and I think some coaches might struggle with the idea of a girl being the boss and telling them, 'I don't want to see you now. I want to have some time to myself.'
I love what I do and being in front of the camera. But I never want to limit myself to just one thing and just venture out into new things.
I was on the verge of taking over a company myself, from my father, before I left Knoxville to become an actor. I was also a company commander in Korea, so I had some sense of how powerful authority can be. How dangerous it can be.
I have good and bad days like everyone else. I just try to be positive and surround myself with great people. When I think about all the great things and people I have had in my life, that gives me confidence.
