The ego is only an illusion, but a very influential one. Letting the ego-illusion become your identity can prevent you from knowing your true self. Ego, the false idea of believing that you are what you have or what you do, is a backwards way of assessing and living life.
You don't work on something for six years and be blind to the myriad of other approaches.
I used to get nervous, you know if my parents would come watch. And then I would get nervous if my friends came and watched. Today it's not a problem anymore actually, because now I enjoy it. I see that they, you know, respect me immensely, and I try to put on a good show and show that I can still play very good tennis.
So much of my writing derives from these questions that I ask myself - things that are utterly beyond my personal set of experiences - and it's my attempt to try to... understand, to sort of break out of my own consciousness, you know, the limitations of my own life.
I take my job as a rock and roll sax player very seriously. To do it the way that I must do it, I must be in good condition. The better shape you're in, the harder you can rock.
The most certain thing you can say about the environment tomorrow is that it probably is going to be just like today, for the most part.
You can't be the dad who takes your kid out after your wife has said, 'No ice cream,' buys the ice cream, and says, 'Don't tell your mother.' You teach the child to lie - and to disrespect the other parent.
Filmmaking requires the participation and cooperation of many people. It's unrealistic to expect that you're not going to be challenged by unforeseeable forces from every direction.
In a movie that's sort of a single monster movie, like 'Jaws,' once you see the animal, it identifies the threat, and you're able to start working on ways to take down the threat.
It's beyond my control who's going to cast me or how you're going to pigeonholed, so for me, it's just I want to keep doing different things because I want to get better, so hopefully I'll be hired to do them.
If you gain, you gain all. If you lose, you lose nothing. Wager then, without hesitation, that He exists.
You can't leave the thing that you are, the house that has become your biography.
A lot of people live much more simply than in the old days. That doesn't bother me. Keeping busy is the problem. Television guest shot fees are going down. You can do a dozen guest shots a year, but you're not making that much money.
I would say try to tell stories that you care about as opposed to stories that you think will sell.
That is the essence of science: ask an impertinent question, and you are on the way to a pertinent answer.
I try to be upbeat. I read this book which tells you to write down everything that you're grateful for each day. Now I'm constantly noticing all the little things that make me joyful.
Obviously people want social calm, but if you do not let clever and ingenious people to participate, obviously there must be some dormant volcano that will erupt, sooner or later.
I have those dreams that you can't put into words.
Family politics are worse than world politics. That's all I can say. You don't get to choose your family; you get to choose your friends. Your family is imposed upon you.
You know when something feels so good but you're afraid to feel good about it? So you kinda hold back? Everyone says, Congratulations, you must be so happy. And you say something stupid like, I'm just doing what little I can with what little I have.
I've seen it too many times in Hollywood. Talking about a relationship in public can jinx it. And if you have your picture taken together, you might as well start packing your bags.
Well, Eminem, you know, I know him longer. Ive been signed to his label since 2001 and he's a good friend.
Then no matter what goes on around you in the physical universe, hang on to what you know.
It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place.
You may have heard that back in the States there are some people who are smoking grass. I don't know how you feel, but it's sure easier than cutting the stuff.
No man would listen to you talk if he didn't know it was his turn next.
When you have a fresh point of view that comes from the right side of the heart, it's just so valuable. You can take it or not take it, but just that perspective can give you a lot of strength or make you reflect on a lot of things.
Or like in the early 70's when we had the reaction against acid rock and all the fuzz tone, and feedback, and the noise. And you had James Taylor and everyone went acoustic and that.
Watching kids go from the age of 9 and 10 to 13 is a big, huge jump. The way they speak, their looks, their attitudes, everything changes as you go from being a little kid to a teenager.
There's not a thing that any of you guys can say bad about me that would hurt my feelings... I'm not coming at you, what I'm saying is that, I'm willing to take that heat for my team, if we're playing well or if we're not playing well.
You don't see me in the club. And the reason is because I would rather be in the studio mixing these musical potions. Now sometimes they blow up in my face, and there's a lot of smoke. But that's who I am. Music is what I do.
I don't think you can write - at least not well - if you don't love stories, love the written word.
I ran the effort to bring the 2012 Olympic Games to New York City. We lost - on a global scale. To my surprise, life went on, and I learnt that nobody cares about your failures as much as you do.
As actors, you like to think about the luxury of having choices in your career, but for the most part you kind of take whatever comes your way and hope that you carved out something that you're proud of in the end.
Gestating characters feels something like the mental equivalent of gestating a baby. In both cases, to create them you lose yourself. Or at least you reshape yourself to encompass them.
The most important thing when you study hypnosis is that you learn that humans are irrational. Until you understand that, hypnosis is hard to do... For me, it was this great awakening to understand that humans are deeply irrational, and it's probably the greatest influence on me in terms of my writing.
