I grew up in the world of bad television, on my dad`s sets and then as a young schmuck on dating shows and so on.

I was in a bar and I said to a friend, `You know, we`ve become those 40-year-old guys we used to look at and say, `Isn`t it sad?`

The only failure is not to try.

When you`re young you believe it when people tell you how good you are. And that`s the danger, you inhale. Everyone will tell you you`re a genius, which you are not, and if you understand that, you win.

There`s no connection between al-Qaeda and Iraq.

You have only a short period of time in your life to make your mark, and I`m there now.

I`m certainly the last person to give advice on, well, anything.

You got to think of things at their worst, not at their best. And Out of Sight (1998) was the first time where I had a say, and it was the first good screenplay that I`d read where I just went, `That`s it`. And even though it didn`t do really well box office-wise - we sort of tanked again - it was a really good film. And I realised from that point on that it was strictly screenplay first. And then it becomes easier because once you eliminate the idea of doing a vehicle ... believe me, there`s nobody who`s encouraging us to make these films, not agents, not ... we`re not getting paid for these things, and it`s not like we`re going to make a mint.

I`d think,`In a relationship, we should never have his kind of fight.` Then, instead of figuring out how to make it work, I looked for a way to get out of it. The truth is, you shouldn`t be married if your that kind of person.

After doing One Fine Day and playing a pediatrician on ER, I`ll never have kids. I`m going to have a vasectomy.

I`m really white trash.

I don`t believe in happy endings, but I do believe in happy travels, because ultimately, you die at a very young age, or you live long enough to watch your friends die. It`s a mean thing, life.

We`re picking on people we can beat.

Asked what makes a man stylish: For me, a sense of humor is number one. It`s certainly what`s most attractive. It`s not the first thing you notice at 21, but it`s the first thing you notice now. If celebrity is a credit card, I`m using my credit. My job is to try and find ways of talking about issues that move us forward. I don`t make policy, but I can shine a light on faulty or good policy. The Not On Our Watch launch reached more than nine million people. We need to focus global attention on the plight of the 2.5 million civilians who have fled their homes. Rather than talk about who I`m dating, let`s talk about saving lives.

I was too busy breaking up Tom and Nicole`s marriage. -on the fact he had nothing to do with the breakup of Julia Roberts and Benjamin Bratt.

On making Ocean`s Eleven (2001): "It was the easiest shoot ever for any actor, and we all knew it when we were doing it. We were like, it`s never going to be better than this. He [Steven Soderbergh] was in hell because it was a really complicated film to put together. We were like, we`re in Las Vegas, we go to work at one in the afternoon and we gotta be done by six at night. Six hours of work. Steven was editing all night".

Who would name their kid Jack with the last words `off` at the end of the last name? No wonder that guy is screwed up.

I`m not a snob, I like entertaining films as well. But when you do a film like this, or like Three Kings (1999) - films that get you in a bit of trouble - it`s fun to open up a debate. [On Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)]

America can`t beat anyone anymore.

The funniest thing is that all the things every director goes through, I thought I could shortcut, but there was no getting around those issues.

I`m a Method actor. I spent years training for the drinking and carousing I had to do in this film.

I`m not smart enough and I don`t know enough about what`s going on.

You make a lot of films, do you? You make a lot of films yourself? Yeah, I`d like to see you make a film first before you get to talk about it. What a jerk.

I don`t care. Charlton Heston is the head of the National Rifle Association. He deserves whatever anyone says about him.

The government itself is running exactly like the Sopranos and they sit back and they make deals. And they say okay, `I`m going do this: France, you`re getting the pipelines.`

Speaking about the 2003 Iraq war: "You can`t beat your enemy anymore through wars; instead you create an entire generation of people revenge-seeking. These days it only matters who`s in charge. Right now that`s us -- for a while at least. Our opponents are going to resort to car bombs and suicide attacks because they have no other way to win. ...I believe (Rumsfeld) thinks this is a war that can be won, but there is no such thing anymore. We can`t beat anyone anymore."

They say I was a bad Batman, that it was my fault, that I buried the franchise. But the truth is, it was a big project. I was pretty intimidated in that world. I did the best I could in the situation I was given.

I`m a hybrid. I succeed in both worlds. I hope that selling out on `Ocean`s Eleven` is not such a bad deal. The trade-off is, I get to go make something uncommercial that will probably lose money.

Do you want the truth or the politically correct version? The truth is that I go plastic, it`s so much easier. And I like to put the bags over my head at night when I sleep, which I think all the kids at home should try. Kidding!!

[On who will win the Best Actor Oscar] If you want my honest opinion, I think it`s going to be Daniel Day-Lewis [for "There Will Be Blood"]. He sort of irritates all of us because he`s so good. I`ll tell you right now, I don`t like him!

Had I not got the Thursday night ten o`clock slot at "ER" (1994), if they`d put us on Friday night, then I wouldn`t have a film career. That`s luck, not my own genius, though I like to think it was.

It`s 12 years and you could find ten films a year that are masterpieces. They don`t make those films anymore. You couldn`t come near making those films. (On films made between 1964 and 1976)

On who will win the Best Actor Oscar in 2008: "If you want my honest opinion, I think it`s going to be Daniel Day-Lewis [for There Will Be Blood (2007)]. He sort of irritates all of us because he`s so good. I`ll tell you right now, I don`t like him!"

On celebrity activism: You don`t want to be a spokesperson unless you are absolutely committed to a cause because you can hurt it. I`ve been asked to help represent environmental groups. I`m a big proponent of cleaning up the environment. I have two electric cars. But I also have a big weak spot because I`ve flown on private jets. However, I welcome any of these dumb pundits who make celebrities out to be bad guys to a discussion about Darfur. Because I`ve been there and I`ve met all the players, and I guarantee you the pundits haven`t.

Asked what makes a man stylish: "For me, a sense of humor is number one. It`s certainly what`s most attractive. It`s not the first thing you notice at 21, but it`s the first thing you notice now. If celebrity is a credit card, I`m using my credit. My job is to try and find ways of talking about issues that move us forward. I don`t make policy, but I can shine a light on faulty or good policy. The Not On Our Watch launch reached more than 9 million people. We need to focus global attention on the plight of the 2.5 million civilians who have fled their homes. Rather than talk about who I`m dating, let`s talk about saving lives.

You can only get so far without discernible talent - then you either work, or use cheap publicity tricks to keep the public`s attention. Paris (Hilton) has no reason to complain if she is on the end of bad publicity.

The idea that every time you do a film you`re supposed to be tortured confuses me. I mean, guys who say `Oh, it`s really tough, my character is really suffering" - come on. For us, even in the rotten ones, we`ve had a good time. I don`t think you have to suffer.

I don`t live at full tilt the way I used to. You begin to hate waking up with the kind of hangover you get from going on huge benders with your buddies. Also, since my neck surgeries, I`ve been forced to take things easier and not beat up my body the way I used to. I`m more cautious.

You never really learn much from hearing yourself talk.

Here is my theory in debunking photographs in magazines. You know, the paparazzi photographs. I want to spend every single night for three months going out with a different famous actress. You know, Halle Berry one night, Salma Hayek the next, and then walk on the beach holding hands with Leonardo DiCaprio. People would still buy the magazines, they`d still buy the pictures, but they would always go, `I don`t know if these guys are putting us on or not.`

I know what my limitations are as an actor, but my strength is putting myself into a well-written part. When I get in trouble is when I have to fix it, or when I have to carry it on personality.

Run for office? No. I`ve slept with too many women, I`ve done too many drugs, and I`ve been to too many parties.

I`m the flavor of the month.

People thought I was Tom and Nicole`s bodyguard. They`d come up and go, "Is it okay if I go up and ask for an autograph?` It was good. I`d charge `em three bucks a person. Yeah, you gotta make some money off of that.

I doubt anybody gets taken seriously for very long. I`ll be on some reality show in about six years going, Hey, I had a great year in 2006.

An acting career usually has about a shelf life of ten years before people get sick of seeing you. It`s a good thing to have a job to fall back on and I really do enjoy directing.

"I think, if you listen to the piece, I certainly did not talk about wanting to kill myself. I was talking about the idea of living for years in that kind of pain. Please don`t use my words out of context." [Responding to media reports that he had contemplated suicide following surgery]

I`m not a snob, I like entertaining films as well. But when you do a film like this, or like Three Kings (1999)-films that get you in a bit of trouble-it`s fun to open up a debate." [On Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)]

It`s true information is harder to get these days. When I was growing up there were three networks - three news shows, delivering the same information. You took that information into your home and you formed your own opinions. Now we have 130 channels. You go to the channel that plays to your belief pattern. We start with different sets of facts, it`s more polarizing.

Steven [Soderberg] and I have a great relationship inside the studio system. We make the kinds of films we want and commercial films at the same time. Steven and I have lost a lot of money. We are way in the hole. But this is not a day job. I`ve got some cash. I have a nice house in Italy. I do OK.

I`m a hybrid. I succeed in both worlds. I hope that selling out on Ocean`s Eleven (2001) is not such a bad deal. The trade-off is, I get to go make something uncommercial that will probably lose money.

On making Ocean`s Eleven (2001): "It was the easiest shoot ever for any actor, and we all knew it when we were doing it. We were like, it`s never going to be better than this. He [director Steven Soderbergh] was in hell because it was a really complicated film to put together. We were like, we`re in Las Vegas, we go to work at one in the afternoon, and we gotta be done by six at night. Six hours of work. Steven was editing all night."

You got to think of things at their worst, not at their best. And Out of Sight (1998) was the first time where I had a say, and it was the first good screenplay that I`d read where I just went, `That`s it.`And even though it didn`t do really well box office-wise-we sort of tanked again-it was a really good film. And I realized from that point on that it was strictly screenplay first. And then it becomes easier, because once you eliminate the idea of doing a vehicle. . . believe me, there`s nobody who`s encouraging us to make these films, not agents, not . . . we`re not getting paid for these things, and it`s not like we`re going to make a mint.

See, the first thing about actors is, you`re just trying to get a job; and you audition and audition and you finally get them. And you still consider yourself an auditioning actor. I auditioned for One Fine Day (1996), I wasn`t offered that. So you`re still in that `Hey, I`m just trying to get a job` thing. Then, you get to the point where, if you decide to do it, then they`ll make the film. That`s a different kind of responsibility, and it usually takes a couple of films to catch up. And then you have to actually pay attention to the kind of films that you`re making.

...directors are the captains of the ship, and it`s your job as the lead actor to make sure that the rest of the cast understand that by doing whatever he says.

We`ve been trying to push our involvement within the studio system, sort of push the things that we`ve learned from foreign and independent films through the `80s and push those things back into the studio system. Like Out of Sight (1998) isn`t your standard studio film by any means; Three Kings (1999) wasn`t the`standard Warner Bros. kind of film.

I don`t believe in happy endings, but I do believe in happy travels, because ultimately...you die at a very young age, or you live long enough to watch your friends die. It`s a mean thing, life.

Directing is really exciting. In the end, it`s more fun to be the painter than the paint.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) bombed. But I can take it. Most of the films I`ve done haven`t done particularly well. I`m surprised I`m continuing to work.

Ninety percent of films are pretty mediocre, but they have a built-in audience and open on 3,000 screens.

It`s not about an opening weekend. It`s about a career, building a set of films you`re proud of. Period.

Speaking about the 2003 start to the Iraq war: "You can`t beat your enemy anymore through wars; instead you create an entire generation of people revenge-seeking. These days it only matters who`s in charge. Right now that`s us -for a while, at least. Our opponents are going to resort to car bombs and suicide attacks because they have no other way to win. . . . I believe [Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld] thinks this is a war that can be won, but there is no such thing anymore. We can`t beat anyone anymore."

"I was too busy breaking up Tom and Nicole`s marriage." -quip on the fact he had nothing to do with the breakup of Julia Roberts and Benjamin Bratt

I don`t like to share my personal life... it wouldn`t be personal if I shared it.

Discussing possible casting choices Mel Gibson and Nicolas Cage for Three Kings (1999) before he had signed to the movie: "Luckily, both those guys were tied and gagged in my apartment, and that was a problem for the casting department."