I believe if you take on characters for a living you can`t make yourself into an icon in order to sell a pair of shoes.

Reality is, I`m an actor and an entertainer, and I really wouldn`t know what to do with another profession.

I`m destined to be attracted to those I cannot defeat.

I have respect for beer.

The older I get, the crotchetier I`m going to get about that integrity. I don`t think, just because you have the public`s attention, it`s now a prerequisite for you to completely sell out your moral center. I don`t think that`s OK. If I ever stop being the guy that can answer your question straight and look you in the eye and give you my opinion, then I should stop making films.

I had a good laugh when Clooney tried to compare doing ads for suits, a car and a drink to what I do as a musician. An endorsement is about money. My music is from the heart.

I`m still excited by it. I still love the process. I want to make movies that pierce people`s hearts and touch them in some way, even if it`s just for the night while they`re in the cinema; in that moment, I want to bring actual tears to their eyes and goosebumps to their skin. That`s what motivates me, and it may sound strange but if you`re not focused on the audience, why are you bothering to make a movie?

There`s nothing like sitting back and talking to your cows.

There has to be a mathematical explanation for how bad that tie is.

I don`t make demands. I don`t tell you how it should be. I`ll give you options, and it`s up to you to select or throw `em away. That should be the headline: If you`re insecure, don`t call.

When I was a little kid, I used to really embarrass my parents.

I do my bit to improve the world but I think it`s very important to get things done on the quiet. I`m sick to death of famous people standing up and using their celebrity to promote a cause. If I see a particular need, I do try to help. But there`s a lot that can be achieved by putting a cheque in the right place and shutting up about it.

God bless America. God save the Queen. God defend New Zealand and thank Christ for Australia.

I`m at the bottom of a well. I can`t communicate how dark my life is right now. I`m in a lot of trouble. I`ll do my best to solve the situation in an honorable way. I`m very sorry for my actions. I will spend the rest of my life if it takes it, trying to make it up with my wife. I`m pleased that my son isn`t able to compute what`s going on at the moment because that would be a heartbreaking thing. One thing that I don`t want to do is imply that I`m trying to make out it`s somebody else`s fault It`s not, I know it`s my fault, I`ve got to face up to it and deal with it. I`m not trying to be pessimistic, I`m just looking at what the situation is - it`s a seven-year jail sentence.

After The Insider (1999), I know the exact chemical compounds in a commercial cigarette, but I`ve been smoking since I was 10. I know it`s terrible, but I am a great fan of irony.

He has disappointed me many times over the past ten years, with his performances in substandard movies. [About Robert De Niro]

I like villains because there`s something so attractive about a committed person - they have a plan, an ideology, no matter how twisted. They`re motivated.

If I don`t get the goose-bump factor when I`m reading it than I can`t do it.

I really feel sorry for people who are, who divide their whole life up into `things that I like` and `things that I must do.` You`re only here for a short time, mate. Learn to like it.

People accuse me of being arrogant all the time. I`m not arrogant, I`m focused.

He was a gentle, beautiful man, a fine actor, a loyal friend. I feel deeply for his family. - on the passing of friend and fellow actor, Heath Ledger.

Some of the things you read you get an immediate reaction to so I`ve stopped reading things now. I do worry about my family though. Some people do try some nasty things to get at them and try and get a reaction from them.

I`d move to Los Angeles if New Zealand and Australia were swallowed up by a tidal wave, if there was a bubonic plague in England and if the continent of Africa disappeared from some Martian attack.

Mate, he did that to himself. I have little time for the Oliver Reeds of this business. I`m not pleased that he`s gone. In fact, I never had a drink with Oliver, because I didn`t want to encourage him. I`ll go for long periods without a drink. When I`m on the farm by myself, it`s not something I even think about. But I`m not afraid to have a beer in front of a studio executive. That doesn`t make me a wild man. [About Oliver Reed]

When I arrived in Sydney, I spent 22 weeks in this $50-a-week place with just a bed, a cupboard and the toilet halfway down the corridor. For the first time my parents were some distance away. I did a lot of thinking and realized I appreciated what my father had instilled in me. People think that because there is a dole there they should use it, and there are a lot of ways to misuse the system. I believe in singing for my supper. I`ll never accept a grant because what I do should be able to be founded purely on free enterprise.

The important thing to me is that I`m not driven by people`s praise and I`m not slowed down by people`s criticism. I`m just trying to work at the highest level I can.

Meg Ryan is a beautiful and courageous woman. I grieve the loss of her companionship but I`ve not lost the friendship. We talk all the time and that was what our connection was about. She has a wonderful mind and we just like a chat.

[On an upcoming remake of the Robin Hood story] If you go back into the mythology, you get Robin the Beheader, who would chop off your head and your hands, take your money and keep it. So we`ll have a look at that.

Like everyone else, I`ve had moments when I`ve felt that I`ve been losing my grip.

In wars, no one wins, everyone loses. There are no heroes, there`s only dead people. Movies can really change things and ... it becomes an educational process and I think that`s the healthiest way of attacking anything. That`s what I`m looking for.

I respond to the call that says, "It`s 185 A.D. You`re a Roman general. You`re being directed by Ridley Scott." That`s something my imagination can get a hold of. [on what attracts him to prospective films]

With "Lord of the Rings", if I did that I couldn`t have done "A Beautiful Mind", and I just had to do "A Beautiful Mind". You can`t do it all, and the people who try to usually end up not being able to focus at a certain level after a while. I mean, if I`m going to drink a bottle of wine, I drink a really good bottle of wine. [regarding his selectivity of his next film]

[on turning down the role of Morpheus in The Matrix (1999)] Well, "The Matrix" - I just didn`t get it. I couldn`t get past page 42. That world was just not interesting to me.

I just didn`t want to work on that movie in the type of environment that was being created because of the needs of the budget. I do charity work, but I don`t do charity work for major studios.

I`m a virtuoso in my job in that there`s not an actor I can`t go into a scene with and be absolutely confident that, whatever is required of my character, I can do it.

"Well if what I`ve heard about it is fair dinkum that he spent $25 million making a movie that`s shot in Aramaic and Latin and he`s intending to release it without subtitles, I think he`s got to get off the glue. What`s the point of making a movie where people can`t understand what`s going on? I don`t understand that. If you want it for reality or whatever, I think, `Wow, what an amazing idea,` but also what a waste of time if nobody can get what the point is. Well, if we know the story, if we know it that well, why did he bother making it again? Mr Gibson, get off the glue!" - On The Passion of the Christ (2004)

Dani was three weeks early last time, she gave birth just a few days after she was chased down the street by four photographers. Nobody cares, particularly the photographers, nobody cares to focus on what that is. She was just walking down the street with her girlfriend and they rushed her - four of them all surrounded her. So she panicked and slipped and all this sort of stuff. If I`d been there that would have been a really serious situation. I tell you right now, they will be tarred and feathered if they hassle my pregnant wife again.

I don`t do ads for suits in Spain like George Clooney or cigarettes in Japan like Harrison Ford. And on one level, people go, `Well, more fault to you, mate, because there`s free money to be handed out.` But to me it`s kind of sacrilegious - it`s a complete contradiction of the f**king social contract you have with your audience. I mean, Robert De Niro`s advertising "American Express". Gee whiz, it`s not the first time he`s disappointed me. It`s been happening for a while now.

If there`s anything about someone`s life that`s important enough to make a movie about it, I have to take responsibility to get all of it right. It`s a huge responsibility.

I`d like to play passionate women, but no one will let me.

I always say I`ve given 24 insufficient performances and I`m looking forward to the time in my life when I`ll do something that I think is good. There`s always stuff you can do better, stuff that maybe you didn`t uncover enough. But if you do something that you truly believe is perfect, then that`s got to be the last movie you do.

All that stuff, this public persona of me - let`s call him `the wild man` - that is not helpful. It doesn`t make me more of a box office draw. It`s the quality of my work that makes people want to go to my films.

You don`t have to like an actor to do a scene with him. You don`t have to like a director. But it`s just better if you do. And I think, you know, you`ve got to begin that with respect.

"I felt this tap on my shoulder and I turned around and, you know that De Niro fellow? Well, he didn`t say a word. He didn`t say `Hello`, `Good evening` or anything or `Hi, I`m Robert`. He just looked at me and he nodded his head and he smiled. And he walked off." - About meeting Robert De Niro.

I`d move to Los Angeles if Australia and New Zealand were swallowed up by a huge tidal wave, if there was a bubonic plague in Europe, and if the continent of Africa disappeared from some Martian attack.

"It`s not really what I`d call a movie. I was stunned that Miramax wanted to buy it. I mean it`s really rude. It showed me in a really bad light. It`s also shoddily made. It`s cobbled together." -- expressing surprise that a low-budget documentary of his band, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, has been picked up for worldwide distribution.

[on winning the Best Actor Oscar] "If you grow up in the suburbs of anywhere, a dream like this seems kind of vaguely ludicrous and completely unattainable. But this moment is directly connected to those imaginings. And for anybody who`s on the downside of advantage, and relying purely on courage, it`s possible."

"One of the most painful things of the L.A. Confidential (1997) character I played was that the author, James Ellroy, kept telling me that Bud White wasn`t a drinker. I said, `come on, this is 1953. He`s a blue-collar bloke, a cop. You`re telling me he doesn`t sit around with the boys after his shift and have a beer?` And Ellroy says, `absolutely not`. So for five months and seven days, I didn`t have a drink. It`s probably the most painful period of my life".