Joaquin Phoenix Quotations

I had a really wonderful upbringing. We were a tight family. It was wonderful to grow up with so many siblings. We were all just a year or two apart, and we were always so supportive of each other. I learned everything from my older brother and sister and taught it to my younger sisters.

My significant other right now is myself, which is what happens when you suffer from multiple personality disorder and self-obsession.

I have this horrible sense of humor where I think discomfort is funny - partly because I experience discomfort a lot, and it's a way of laughing at it and getting a release.

For me, I guess I'm the acting equivalent of somebody that jumps off buildings and parachutes.

For me, I'd rather have an intense experience than not.

In most films - especially in regards to the protagonist - really from the get-go they set up some scenario that endears that character to the audience. Or imbues him with some nobility or heroism or something.

Once I became a total buffoon, it was so liberating.

You're always thinking, What's the next move - the career, the money.

It's an amazing feeling to go into a studio and really be alone.

I don't know a single person in life that doesn't have conflict.

I guess I had what you could call an unconventional upbringing.

I wouldn't feel satisfied being on set every day doing a romantic comedy - I'd be bored to death.

I'd see child actors and I'd get so jealous, because they're just completely wide open.

I've always loved hip-hop, since I was a kid, that's the music that I loved. I think everyone of our generation kind of fantasized about hip-hop in some ways.

I loved hip-hop. The first stuff I heard was Public Enemy, and I couldn't believe it. It was amazing, and I've always loved hip-hop.

I'm vomiting days before I start shooting a new movie.

If you walk into a room and one hundred people say, 'You are a lovely, beautiful person', who isn't going to be affected by that? But you have to tell yourself not to value that. You have to tell yourself - or at least I do - to not become accustomed to hearing applause in any way, because I think that's dangerous.

There are kids who get on a BMX bike when they're eight years old and they go, 'Whoa, this is incredible,' and grow up to do extreme sports. It's the same for me with acting.

You see so many earnest characters in movies all the time, everyone has a purpose.

When I decide to do something, I stick with it, total commitment.

I don't walk around like I'm a movie star because I don't think of myself as a movie star. People usually don't even notice me.

When I go out with the ladies, I don't force them to pronounce my name. I tell them I like to go by the nickname of Kitten.

I wish I had fair justification for not being as informed as I should be, but I don't.

The reason I keep making movies is I hate the last thing I did. I'm trying to rectify my wrongs.

Well, I haven't signed anything giving people the right to do anything they want with my image, you know what I mean. I have the ultimate say.

Well, I think that you know, I threatened myself with quitting after every movie. But I think everybody does that, right?

The only reason why I would like to be accepted? Because if your movies don't do well, after a while you don't get to make any more movies.

What the training did was teach me to trust my equipment and trust the other people that I'm working with, ... The firefighters will say, 'You should always be scared. If you're not scared then you should get out of the department because that's when you get hurt.' You have to have a level of fear and a level of respect for what it is you're doing, and if not, I think it breads a level of complacency, which is very dangerous.

When I heard that James Mangold was directing a movie about the life of Johnny Cash, I wanted to do it without even reading the script. I just had a really good feeling about it, and I liked the idea of playing such a complex man who led an incredibly rich life.

No, I don't want to talk about River. I have nothing to say about it that I would want to be public.

I got out of the car and I said thank you. And he was gone.

I feel like everything you learn as an actor growing up is wrong. You're supposed to hit your mark, find your light and know your lines. Those are all things that just make things wooden, dull and boring.

He was an amazing man. He really ended up being the voice of the voiceless, the people that many would just as soon forget about or pretend they don't exist. John spoke up for them. He spoke from the heart with sheer honesty. He seemed to have no regrets, and that's unique, especially nowadays with celebrities, when everyone's so concerned about their image and saying the right thing to maintain their following. John said what he felt regardless of whether it was popular or not.

Going out on a stage publicly and not knowing how people are going to react to you - once I experienced that, it made me feel much more comfortable about going into a scene.

He was strumming the guitar but he wouldn't sing, ... And he said, 'I'm waiting for June to get my nerve up.' I thought, 'How is Johnny Cash waiting for anybody to get his nerve up?' But he really needed her. ... They both were incomplete in some ways and when they were brought together, they felt completed.

He was really shaky, his hands were really shaky,

John had been a big fan of Gladiator and he invited me to dinner. It was magical, and then again it was just people sitting around having food. There were six or eight people there, all family. Everyone said grace, and we had the meal. Then we went into the living room and John picked up his guitar. You know, John didn't make small talk.

I was an actor because the work was rewarding. I never imagined that it would all lead to this moment.

I went out and bought every album I could, ... It was interesting to get his early music and hear how an artist develops. And I found the music was the gateway to Johnny. I found his speaking voice through his singing voice.

My parents were just searching for an alternative way of raising their children.

I was fascinated that this was the same person.

I was excited by how heavily involved Jim Mangold had been with John in writing the script and how Jim was determined to get it right. That really meant a lot. It took some of the pressure off, because John was someone whose integrity you could always sense. People appreciated John's genuineness.

John wasn't (Jimi) Hendrix. It was real simple ... we rehearsed a lot.

John was a storyteller, ... He wasn't very metaphorical, he wasn't really abstract.

Johnny moved on stage in very specific ways, he had a specific guitar strum that contributed to the energy of his performances.

You know, the press has kind of imposed upon me the title of Mourning Brother, and because I haven't been vocal about it, the assumption is that I'm holding onto this (stuff) that's just not there.

When I first read this script, I wasn't thinking this is a critique of the U.S. military. I don't really think the movie is critical of anything.

You learn so much about him through his lyrics. He conveys so much with just a few lines. That was the gateway into discovering John. I feel like I found the speaking voice through the singing voice and really learned a lot about him through his music.

You learn so much about him through his lyrics,

Who would have ever thought I would win in the comedy and musical category?

Who would ever have thought that I would win in the comedy or musical category? Not expected.

When I would go on stage and say, 'Hello, I'm Johnny Cash,' you're not trying to say it like John does, but trying to capture what propelled him to say, 'Hello, I'm Johnny Cash,' when everybody already knew who he was. What I was trying to do was really try to find the man behind all that.

There's really nothing I can do about that. My work is to just make the film and try to make it as true as possible.

Things are rarely as exciting or dramatic as we make them out to be in the press.

I've always loved music, but I never really played anything. After 'Walk the Line' and learning to play guitar, and having that sense of performing, I think that certainly opened the door for me, for music.

Sometimes a character is really based on research that you do. Other times it's just based on your imagination or perhaps your conversation with the director. Or sometimes all of the above. It depends on the movie and character.

This is the best thing I ever did,

There was a time when I read a script and I just got excited about the possibilities.

It was terrifying at times. One of my first fires I went into at the academy -- and this was controlled fire by the way, this was with two instructors on every floor -- I still panicked and called out 'mayday' right in the middle of the fire,

It's more of a statement film and kind of a cynical statement at that. It explores the idea that war is inherent in man, and there's a seeming desire for conflict. It could be applied to any situation and any military.

It wasn't a performance, it was just family and me. And you could sense that they had a connection that was just really powerful,

It was magical to be able to explore the young Johnny Cash and his music. But you worry about people's expectations. There's a concern about people saying, 'Well, that's not Johnny Cash'.

They will watch the evening news, see the bloodshed, and will go back to dinner,

Not just trying to pull off a distinctive voice, which was huge. But the story takes place over so many years ? it's a big story. And, also, finding a balance between impersonation and actually becoming someone appealed to me.

I mean, I don't like sitting at a table with seven or eight people asking me questions and kind of listening to what I'm doing - scrutinizing my thoughts and things like that. I just don't like it. I can't understand how anyone would.

I'm kind of cynical about married people or couples singing together. I've seen it manipulated too many times, ... But it was truly magical when they did it. They just looked into each other's eyes and he'd soften.

I never prepare. I think that's completely overrated. It's a very simple job. All you have to do is hit this bright mark, stand in the right spot and say the line. So I don't really believe in preparation.

I'm terrible at metaphors or analogies. I don't know the difference, actually, ... For me, acting is like your dad teaching you to ride a bicycle. You feel totally vulnerable at first. You imagine yourself getting hurt, and the only thing that prevents you from crashing is your dad is running after you, holding on to the back of your seat. You keep looking over your shoulder at him, and he's going, 'You're doing it, kid.' And then, all of a sudden, you're, like, 'Why are you still holding on, Dad? Let go.'

I don't really make movies because I want to see my face on a billboard or because I want to get good reviews or have a big box office. That doesn't really matter to me at all.

I don't know how it turned out, ... No, of course I care. I hope we captured the story authentically. But what keeps me acting is not the end result but the process. And I was very satisfied with the process.

I don't know if you've noticed but I've messed up like 40 times. I'm all over the place.

Because of all the scenes of him writing songs, it wouldn't work to have me singing the lines while he's writing, and then have his voice come out later onstage,

I feel an obligation to set the record straight. Actors that say they're affected by something, that it changes their life, that they take it home with them, they're just trying to get nominated for an Oscar!

You can take that 'I'm an artiste' stuff to the wrong extreme, too.

There are certain aspects of acting that I don't like. I'm not a person who loves being on set. I mean, I know people that have their espresso machines in their trailers and they like being in there and they put pictures on walls. But I don't like it. I don't like sitting around.

I didn't know much about him, and I wasn't a big country music fan. I listened to the Beatles and David Bowie, so I didn't know a lot about him.

They tell you to memorize your lines, follow your light, and hit your marks. Those are the three things that you shouldn't do. You should not learn your lines, you should not hit your mark, and you should never follow your light. Find your light - that's my opinion. Everyone else will tell me I'm wrong, but that's my opinion.

I like being an employee. I like making somebody happy - and if they're not, then I'm crushed.

How can you work in film and still see the overt racism that exists in film and not just be furious all the time?

I've never made $20 million. I'm scared. I don't know if you gave me The Ring if I could carry it and bring it to Ozamorph, or whatever you call it.

There are kids who get on BMX bike when they are eight years old and they go,'Whoa, this is incredible,' and grow up to do extreme sports. It is the same for me with acting.

Whether you think a film will affect society or it's plain entertainment, it's all excellent, it's all noble.

There is no need for fur - since there are compassionate alternatives.

The less someone knows about me, the better, because my intention is to play a variety of characters.

In every film, whether it's a fictional character or not, you create an idea of the character and for me I always do a bad impersonation to start with.

It's hard for me to put my feelings into words.

I don't have the slightest desire to speak over my dead brother. It gets on my nerves to always be compared with him. My brother was a magnificent person and an outstanding actor.

I'm proud of my brother. I would never not want to be associated with him.

The expectation is this low, gravelly voice for John, but I went through his early recordings and there were songs in there where the voice was so different, I wasn't even sure if it was him singing, ... So it was interesting to me that we would see him develop the Man in Black sound. I thought it was really important that his voice change as his persona slowly solidified. The music was really the doorway into the character.

That to me was really, certainly, the gateway into discovering John, ... I feel I found the speaking voice through the singing voice.

Together, we can make a U.S. Department of Peace into a reality, and leave a gift of peace for generations to come.

The footage that you're about to watch of China's dog-leather trade is one of the worst things I've ever seen.

I don't spend most of my life in front of the media.

With public figures involved in a relationship it seems that there is a machine behind their love so oftentimes.

I love having a master. I have no problem serving my director. That's my job. I want to make them happy.

I've made up so many stores about my name, I can't remember.

I've worked with a lot of people on music and often times those things don't work out.

Might I be ridiculous? Might my career in music be laughable? Yeah, that's possible, but that's certainly not my intention.

My music is going to be true. I'm not out to sell records. I'm experiencing something, and it's what I feel.

I still think that movies are amazing; I respect actors and directors.