It is as big a mistake to turn down a good shot as it is to take a bad one

Making movies is time-consuming and it's boring. You spend most of your time waiting between takes. It's like a big machine that moves slowly.

I started out as a stand-up comedian. And that's what I'm most comfortable doing.

I'm in a whole different part of show business. I'm not even part of Shakespeare in Love.

I'm just a man. I think people are reacting to something else when they see me. They're not reacting to me, Eddie Murphy. They don't even know me. It's just luck and the God in me they're reacting to.

Whenever I am on camera or doing anything on mic, I don't have any process at all. I just do it and, when I'm finished, it goes away. There is no process. I wish there were some techniques to it. I just turn it on and off, and then I go home.

We want the same effect as if someone's house burned here. We want to give them a normal life as soon as possible.