Joaquin Phoenix Quotes

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.

When I look back I can't believe how my parents managed, but the cliche is true. We didn't have money, but we were rich in so many other ways.

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.

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

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

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

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

I've been prepping for my role as Medusa.

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

I was 3-years-old - to this day it is a vivid memory. My family and I were on a boat, catching fish. As one fish was caught, he was writhing, then he was thrown against the side of the boat. You couldn't disguise what it was. This was what we did to animals to eat them. The animal went from a living, vibrant creature fighting for life to a violent death. I recognized it, as did my brothers and sisters.

The offers were, like, a lot of money - maybe not for other actors, but definitely for me. But I don't want that power. I don't want $20-million power.

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

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

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

My dissatisfaction with acting has nothing to do with being uncomfortable or vulnerable or feeling like people are going to criticize me. That's not the problem.

I don't think one should be comfortable standing on a stage with people applauding and laughing at every stupid thing you say.

I would try and sing along with bands that I like but it sounded so atrocious that I couldn't.

I always have the fear that, if I don't commit 100 percent to my work, then it's gonna suffer.

I don't know why I always get to play these guys who have few redeeming features. But don't knock it. Villains are much more fun.

I enjoy writing rhymes and sitting alone in a room listening to beats. It's pretty amazing.

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

I enjoy humour more than anything, I don't really sit around banging my head and crying all the time.

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

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

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.

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

I've been in clubs. I don't like being in an enclosed place with really loud music, and a lot of drunk people. It's not my idea of a good time. It's just such a miserable life.

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

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.

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

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

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

Do I have a large frog in my hair? I have the sensation that something is eating my brain.

I love scripts about relationships, and I love to see puppy love evolving into this mature love and communication.

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 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.

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.

I just I don't feel challenged by acting anymore. I don't enjoy the process anymore.

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

My personal life absolutely goes down the drain when I start working; that's something that I'm incapable of doing.

I don't know a single person in life that doesn't have conflict. I don't really enjoy acting enough to not want to experience something that feels like it really affects things. It's like, if you were a surfer, would you want to surf where there was like two-foot waves, or would you want to surf on like ten-foot waves. To me, the more kind of dramatic stories are more exciting for me, to play with.

For as long as I've been making movies, I really don't know a lot of the technical side. I mean, I've actively and consciously tried to avoid learning that stuff. I just want to be open and receptive to what's happening in the moment, and I don't want to force anything.

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

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 becan acting when River was doing this TV series and they needed two kids for the show, so they got me and my little sister, Summer, to do it. After that I did some really weird guest spots with orangutans and stuff.

I don't believe in god. I don't believe in an afterlife. I don't believe in soul. I don't believe in anything. I think it's totally right for people to have their own beliefs if it makes them happy, but to me it's a pretty preposterous idea.

I love doing the music. I love programming beats and kind of working on the music as much, if not more, than the actual rapping.

I do like to collaborate, and I like hearing other people, and I like how somebody's performance will affect my own.