Tom Cruise Quotes

As a kid, when I got to the edge of a cliff I wanted to jump off. I didn't want to kill myself. I wanted to fly.

I would live with all of my sisters if I could. We've always been very close, my sisters and me.

We knew from the beginning the level of commitment needed. We felt honored to work with Stanley Kubrick. We were going to do what it took to do this picture, whatever time, because I felt - and Nic [Nicole Kidman] did, too - that this was going to be a really special time for us. We knew it would be difficult. But I would have absolutely kicked myself if I hadn`t done this.

When I work, I'm the actor. I'm going to do my job. I'm not going to direct the movie. If I wanted to direct it, I would direct it. I wanted J.J. Abrams to direct Mission: Impossible. I work with people that I respect. I expect them to do their jobs, and I will do mine. And I am there as a producer to help in any way, but no one makes a movie by themselves. It's a collaboration.

I feel lonely at times, but I don't want to get into a relationship with someone if it is not right. I'm not the type of person who just does things to do them.

I have respect for what other people believe. What I believe in my own life is that it's a search for how I can do things better, whether it's being a better man or a better father or finding ways for myself to improve.

Whether it's making a film or raising my children, personally I'm striving to do the right things and to learn.

I'm always around my mother and sisters. I always wanted to be a father, a husband.

I remember looking at my dad and wanting to understand him. I didn't want to just write the guy off. He was lost. I can't speak specifically in terms of why and how he got to where he was - that was his journey. All I can tell you is, he was overwhelmed by life... My mother basically did all the work, and then they got separated and I didn't see him for a long time. He didn't try to help the family financially or spiritually, and I lived with the effects of the chaos.

When you talk about emotional, chemical imbalances in people, there is no science behind that.

Nothing ends nicely, that's why it ends.

I also realise power is fleeting, it doesn't last forever in this career, so I want to make the most of it. I want to make the kinds of pictures that interest me, it's as simple as that. I've never done work for money ever. If your choices are based on grosses and the film doesn't do well, what does that mean? It leaves you with nothing.

The exciting part of acting, I don't know how else to explain it, are those moments when you surprise yourself.

What I find sometimes that is tricky is if actors are using too much of their own life in a picture, in a scene, they get locked into a particular way to play the scene, and it lacks an immediacy.

I'm passionate about learning. I'm passionate about life.

When I'm promoting a film, I'm not going to get caught up in anything else, and that includes all my personal things.

I don't care if you print something nasty about me. If it's true, fine. I don't care. But just make sure it's the truth.

Saddam has committed many crimes against humanity and against his own people.

I want a world without war, a world without insanity. I want to see people do well. I don't even think it's as much as what I want for myself. It's more what I want for the people around me. That's what I want.