Saying you are a patriot does not make you one; wearing a flag pin does not in itself mean anything at all.

Pinochet and Barack Obama both have the same primary goal, and that's to be president and stay president as long as allowed.

You don't have to make something that people call art. Living is an artistic activity, there is an art to getting through the day.

Ignorance breeds antipathy. Until I got to know how computers worked, I didn't want anything to do with them. I said, 'Well, why do I need them? I write letters.' Which I still do.

When we shot 'The Lord of the Rings,' we had special permission to film in wild areas of New Zealand that could be accessed only by helicopter. They would drop us off and we would work all day, and they'd pick us up and take us out again.

If in my twenties I'd gotten one of the two-dozen roles that I did screen tests for and almost got, I think I would have become bored with the awards circuit, the whole hype machine.

Awards for arts, where you make comparisons, don't make much sense.