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.
Be kind. It’s worthwhile to make an effort to learn about other people and figure out what you might have in common with them.
I’m just looking as always for something that’s stimulating and I hope to find a good story that’s a challenge, whether it’s big or small. Or that it finds me. I don’t have like a career plan. Maybe I should, but I don’t.
You know, Freud accepted his lot very stoically and very well and with a sense of humor. He aged and died gracefully, and there’s a lot to be said for that.
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.
I’m not afraid of death, but I resent it. I think it’s unfair and irritating.
Life is short and the older you get, the more you feel it. Indeed, the shorter it is. People lose their capacity to walk, run, travel, think, and experience life. I realise how important it is to use the time I have.
I don’t think Adam Sandler or Will Ferrell fear competition from me in their arena.
Travel is one of the best anti-war weapons that there are. I’ve been to Iran, and if you’re there you see little kids, cops, old people, cemeteries. Once you see that, you can’t say, ‘Oh, Iran, let’s bomb them.’
Being an actor, imitating to the point of inhabiting the lives of others, may simply be a way of continuing to do what I learned to do as a boy – to travel, mentally and physically.
In principle, I think the idea of rewarding a good effort is interesting, but movies are generally different from each other as are performances and the conditions on how the performances are given and how they’re edited and so forth.
I like the detail work of telling a story in small pieces, as is done in movie-making, and also the long leap of faith needed to see a theatre performance through each night. Both require focus and self-discipline.
You know, real life doesn’t just suddenly resolve itself. You have to keep working at it. Democracy, marriage, friendship. You can’t just say, ‘She’s my best friend.’ That’s not a given, it’s a process.
It’s true that I have a wide range of interests. I like to write and paint and make music and go walking on my own and garden. In fact, gardening is probably what I enjoy doing more than anything else.
There’s no excuse to be bored. Sad, yes. Angry, yes. Depressed, yes. Crazy, yes. But there’s no excuse for boredom, ever.
I know I said I wanted to live forever and I would never be bored, but the reality is, it’s probably kind of sad to live forever if you’re the only one sticking around.
On a practical level, poetry isn’t something anybody has really made a great living at. I might sell some books and, once in a while, someone might pay to hear me read.
Photography, painting or poetry – those are just extensions of me, how I perceive things; they are my way of communicating.
I have a publishing company of books by me and books of others. It drew people to poetry readings and photo exhibitions and painting exhibitions that I’ve been doing for years before that.
Like most people I can be lazy, so it’s nice to have a goal or deadline or reason to work out. I feel better when I get to exercise, or when I’m outdoors. I like to hike, swim and run, and I love to play soccer.