Whether you like it or not, you're forced to come to the realisation that death is out there. But I don't fear death, I'm a fatalist. I believe when it's your time, that's it. It's the hand you're dealt.

I'm not a New Age person, but I do believe in meditation, and for that reason I've always liked the Buddhist religion. When I've been to Japan, I've been to Buddhist temples and meditated, and I found that rewarding.

I was always respectful of people who were deeply religious because I always felt that if they gave themselves to it, then it had to be important to them. But if you can go through life without it, that's OK, too. It's whatever suits you.

Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that's real power.

The prospect of dating someone in her twenties becomes less appealing as you get older. At some point in your life, your tolerance level goes down and you realize that, with someone much younger, there's nothing really to talk about.

A lot of dumb pictures have made a lot of money, but that doesn't mean they're going to be anything cinema students will revel over in the future.

My uncle played rugby, and my dad played football, and they used to argue which game was the roughest - and everybody agreed rugby was. It's a great team sport, and to be successful, every person has to play in the same level.

Crimes against children are the most heinous crime. That, for me, would be a reason for capital punishment because children are innocent and need the guidance of an adult society.

Our modern society - especially in the West, and especially now - reveres youth.

I'm not really conservative. I'm conservative on certain things. I believe in less government. I believe in fiscal responsibility and all those things that maybe Republicans used to believe in but don't any more.

Society is at odds with itself.

Society has made us believe you should look like an 18-year-old model all your life.

Overnight stardom can be harmful to your mental health. Yeah. It has ruined a lot of people.

There's only one way to have a happy marriage and as soon as I learn what it is I'll get married again.

I will never win an Oscar, and do you know why? First of all, because I'm not Jewish. Secondly, I make too much money for all those old farts in the Academy.

The stronger the participation of the female characters, the better the movie. They knew that in the old days, when women stars were equally as important as men.

When I did 'Bird,' it was a surprise to some people, first because I wasn't in it and second because most of the films I'd been doing were cop movies or westerns or adventure films, so to be doing one about Charlie Parker, who was a great influence on American music, was a great thrill for me.

I haven't been very active in politics.

It takes tremendous discipline to control the influence, the power you have over other people's lives.

Men must know their limitations.

There's a lot of great movies that have won the Academy Award, and a lot of great movies that haven't. You just do the best you can.

When I was a kid, I thought movies just came from air. I thought they just appeared.

Movies are fun, but they are no cure for cancer.

I like Italian movies. I was frequently there in the '60s, in Rome and the vicinity. It was a great period in life. I was very influenced by their stuff.

Movies were invented for Jimmy Cagney, and he was invented for the movies. A perfect match.

I mean, I've always been a libertarian. Leave everybody alone. Let everybody else do what they want. Just stay out of everybody else's hair.

We boil at different degrees.

I've had no problem harnessing anger.

They say marriages are made in Heaven. But so is thunder and lightning.

If you want a guarantee, buy a toaster.

I never sympathise with the accused unless there's a chance the accused is not guilty, but I certainly don't ever sympathise with the criminal.

My dad was a big admirer of Sergeant York stories from the First World War.

My dad was fiscally conservative, and I was influenced by that. He didn't believe in spending more than you had because it gets you into trouble.