Matt Dillon Quotes

I know this sounds kind of crazy, but I think we're all actors.

I only hear my own voice. When you start hearing other voices, then it's time to worry.

I don't know why, but I like the saxophone.

One of my greatest fears is not being able to change, to be caught in a never-ending cycle of sameness. Growth is so important.

One of my biggest fears is not being able to break out of a rut; of becoming a prisoner to my ways, unable to change course. But in my mid-thirties, I learned you can change your thinking.

These are people who haven't gone through the legal means to becoming citizens like our forefathers did. They want all the benefits but none of the responsibilities.

Love is messy. It's not something that's real clean.

The worst thing I could be accused of is that I'm a one-way dude, only out for myself. But the worst thing a woman can do is not to say anything. Especially when you're starting a relationship.

When I was twenty-two it was a lot harder to get hurt by women. It was easier for me to, you know, cheat on a girlfriend. I can't lie like that anymore.

I grew up with the white picket fence. My dad went to work nine to five, and he had a station wagon.

I think the reason I've survived that long is because I've taken my work so seriously. Maybe sometimes too seriously, but it's always been important for me to do my best regardless of the film. I think the biggest compliment I get is when people on the street stop me and say they've liked the choices I've made.

I'm drawn to women who live in a world different from my own. I don't believe you have to marry someone from your own backyard. James Joyce married a woman who never read any of his books.

I don't like to give out advice. I make suggestions when I get to know somebody a little bit, but I don't know about advice.

It's a pretty good job being an actor, but it's work sometimes. And when I say work, I mean it's a job. You're going to a job.

The great, rewarding thing about directing is that you're overseeing the whole thing. When you're an actor, you're just one department.

It was being young and sensitive and an actor. There was a lot of pressure, everything was a hurdle.

I don't hide out. If you build a wall around yourself, it draws people to invade it. Fear is the enemy.

I think we're all actors. There's this friend of mine who's a great drummer, and he said, "I never thought I'd be a drummer, but I got really good at it. I always feel like I'm an actor playing the drums." His real calling was that he was going to be a magician. That's what he felt like he wanted to do. If you decide to act like a journalist, you'll probably be a better journalist than just being a journalist. What you're doing is, you're taking the executive role and stepping outside yourself so that you're able to make more objective decisions.

It's really nice to be able to do something that you've never done. I think that's the gift of being an actor because I get to play a cop, a racist cop and I've never done that before. It's nice to inhabit these other worlds especially when you get to work with great actors.

I had acting teachers, and one of the things that was encouraged was to keep it fresh, to be spontaneous. That's the magic of film often.

In politics there are so many holes, so many contradictions, you don't know what's happening.

Well I can tell you that for me generally speaking that I think things that I deal with are all to do with not accepting things, not excepting life on life's terms. My life becomes a lot easier when I'm willing to just accept. I don't have to like circumstances as they are, but I have to accept them and that's where I always seem to get thrown, when I try to will my way instead of accept things the way they are.

I used to make fun of the kids in school who acted or went to dance class.

I'm not the greatest boyfriend, but I'm not a creep. It's more like I'm... absent-minded.

I think anytime you can do something you haven't seen or done in a film before, it's always a great day as an actor.

I don't worry about whether a character is likable, as long as the character is believable.

It's a pretty good job being an actor, but it's work sometimes. And when I say work, I mean it's a job.

One of the things I've learned over the years is that you only do what you can do as an actor. You do the best job you can, but you have no control over so many elements that are going to determine the outcome of that film. I never pay attention to what happens after.

Acting is very competitive. There are few good scripts out there and the ones that are good are very competitive. You look at your options and often times they're not too appealing.

I look for really great characters. I say great because as long as they're really good, there's something you can do. And really good storytelling. And when people ask me what the story is, I say it's really several stories really. They're intermeshed.

I don't like movies where everything happens fast. I like the buildup, the obstacles, the mystery.

Actors don't generally go asking other actors for advice too much, but I'll take suggestions wherever I can.

The growing pains of being an actor, that was a little frustrating at times because you feel like you have great capacity to do many things. And yet there seems to be a misunderstanding about who you are and what you're trying to do. And that requires patience, and people eventually will understand.

I don't consider myself a Hollywood liberal, but I have my convictions and my beliefs.

I think a lot of directors, they come out of film school, they don't know anything about acting. Or they're writers that don't know anything about the process. And I think they're afraid sometimes to talk to actors and be honest with actors.

My driving, I've been accused of not being the best, most safest driver.

I like conflict, drama's conflict and if you don't have that in the character it's really not a worthwhile role to play for me.

I'm not a Buddhist, or a card-carrying member of any religion.

It's tough when you started out as young as I did to look back and see how far I've come. I try to be easy on myself and go 'Look man, you were younger, you were learning; you learn, you grow.' But I'm not my best judge. I always feel like my best work is still ahead of me.

If people are reacting to films based on their degree of success or failure, then they're not really looking at the movie. I don't really care about that. Everyone's entitled to an opinion, but at least base your opinion on the merit of the work itself.

It seems like a cliche, but you do grow up a lot faster when you travel a lot, go through things like this interview, spend time away from home and hang around with other actors. It's inevitable that you're not going to have a so-called normal childhood.

Obviously all religions get corrupted by man. The initial ideas are interesting but once they get organized they seem to become about politics and other things and they get misinterpreted. . . . Have faith but do the work. Live your life right. Dont expect things to happen. Thats why Im put off by magical realism.

Racism was just a tool to deal with frustration and pain and that people are in denial about the way we feel and desperately trying to control their environment the way their lives are. And ultimately their scapegoats aren't going to make them feel better, it's just going to increase hatred and the problem gets worse and worse.

I sometimes think love is God's way of hoodwinking people into having kids. You fall in love, and all that passion goes into procreating and wanting children. I've felt that need to want to raise a child. It's a creative urge.

The first music I was ever exposed to was Irish folk music, like the Clancy Brothers. My father plays that and Christmas songs.

I have always wanted to play different kinds of stuff, but it's hard, first to find good material, and then to change people's perception of you so they'll let you do it. I mean, I would really like to play a poet, but once they get this notion of you as a street guy, it's hard to change that.

I do get bottled up in interviews. You're thinking about what you're saying, and suddenly you get all tangled. So people think I'm sullen, or that I don't have much to say. But my friends will tell you: a lot of times I talk too much.

As an actor, you can't be off the market for too long.

I like to do comedy, but I'll be perfectly honest, I prefer to do drama and more character-driven-based stuff, generally.

Of course, if you're gonna make movies, you gotta make movies, and I'm not gonna say no to a good role.