William H. Macy Quotes

I'm a firm believer that character is highly overrated. Character is a trick that we do with the audience's collusion.

I was a dog in a past life. Really. I'll be walking down the street and dogs will do a sort of double take. Like, Hey, I know him.

That red carpet has to be felt to be believed.

Oh yeah, that's the Holy Grail, Pirates of the Caribbean. Johnny Depp, he's the real deal, isn't he? He doesn't get the girl, and he doesn't care.

Shameless is a rough show, and it’s not for everyone, but it’s also beautiful.

It's hard to be depressed around a ukulele. You just pick it up and you're halfway home.

I'll tell you this about the Oscars - they're real.

There are some older women out there who are just knockouts, real beauties, and they're not getting the roles they should.

Everyone hooks up with George Clooney. He's a genuinely cool guy. He's using his powers for good.

Emotions are the natural result of striving for something. Every single scene has two or more people in it, and nobody wants the same thing, so they are negotiating this one way or another. The result of that negotiation will bring out all kinds of emotional stuff in you.

You should know the lines, be prepared, get sleep, and have the script analyzed so you're ready to rock and roll.

I think what all actors share is that, somewhere down in your solar plexus, there's this fear that you're not going to be able to come up with the goods, that this is the one movie where you're going to look like a fool, and they should have cast someone else. And you feel ugly, and you've got three chins, and you've gained too much weight, and you're losing your hair, and there are so many better actors who could do this. But if you've got chops, what you realize is that everybody feels that way, so just show up and do the job.

I love metaphor the way some people love junk food.

It sure is boring to be around people who are in character all the time. I always find it's closer to mental illness than acting excellence.

We always want to see people strive and see the human spirit triumph against adversity. That's what it's all about because that's what we're doing. We're trying to triumph in our lives.

Many times, I like to read the script before I even know who they want me to play, so I can read it and really enjoy it as an audience member. I think that's given me the ability to ferret out the really special scripts from all the rest.

I'm sure I have a process, but it mostly takes place in my dreams.

All that back-story stuff doesn't help. What you get paid for is to stand toe-to-toe with the other actor and get him to do your will.

One's complete sentences are attempts, as often as not, to complete an incomplete self with words.

The Spirit Awards are great too, they'll say anything because they're not televised. Another great drinking night.

Before I made it big I worked as a dishwasher, washing dishes in this place called Dishwasher House where people could just come in and do whatever they wanted to the dishes and we had to clean them with our hands till they bled. A lot of struggling actors worked there-Downey Jr., Joaquin Phoenix, Damon Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Keenen Ivory Wayans-and we actually all kind of wish we still did.

I've discovered that I can't trust the ratings board at all, because they have - to my mind - a perverted point of view about what's appropriate for children. They think that if you see any part of a male or female anatomy, we have to protect children from it, which is not true, and they think almost any level of violence is okay for children, which is absolutely not true... They're really off the mark.

Actors are embracing a new aesthetic, which is leaning more toward truthful and simple and direct, as opposed to what we would normally call sitcom acting.

We must admit that it is quite common that people do have affairs with their leading ladies and men.

I've always felt that, no matter where you go, people are just people.

Nobody became an actor because he had a good childhood.

Stephen King writes a lot of things that are really charming and quirky, and that are more ironic than horror.

Directors work 10 times harder than anyone else. Get paid a quarter.

When I watch a film I get swept away. I don't really watch the camera.

I got an agent. He said, what do you wanna do, and I said, I want an Oscar nomination. That's your job, that's what I'm paying you for. And I got it.

There are statistics out that say 20 year olds, 18 years olds think about sex 90 percent of the time. They only don't think about sex when they're eating, and that's rare.

Yeah, I made it. It sneaks up on you. You're some schmuck and you wake up one day and you go, Good God, I'm the cheese.

Ninety percent of the preparation we do as actors is just jive. It doesn't do anything.

We thought sex was free. Sex is not free. There's a price to be paid emotionally, physically, even legally. Sex isn't a casual thing. It's a huge thing.

When I was in New York, I was making a living. We had a summer house and a car that I could put in a garage. That's something for a stage actor.

It’s a shame...you just don’t see young people doing anything outside these days.

So much of the violence in the movies is b.s. violence: A guy in the middle of a large city with 14 people lying on the ground that he's just killed with his superhuman powers, and there's not a cop to be found. Not a siren to be heard. No price to be paid. That's not true, and I don't like that sort of stuff.

I think I've been in situations where they looked at me and just see some rich white guy - they don't see me at all.

I've got two little girls, I'm not scared about sex. I'll teach them, it's not going to kill them. But what could kill them is violence. Guns, drinking and driving, these are the real dangers in our society.

I'm getting bigger roles, and I'm on location more, and I have a wife and family. I'd rather work less, and I've started to implement that. It was either that or my wife would break my heart.

Talk about putting your money where your mouth is. It's not right. Someone's gotta say it. They said it. I applaud them.

I do love comedy, but I'm not brave enough to tackle a script whose goal is to make you laugh. That's tough. The ones that can do it, I tip my hat off to them, but I don't have that kind of humor or mind.

The reason they came up with the ratings board is that there are a lot of movies out there, and parents need some guidance. Not only for the kids, but for adults, as well. If you don't like to see a certain kind of film, there should be some rating, so that you know what you're getting into. But the present system doesn't work.

As an actor, early on, you learn that the audience is never wrong. And if you think they are wrong, you need to find a different way to make a living. Collectively the audience is smarter than you will ever, ever be.

I think acting is getting better and better.

I love women. I always have. I'm not pretending that I understand them, but I just love women. I love being in their presence and I love everything about them.

I love making movies, I love the differentness of it, I love writing. But I've always liked television. I grew up on television.

Our glorification of violence is ripping society apart. I don't want my children exposed to it.

What I've discovered is, really, acting is acting is acting. It's all the same. Seventy-five percent of the skills are the same in both media.

I feel very secure about the role of the actor in the future. They need us, because stories are about people.