Quotes By Joaquin Phoenix

Things are rarely as exciting or dramatic as we make them out to be in the press.

When I decide to do something, I stick with it, total commitment.

I've always loved hip-hop, since I was a kid, that's the music that I loved. I think everyone of our generation kind of fantasized about hip-hop in some ways.

You see so many earnest characters in movies all the time, everyone has a purpose.

I had a really wonderful upbringing. We were a tight family. It was wonderful to grow up with so many siblings. We were all just a year or two apart, and we were always so supportive of each other. I learned everything from my older brother and sister and taught it to my younger sisters.

I loved hip-hop. The first stuff I heard was Public Enemy, and I couldn't believe it. It was amazing, and I've always loved hip-hop.

For me, I guess I'm the acting equivalent of somebody that jumps off buildings and parachutes.

I wish I had fair justification for not being as informed as I should be, but I don't.

I guess I had what you could call an unconventional upbringing.

There are kids who get on a BMX bike when they're eight years old and they go, 'Whoa, this is incredible,' and grow up to do extreme sports. It's the same for me with acting.

Acting is real important to me. I love it, and it's something I care about.

Might I be ridiculous? Might my career in music be laughable? Yeah, that's possible, but that's certainly not my intention.

I know if I'm lost in the moment or not.

Well, I think that you know, I threatened myself with quitting after every movie. But I think everybody does that, right?

I think the day that I become comfortable doing interviews and going on talk shows is the day that I don't know what it is to be a human being anymore.

You're always thinking, What's the next move - the career, the money.

If you walk into a room and one hundred people say, 'You are a lovely, beautiful person', who isn't going to be affected by that? But you have to tell yourself not to value that. You have to tell yourself - or at least I do - to not become accustomed to hearing applause in any way, because I think that's dangerous.

I'm vomiting days before I start shooting a new movie.

I don't know a single person in life that doesn't have conflict.

In every film, whether it's a fictional character or not, you create an idea of the character and for me I always do a bad impersonation to start with.

I would try and sing along with bands that I like but it sounded so atrocious that I couldn't.

I've always loved music, but I never really played anything. After 'Walk the Line' and learning to play guitar, and having that sense of performing, I think that certainly opened the door for me, for music.

I don't really make movies because I want to see my face on a billboard or because I want to get good reviews or have a big box office. That doesn't really matter to me at all.

I feel an obligation to set the record straight. Actors that say they're affected by something, that it changes their life, that they take it home with them, they're just trying to get nominated for an Oscar!

I don't think one should be comfortable standing on a stage with people applauding and laughing at every stupid thing you say.

I don't spend most of my life in front of the media.

It's hard for me to put my feelings into words.

I don't walk around like I'm a movie star because I don't think of myself as a movie star. People usually don't even notice me.

There was a time when I read a script and I just got excited about the possibilities.

Every movie soaks into you for a certain amount of time.