- [on his Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Babe (1995)] Andy Warhol said everybody gets their 15 minutes of fame. And if this is mine, I couldn't imagine a better 15 minutes.
- [on the Black Panthers movement of the 1960s] The goal of the government was to get all the leaders of the Black Panther Party in jail so that they could be killed systematically through prison violence, and that way they could stop what was a very powerful and evolving movement. I don't think we would have the kind of prison population now and what happens in this country with the gangs if the Panthers had been allowed to continue what they decided to do, which was basically empower black communities to take back their self-control and reestablish the dignity of being a black person in this country.
- I was embarrassed by the director, Blake Edwards, who looked at me and said, "What am I supposed to do with THAT?". I was a little hurt to be referred to as an inanimate object at an audition. I was told by my agent that a number of big stars won't work with anyone two inches taller than them and most of them are under six feet, so you have to be prepared to have trouble.
- Making the movie Babe (1995) opened my eyes to the intelligence and the inquisitive personalities of pigs. These highly social animals possess an amazing capacity for love, joy and sorrow that makes them remarkably similar to our beloved canine and feline friends.
- [on the story of The Promise (2016)] The love story is a way of getting people to begin the process, to feel for the characters, and then understand... can we not have compassion for people who are suffering around the world today? If we can have compassion for them, we can have compassion for the Armenians. If we can have compassion for the Armenians, then we have compassion for the Native Americans, and it goes on... it's to open the heart. [2017]
- [on his Oscar campaign for Babe (1995)] That year they had huge films and I said to the studio, 'I want to go for supporting actor,' and they said, 'No, your name comes first.' I said, 'Yeah, it comes first because you can't say, "Babe, starring the pig and James Cromwell." Of course you had to put me first.' You know, they didn't help me at all. No campaign, no advertising, no nothing. It cost me $60,000 to get that nomination, but it changed my life. So it was probably the best $60,000 I ever spent.
- In talking about the 2018 midterm elections, he said "If we don't stop [President Trump] now, then we will have a revolution for real. Then there will be blood in the streets."
- Until men learn to celebrate and operate on the feminine aspect of themselves and stop the oppression of women, children, the environment, other species, we don't have a world to live in.
- If men don't acknowledge their fear and suppress it, they put anger on top. They project their fear onto someone else and see an enemy and then act with anger and violence.
- What is magnificent about humans is when they decide to turn and stand. If they respond with non-violence on principle and hold their ground, they are really magnificent.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content