Top 100 Joaquin Phoenix Quotes
#1. Things are rarely as exciting or dramatic as we make them out to be in the press.
Joaquin Phoenix
#2. I don't have the slightest desire to speak over my dead brother. It gets on my nerves to always be compared with him. My brother was a magnificent person and an outstanding actor.
Joaquin Phoenix
#3. My personal life absolutely goes down the drain when I start working; that's something that I'm incapable of doing.
Joaquin Phoenix
#4. 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.
Joaquin Phoenix
#5. My music is going to be true. I'm not out to sell records. I'm experiencing something, and it's what I feel.
Joaquin Phoenix
#6. How can you work in film and still see the overt racism that exists in film and not just be furious all the time?
Joaquin Phoenix
#7. I've made up so many stores about my name, I can't remember.
Joaquin Phoenix
#8. Do I have a large frog in my hair? I have the sensation that something is eating my brain.
Joaquin Phoenix
#9. I'm like the kid that crams for tests and never remembers anything.
Joaquin Phoenix
#10. You're always thinking, What's the next move - the career, the money.
Joaquin Phoenix
#11. It's an amazing feeling to go into a studio and really be alone.
Joaquin Phoenix
#12. There was a time when I read a script and I just got excited about the possibilities.
Joaquin Phoenix
#14. With public figures involved in a relationship it seems that there is a machine behind their love so oftentimes.
Joaquin Phoenix
#16. I don't think one should be comfortable standing on a stage with people applauding and laughing at every stupid thing you say.
Joaquin Phoenix
#17. I'm proud of my brother. I would never not want to be associated with him.
Joaquin Phoenix
#18. I didn't know much about him, and I wasn't a big country music fan. I listened to the Beatles and David Bowie, so I didn't know a lot about him.
Joaquin Phoenix
#19. There is no need for fur - since there are compassionate alternatives.
Joaquin Phoenix
#20. I would try and sing along with bands that I like but it sounded so atrocious that I couldn't.
Joaquin Phoenix
#21. Might I be ridiculous? Might my career in music be laughable? Yeah, that's possible, but that's certainly not my intention.
Joaquin Phoenix
#22. 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.
Joaquin Phoenix
#23. I never prepare. I think that's completely overrated. It's a very simple job. All you have to do is hit this bright mark, stand in the right spot and say the line. So I don't really believe in preparation.
Joaquin Phoenix
#24. No, I don't want to talk about River. I have nothing to say about it that I would want to be public.
Joaquin Phoenix
#25. I feel like everything you learn as an actor growing up is wrong. You're supposed to hit your mark, find your light and know your lines. Those are all things that just make things wooden, dull and boring.
Joaquin Phoenix
#26. I've been in clubs. I don't like being in an enclosed place with really loud music, and a lot of drunk people. It's not my idea of a good time. It's just such a miserable life.
Joaquin Phoenix
#27. In most films - especially in regards to the protagonist - really from the get-go they set up some scenario that endears that character to the audience. Or imbues him with some nobility or heroism or something.
Joaquin Phoenix
#29. Well, I think that you know, I threatened myself with quitting after every movie. But I think everybody does that, right?
Joaquin Phoenix
#30. I wouldn't feel satisfied being on set every day doing a romantic comedy - I'd be bored to death.
Joaquin Phoenix
#31. I do like to collaborate, and I like hearing other people, and I like how somebody's performance will affect my own.
Joaquin Phoenix
#32. Together, we can make a U.S. Department of Peace into a reality, and leave a gift of peace for generations to come.
Joaquin Phoenix
#33. Well, I haven't signed anything giving people the right to do anything they want with my image, you know what I mean. I have the ultimate say.
Joaquin Phoenix
#34. Animal rights is a part of my everyday life. When you live by example, you create a certain level of awareness. Friends of mine - people I have never discussed animal rights or vegetarianism with - are adopting vegetarian habits because they see it.
Joaquin Phoenix
#35. The reason I keep making movies is I hate the last thing I did. I'm trying to rectify my wrongs.
Joaquin Phoenix
#37. For me, I guess I'm the acting equivalent of somebody that jumps off buildings and parachutes.
Joaquin Phoenix
#38. When I go out with the ladies, I don't force them to pronounce my name. I tell them I like to go by the nickname of Kitten.
Joaquin Phoenix
#39. I always have the fear that, if I don't commit 100 percent to my work, then it's gonna suffer.
Joaquin Phoenix
#40. My significant other right now is myself, which is what happens when you suffer from multiple personality disorder and self-obsession.
Joaquin Phoenix
#41. Whether you think a film will affect society or it's plain entertainment, it's all excellent, it's all noble.
Joaquin Phoenix
#42. My dissatisfaction with acting has nothing to do with being uncomfortable or vulnerable or feeling like people are going to criticize me. That's not the problem.
Joaquin Phoenix
#43. I guess my experience with some stuff is kind of abstract.
Joaquin Phoenix
#45. I just I don't feel challenged by acting anymore. I don't enjoy the process anymore.
Joaquin Phoenix
#46. The footage that you're about to watch of China's dog-leather trade is one of the worst things I've ever seen.
Joaquin Phoenix
#47. Getting into the character is difficult and letting go of your life and the things that kind of define you, whatever it is in life that's your daily routine because you sort of find yourself in this other life and that's difficult and the other end is difficult.
Joaquin Phoenix
#48. For as long as I've been making movies, I really don't know a lot of the technical side. I mean, I've actively and consciously tried to avoid learning that stuff. I just want to be open and receptive to what's happening in the moment, and I don't want to force anything.
Joaquin Phoenix
#49. I'm vomiting days before I start shooting a new movie.
Joaquin Phoenix
#50. 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.
Joaquin Phoenix
#51. I've never made $20 million. I'm scared. I don't know if you gave me The Ring if I could carry it and bring it to Ozamorph, or whatever you call it.
Joaquin Phoenix
#52. The only reason why I would like to be accepted? Because if your movies don't do well, after a while you don't get to make any more movies.
Joaquin Phoenix
#54. I've worked with a lot of people on music and often times those things don't work out.
Joaquin Phoenix
#55. I like working all the time. I hate taking breaks. I don't like the weekends.
Joaquin Phoenix
#56. The less someone knows about me, the better, because my intention is to play a variety of characters.
Joaquin Phoenix
#57. I'm going to sound a little weird here, but I like to spend a lot of time on my own in the woods. I don't exactly sneak off in the middle of the night, but I like to be in a place where no one can reach me by phone or e-mail.
Joaquin Phoenix
#58. Sometimes a character is really based on research that you do. Other times it's just based on your imagination or perhaps your conversation with the director. Or sometimes all of the above. It depends on the movie and character.
Joaquin Phoenix
#59. I don't know a single person in life that doesn't have conflict.
Joaquin Phoenix
#60. Is it that your dream is unattainable or is it that you have the wrong dream?
Joaquin Phoenix
#61. I enjoy writing rhymes and sitting alone in a room listening to beats. It's pretty amazing.
Joaquin Phoenix
#62. Going out on a stage publicly and not knowing how people are going to react to you - once I experienced that, it made me feel much more comfortable about going into a scene.
Joaquin Phoenix
#63. 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.
Joaquin Phoenix
#64. 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.
Joaquin Phoenix
#65. I still think that movies are amazing; I respect actors and directors.
Joaquin Phoenix
#66. 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.
Joaquin Phoenix
#67. You see so many earnest characters in movies all the time, everyone has a purpose.
Joaquin Phoenix
#68. 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!
Joaquin Phoenix
#69. It takes nothing away from a human to be kind to an animal.
Joaquin Phoenix
#70. Every single movie that I've ever done has affected my life; I always feel more changed by a character than I affect them or change them, always. I mean, that's just kind of the way it is.
Joaquin Phoenix
#71. I love doing the music. I love programming beats and kind of working on the music as much, if not more, than the actual rapping.
Joaquin Phoenix
#73. That to me was really, certainly, the gateway into discovering John, ... I feel I found the speaking voice through the singing voice.
Joaquin Phoenix
#74. I enjoy humour more than anything, I don't really sit around banging my head and crying all the time.
Joaquin Phoenix
#75. When I decide to do something, I stick with it, total commitment.
Joaquin Phoenix
#76. I like being an employee. I like making somebody happy - and if they're not, then I'm crushed.
Joaquin Phoenix
#77. I guess I had what you could call an unconventional upbringing.
Joaquin Phoenix
#78. The offers were, like, a lot of money - maybe not for other actors, but definitely for me. But I don't want that power. I don't want $20-million power.
Joaquin Phoenix
#79. 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.
Joaquin Phoenix
#80. I once told a journalist that girls call me 'Kitten,' but I couldn't have been more sarcastic, and no matter how many times I've said that it was a joke, it still doesn't go away.
Joaquin Phoenix
#81. I mean, I don't like sitting at a table with seven or eight people asking me questions and kind of listening to what I'm doing - scrutinizing my thoughts and things like that. I just don't like it. I can't understand how anyone would.
Joaquin Phoenix
#82. Acting is real important to me. I love it, and it's something I care about.
Joaquin Phoenix
#83. I love having a master. I have no problem serving my director. That's my job. I want to make them happy.
Joaquin Phoenix
#84. I wish I had fair justification for not being as informed as I should be, but I don't.
Joaquin Phoenix
#85. I don't believe in god. I don't believe in an afterlife. I don't believe in soul. I don't believe in anything. I think it's totally right for people to have their own beliefs if it makes them happy, but to me it's a pretty preposterous idea.
Joaquin Phoenix
#86. I have this horrible sense of humor where I think discomfort is funny - partly because I experience discomfort a lot, and it's a way of laughing at it and getting a release.
Joaquin Phoenix
#87. 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.
Joaquin Phoenix
#89. I still have a hard time saying who Johnny [ Cash ] is in one sentence. He seemed so contradictory in his actions, and I think that's probably what is most fascinating about him and what made him such an interesting character to study.
Joaquin Phoenix
#90. I becan acting when River was doing this TV series and they needed two kids for the show, so they got me and my little sister, Summer, to do it. After that I did some really weird guest spots with orangutans and stuff.
Joaquin Phoenix
#91. As a nation, this is the moment to start seriously investing our time, energy and resources into proven methods of reducing violence, both within our nation as well as internationally. The cost of violence to our culture and our children is simply not sustainable.
Joaquin Phoenix
#92. You can take that 'I'm an artiste' stuff to the wrong extreme, too.
Joaquin Phoenix
#93. When I look back I can't believe how my parents managed, but the cliche is true. We didn't have money, but we were rich in so many other ways.
Joaquin Phoenix
#94. There are certain aspects of acting that I don't like. I'm not a person who loves being on set. I mean, I know people that have their espresso machines in their trailers and they like being in there and they put pictures on walls. But I don't like it. I don't like sitting around.
Joaquin Phoenix
#95. 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.
Joaquin Phoenix
#96. There are kids who get on BMX bike when they are eight years old and they go,'Whoa, this is incredible,' and grow up to do extreme sports. It is the same for me with acting.
Joaquin Phoenix
#97. I don't know why I always get to play these guys who have few redeeming features. But don't knock it. Villains are much more fun.
Joaquin Phoenix
#98. I'd see child actors and I'd get so jealous, because they're just completely wide open.
Joaquin Phoenix
#99. For me, I'd rather have an intense experience than not.
Joaquin Phoenix
#100. Every movie soaks into you for a certain amount of time.
Joaquin Phoenix
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