Christian Bale Quotes

I tend to think you're fearless when you recognize why you should be scared of things, but do them anyway.

Whatever you do, do it completely. Don't do it half-arsed. Do it more than anybody else would.

The art of survival is a story that never ends.

It's the actors who are prepared to make fools of themselves who are usually the ones who come to mean something to the audience.

It's about pursuing it rather than waiting to see what comes along.

I think trying too hard to be sexy is the worst thing in the world a woman can do.

I find something fascinating about the quiet man in the background who has no desire to be the center of attention.

But I learned that there's a certain character that can be built from embarrassing yourself endlessly. If you can sit happy with embarrassment, there's not much else that can really get to ya.

Art is something to be proud of. Art is no compromise. As an actor, you're giving it up, you're at the mercy of so many other people.

I only sound intelligent when there's a good script writer around.

You have to treat yourself like a mushroom to some degree, in order to keep on discovering things.

I think it's important when you're acting to be as relaxed as possible even if you're doing something intense. You're basically in a state of dynamic relaxation.

You say something bad about Newsies and you have an awful lot of people to answer to.

Were all conning ourselves, one way or another, just to get through life.

I seek … the means to fight injustice. To turn fear against those who prey on the fearful.

What the hell kind of man decides to dress up as a bat and run around the city? There's got to be something a little bit loose in there.

I never want to feel that I'm playing it safe.

The only thing that I'm obsessed with is sleeping, and actually, it is more than an obsession, it is a pleasure.

It's not who I am underneath but what I do that defines me.

I have a fear of being boring.

I never, in any city I've ever been in, never remember the names of streets. The longest place I ever lived in was for five years and I didn't know the name of the next street over.

An actor should never be larger than the film he's in.

I have this theory that, depending on your attitude, your life doesn't have to become this ridiculous charade that it seems so many people end up living.

I always want to confuse people in terms of any kind of image and be unpredictable in any kind of movie I make.

And I not only inherited an aversion to the nine-to-five routine, but the sense from my parents that being bored and boring is the worst thing that you can be.

I feel like I'm pretty good but I don't like to toot my own horn, you know. I want to let the work speak for itself and kind of move on to the next thing.

Art is something to be proud of. Art is no compromise.

Certainly I have no attraction to misery. I don't intentionally go for dark.

The only thing I would unequivocally say is that I have never had any interest in romantic comedy I just couldn't do it. I think I'd be terrible.

Nuclear apocalypse-who do you need? Actors are probably not top of the list. What can I do for you? I can pretend to be somebody who can grow you some nice crops.

The interesting thing about a movie is the movie.

I do like taking stuff seriously that a lot of people look at as nonsense. I enjoy the insanity of that. And I like the commitment that is needed for that.

How serious can a movie about time-traveling robots be? You want it to be cool and fun.

I would have been very happy just cruising around and enjoying the unexpected. I've never been ambitious.

Sometimes the truth isn't good enough. Sometimes people have got to have their faith rewarded.

You're creating a different world and the actor's job is to be able to convince the audience to enter into that world, whether it be actually something that you recognize from your own life or not.

When it comes to films, people often don't differentiate between the message of a bad central character and the message of the film itself. They are two separate things.

There's nothing like boxing for getting you in shape.

After the modest success of my first film, I found it very daunting to have to live with that kind of burden of expectations.

I won't kill you but I don't have to save you.

Directors go their whole career without being able to tell personal stories and to work with a cast as talented as they are.

There have been many times when you spend a number of months and the finished product is not what you wanted to see. And 'Batman Begins' was what I wanted to see.

Planning a career, I always find a tricky thing, because I don't have much of a plan, really.

For me, I think the harder the shoot, the more I feel like I'm enjoying myself.

I'm English. Our dentistry is not world famous. But I made sure I got moldings of my old teeth beforehand because I miss them.

'Batman' took 10 months to film, and by the time I stopped working on it, it took a long time before my English accent came out again. I was actually having to try for it.

I certainly liked performing [Patrick Bateman], but it was because he thinks he's so [bloody] cool and just the [stuff], but is really such a cheesy dork.

I don't think I'm like any of the characters I've played. They're all really far from who I am.

I become a bit of a blank page in public. And that's precisely why I like acting.

It's got to do with putting yourself in other people's shoes and seeing how far you can come to truly understand them. I like the empathy that comes from acting.