Ethan Hawke Quotes

I'd be lying if I said I had confidence in every choice I've made, that I have faith in every film I do on every shot.

To get to be somebody who gets to love what they do for a living, that's so rare, and so there must be some kind of price you have to pay.

I feel like everyone I meet is an imaginary friend. I don't know. The older I get the more I wonder what's real.

I've turned down good directors before because I knew the part didn't speak to me and I've worked with less talented directors before because the part I had such passion for.

The constant buzz and pressure and noise and static of the Internet, and the way it makes young people feel makes it difficult to grow up and develop the way one might want to.

It's so hard for every young person, trying to figure out the adult you want to be.

I believe in the healing restorative power of art and communication. And so that's probably my rule. But that doesn't apply to bedtimes. And stuff like that.

Your development as a person should coincide with your development in all aspects of your life.

Sometimes people, their creative drive comes from an energy to try to heal themselves.

People are conditioned to just you know, like, you know we're like little birdies going to the bird feeder you know, or the little cows going to the salt lick. We just like what we've seen before.

Sometimes people save the best part of themselves for their art.

I can't tell you how many times in the '90s I'd meet somebody, we'd be having a nice time, and they'd sigh and go, 'This is exactly like Before Sunrise.' And I'd have to get up and leave.

'Brooklyn's Finest,' this is the kind of movie that's why I want to be an actor, to tell real-life stories. This is where I feel my job is, to interpret life.

I always felt that a marriage works best at a farm... where you're together and everybody has clear-cut roles; they have chores, 'you take care of this' and you know. But it's hard.

If I do three movies in a year, I don't feel like acting ever again.

It is very difficult for any couple who are married if both people are ambitious. I don't know if it's just too hard to be married to a woman that wants to be a movie star.

I think having nature be a part of people's lives helps all of us see ourselves as part of something larger.

I've always watched actors on the red carpet getting drunk and making idiots of themselves and now I'm happy to join their ranks

Right now, if you're interested in being a dramatic actor, they're not making that many just regular dramas. Movies have to have some other thing going on.

It's difficult to make any kind of action movie that might be unique or worth watching.

I think that if you walk through this life and I end up being a bad father, then it won't matter anything else I achieved in my life. It will all be irrelevant.

All that stuff with the tabloids is a kind of luxury tax I pay for all the good things I do in my life.

Few years ago I did a movie, Good Kill, about drone pilots and for four or five months I'm obsessed with the Air Force.

My process differs... my process for a Richard Linklater film is very different than a process for Training Day.

One of the hardest things about my job is that there kind of is no one rulebook that applies to all situations.

When you make a movie with Alejandro Amenábar, he very quickly... it was very clear you're kind of operating in his dream universe.

If you can understand the inner life, then you can wear the uniform, the tattoos, or whatnot and realize that the things that are different about us become superficial.

And the best films feel like a fist punching you in the solar plexus and all elements of the filmmaking process - the acting, the design, the cinematography, the music, is all working to one end.

There's only so often you're going to have an opportunity to contribute at a high level and that you should be grateful whenever one presents itself and not take it lightly.

It's a really unique job that is a little schizophrenic and you have to kind of do it with a sense of humor.The trick is figuring out what each job is asking of you and what it's not asking of you.

Most of us float with the river and there are a few people who move the river. Robert DeNiro is definitely one of them.

Often you see a famous actor who says they produced something, when all they did was claim to have an idea at a dinner party and make three phone calls.

In truth, the world is a complicated place.

Right now the only people I can really fall in love with are people who don't really, truly want me around. Now why do I do that?

I don't think Emma Watson needs any advice. She's an incredibly smart young woman who knows what she wants out of life and she has some great parents.

It's certainly an interesting moment to try to talk about, 'cause you could make a great show about the police force right now, with all that's happening in the news and Ferguson and all of it.

My favorite stories are human, so I'm always looking for...

I'm always trying to look for how I can find human stories that aren't just dramas.

Set designers, costume designers, actors, writers, music, that's what is beautiful.

Time is so much a part of what makes you close to people.

I started acting when I was 13 years old and I feel like I really admire actors who are these kind of amazing shape-changing people, that they almost can turn themselves into other people.

The only thing I can point to of why I survived is I have a family that loves me and never wanted any money from me.

You can't keep wanting to be 20 years old. Everybody knows that, but what's in the next room?

The girls who like me aren't the ones I like. Or, if I do and they want to commit, I suddenly need tons of time with my friends.

At every turn, when humanity is asked the question, 'Do you want temporary economic gain or long-term environmental loss, which one do you prefer,' we invariably choose the money.

The writing process was some of the most exciting and rewarding moments of my life. It felt a lot like being in a band.

Sometimes in the life of an actor you're not getting offered any jobs that speak to you. The trouble with acting is that you're only as good as your opportunities.

I've always been drawn to the best writing that I can find. I don't care if it's in movies or theater or whatever - if you want to be in front of an audience, you have to do writing you believe in.

My relationship to reality has been so utterly skewed for so long that I don't even notice it any more. It's just my reality.

It's always a unique challenge when you're working with somebody where English is their second language.