Sean Penn Quotes

I think if you want good things to happen for a country like Haiti, then you need to provide the circumstances where the Haitians can do that.

Fulfilling what you start is why you start something.

The one thing you can count on in Hollywood - across the board - is cowardice.

That was madness. You're never going to bring one of those down with a handgun.

I don't see life as an opportunity to see how far you can go in the pursuit of pain, although I think I've challenged it a bit.

When I was growing up and somebody like Robert De Niro had a movie come out, it was a cultural event. Because he had such a confidence and a single mission that was so intimate.

I'm a huge Woody Allen fan. Good movie, bad movie, it doesn't matter - I just like his movies.

Yeah, I had actually tried to stop acting before I made Dead Man Walking.

I have a regret that the entire discussion [with El Chapo]... ignores its purpose, which was to try to contribute to this discussion about the policy in the War on Drugs.

I lost a friend I was blessed to have. My thoughts are with the family of President Chavez and the people of Venezuela.

You're always having to live more to fuel something new. It's an obligation to yourself and to the audience. The personal baggage that comes with being a known actor just adds to that struggle.

I'll tell you what I probably would prefer to happen less and less: actors that I know and respect in shampoo ads. Or modeling.

Well, I think that when you direct a movie or write it. And in the case of the two movies I did, I wrote and directed, they occupy a special place for you.

I think that people like the Howard Sterns, the Bill O'Reillys and to a lesser degree the bin Ladens of the world are making a horrible contribution.

I can always see light in any situation. It's just the way I'm made.

What happens is things come to you - director, script - and if you respond to it, it's because it's tapping into some part of what's inside you, and different roles tap into different parts.

I've been a road-rat since I got my driver's licence at 16, so I've probably gone across America 20 times.

Haiti, like any place, has its security problems; it has a great challenge in terms of establishing a kind of globally acceptable rule of law.

The major studios are by and large banks, and they give you what is by and large a loan to make a movie. Like banks, they want their money back plus.

Marriage ain't easy, but it's great most of the time.

The thing that's very close in the process is writing and acting, not directing. Directing's very different.

At this stage, what would be rewarding would be for audiences to want to watch.

There is a kind of sense of truth and reconciliation that is non-formalized, but it's understood and accepted. Haitians are Haitians and there is an inherent loyalty that forgives an awful lot.

Haiti kind of gets a hold of you.

On any movie I'm involved with, I say what I think.

The first instinct is love.

In between, I go broke because I seem to do movies where you're not paid a lot as an actor.

You tolerate me. You really tolerate me!

There is no re-inventing the wheel.

I don't see myself as a different guy than I was ten years ago. I don't have aspirations to be. It's really about where you're putting your energies. That's changing a lot.

You try to do your best at what you're getting paid for.

I don't want to lie, play games, hurt somebody, or get hurt. You can only go forward in one direction.

I just want real creative freedom without worrying about, you know, car payments.

Anger can be a problem, but it has tremendous potential, too. It's just figuring out what to do with it.

We've let the blade of our innocence dull over time, and it's only in innocence that you find any kind of magic, any kind of courage.

There is a strength of character in the people who have, by and large, never experienced comfort.