I want to be Lon Chaney. I want to be Karloff. I want to help people escape the mundane world. I want to make their skins crawl. And I want them to love it every bit as much as I do.

Take every job. Learn everybody's name. Show up early. Know who you are and know who you're not. Stop dreaming and start trying.

Lincoln is me. He is America. He is what makes us a great nation and a dangerous nation, all wrapped up in one man.

If someone asked for advice on being an actor I'd say "Don't. It's a hard life." And if they walked away I'd be happy to have spared them years of misery.

Lincoln could be on the moon. He's still Lincoln.

All you have to do to be a camera actor is tell the truth.

The fact that Abraham Lincoln ever, ever became President is either a freak accident of history... or destiny; God's providence to America.

Abraham Lincoln was a melancholy man, so he had a dark side that appeals to horror fans.

Abraham Lincoln is resolute, honest, has the best interest of the nation at heart, and he's as ugly as homemade Sunday sin, so he is modest, too. I'd vote for that in an undead heartbeat.

Abraham Lincoln is the guy who could never be elected today, but whom we desperately wish we could elect.

If one reads enough books one has a fighting chance. Or better, one's chances of survival increase with each book one reads.

It’s a small-town rule: Never speak ill of the dead until the estate has paid the outstanding bills.

If we don't have a vigorous questioning, aggressive journalistic community and mythology, democracy itself is in great jeopardy.

I was raised by a single psychologist mother and we spent every evening sitting at the kitchen table and dissecting our emotions and speculating about the inner life of everyone we knew.

People are hurting and angry, and they want something to be able to stand up and fight for. That's what I believe the antidote is to Trumpism.

My parents are Irish, my grandparents are Irish, my great-grandparents are Irish. I was born in England; my blood is Irish.

I know some real intellectual people who might laugh, very close friends who might laugh when I'm said to be an intellectual.

Optimum nutrition is the medicine of tomorrow.

Sleep is a prison for a boy who has friends to meet.

I've just been on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. I'll tell you what, never again.