Quotes

You know, it goes without saying that things are different for people of color. I work to pay the bills, not to listen to the hype. I've been the next big thing in this business for a few years. It's funny to me when I hear it now, because I know the way it works. I'm not confused.

I'm damn near 37 years old, and I'm jumping up and down on the bed like my 10-year-old. I was a wild man. [31 January 2006 upon learning of his Oscar nomination for Hustle & Flow (2005)].

I did 19 years of supporting [roles] before I tried to take a lead.

[on why he still lives in Philadelphia] I love trees. Too much concrete in New York. Too many big people. I don't do well with big, important people...Besides until I start making money I'm strictly McDonald's.

I don't like skinny girls. A woman is supposed to have curves. I'm definitely attracted to the waves in the ocean.

[on his first role in The Cosby Show (1984)] I got on the show after begging the casting person to see me. We did the episode, I told all my friends it was coming on, and then they cut me out at the last minute. I was furious. So the next day, I went to Mr. Cosby's dressing room and asked him why I got cut out. He didn't seem to appreciate that too much. I never got back on the show again.

My father was half-White and half-Black with sky-blue eyes and wavy hair. They called him no-nation. He hated Whites and told us to be cautious of them. And of Blacks he said, 'You can't trust them.'

[2007, on quitting smoking] The habit was a problem in my life. I always thought I was strong enough to battle it, but I guess I wasn't. I went to Dubai for a film festival recently and purchased a 7,000-pound stone lion that now sits outside my home. I put my very last cigarette underneath it.

(2008) You offend me, I will call you on it. I don't care if you're the head of a studio or a P.A. on the set. You disrespect me, you have to pay for that. You're not gonna tell me 'shut up' and I'll shut up. I've always maintained my integrity. That's more important than anything. Being able to face yourself in the mirror at the end of the day and say, 'I still see me there. I don't see a dented version of me.'

Kahlil Gibran said that madness frees us from the world's understanding of us. The best thing you can be called is crazy.

[when asked by National Public Radio's Scott Simon about the announcement that Howard would not be cast in the Iron Man (2008) sequel] It was the surprise of a lifetime. There was no explanation. The contract just ... up and vanished. I read something in the trades that implicated it was about money or something, but apparently the contracts that we write and sign aren't worth the paper that they're printed on, sometimes. Promises aren't kept, and good faith negotiations aren't always held up.

If evolution works, why are monkeys still around?

[asked about the worst thing he has witnessed] The worst thing I witnessed was Iron Man (2008) killing my career. Or trying to. They tried to.

If one times one equals one that means that two is of no value because one times itself has no effect. One times one equals two because the square root of four is two, so what's the square root of two? Should be one, but we're told it's two, and that cannot be.