Quotes

[2006, on The Departed (2006)] Working with [Martin Scorsese] is a dream come true and we're just having a ball, Just how he commands a set . . . But we are staying true to the original film. We shot in New York for a couple of months, and then we've been in Boston the last three weeks, and then we're coming back to New York through the first week of September. So it's just a nice ride right now.

Independent films are where you really get to cut your teeth and have some fun and do the things that mainstream Hollywood doesn't want to do.

Set your heights more than what you see around you, see beyond.

Be ready for when your time comes, you will have that window of opportunity, so seize the moment and capitalize on it.

Leo (Leonardo DiCaprio) couldn't deliver Mr. Martin Scorsese his Oscar with The Aviator (2004), but I will go on record to say I will do so with The Departed (2006).

I realized my family was funny, because nobody ever wanted to leave our house.

It's sort of an action flick. You can't be that funny trying to steal diamonds.

Everyone realized I was the innocent victim of a shakedown.

You can say what you want to about a rapper in a movie, but look at what Ice Cube has done. Ice Cube has created more opportunities for other actors to get jobs in this business than some actors have.

More oftentimes than not, you're automatically guilty before innocent.

Things are changing. I've been training since I was 9 years old to stretch my wings as an actor dramatically, but have never really been afforded the opportunity to show that.

If you respect the art and you have some talent about you, I'm on your team.

Comedy is second nature for me.

My choices were never wrong.

I'm not a comedian. I'm an actor who just happens to be funny on occasion.

I ain't got nothing. I've got this watch, and these shoes, and that's about it.

It's just a matter of me opening up the page and whatever is written on the page, that's what I'm here to do.

I provide a little comic relief.

I've worked with some actors who can't act.

My wife and I have always trusted each other, and I have to thank her strength.

I went to the High School for Performing Arts, and to Howard University on a talent scholarship.

Some of these guys... I've worked with Ice Cube, I think he's an immensely talented rapper and actor.

There isn't a switch that I turn on. I'm an actor. This is what I do.

You say you're a comedian, you always have to be on guard.

They gave us the freedom just to play and have fun.

Romeo Must Die (2000) was the first film that I did where I was able to just be free as an actor.

It's a remake of a film called Infernal Affairs. It's a Hong Kong film, and if we come anywhere close to what they did in the original, we're going to have a hot property on our hands, because Infernal Affairs is a great piece.

Glenn Close is a living icon. You look at the work, and I think it's wild, because she thinks some of her best work was in Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and that's what I believe, as well.

I've gotten my butt kicked by the best. Jet Li beat me up the best, but Steven Seagal can still kick a good butt. It's a different kind of kicking, though.

If they respect the craft and what we're doing and they bring something to the table and they work hard, I don't care what you do as your side job or as your day job.

Tom Arnold and I, we have a huge firefight scene on top of a German tank. I get to shoot 50 caliber rounds. We shoot a helicopter out of the sky. That's the only fight I'm in.

You take the quote from Samuel L. Jackson about how he will never work with a rapper, and I can understand where he's coming from because he says rappers can't act.

[on Stevie Wonder] What y'all don't know is, Stevie can see. It's just an act.