Matt Dillon quotes:

I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve. I've had my share of mood swings, believe me. But it's a powerful thing when you realize that you have dominion over your behavior and your passions.

It's important to air your concerns and fears with someone you trust. When you're honest about how you can change and grow, and where your weaknesses are, then you open the door for improvement and change.

The first music I was ever exposed to was Irish folk music, like the Clancy Brothers. My father plays that and Christmas songs.

One of my greatest fears is not being able to change, to be caught in a never-ending cycle of sameness. Growth is so important.

What's really great about Buddhism is its rational, informal quality. Coming from my experience of growing up a Catholic, I found Buddhism to be refreshingly easygoing and forgiving.

When I was twenty-two it was a lot harder to get hurt by women. It was easier for me to, you know, cheat on a girlfriend. I can't lie like that anymore.

I sometimes think love is God's way of hoodwinking people into having kids. You fall in love, and all that passion goes into procreating and wanting children.

I'm drawn to women who live in a world different from my own. I don't believe you have to marry someone from your own backyard. James Joyce married a woman who never read any of his books.

I used to make fun of the kids in school who acted or went to dance class.

One of my biggest fears is not being able to break out of a rut; of becoming a prisoner to my ways, unable to change course. But in my mid-thirties, I learned you can change your thinking.

People get really nuts around cars. They get angry at cars, they get angry at their car, they get angry at people driving in cars; there's something really comical about that, about automobiles.

Sunsets are great. Sunrises are a mixed bag. You either got up way too early or went to bed way too late.

It was being young and sensitive and an actor. There was a lot of pressure, everything was a hurdle.

I don't know why, but audiences are often sympathetic to thieves. Sometimes they are more sympathetic to thieves then they are to earnest people. What does that say about society?

I'm ambitious. I do think you have a tendency to be less happy sometimes when you're a seeker. You can be disenchanted because you're not getting what you want, and you're always striving and looking ahead instead of just being in the moment.

There were six kids in our family, and I grew up fast. I had to do a lot of things on my own. I was a rebellious teenager. That's why coming into the film business was good for me because it gave me some discipline. Once I became an actor, I had to grow up a little more.

I think playing somebody who's schizophrenic is such a lesson as an actor. It gets you totally out of your comfort zone, because you can't rely on your technique, your external stuff. You've really gotta look inward, in a way.

I only hear my own voice. When you start hearing other voices, then it's time to worry.

A lot of people say I've missed out on a lot because I started acting at such a young age. What's so obvious to me is that I actually was really lucky. I gained a lot and I got a head start in what I wanted to do in life. A lot of people in their late 20s, early 30s are just beginning to figure out where they want to go.

Those are the kinds of roles you can really sink your teeth into. Characters with an edge. When you're playing someone who's sort of seedy, there's less limitation, there's so much space you can travel. There's room to move in.

To be honest with you, there's nothing that bores me more than sitting around with a bunch of actors talking shop. I love actors and I've got friends that are actors. They're interesting people. But for some reason, usually when it comes round to talking shop, there's a part of me that doesn't like it.

These are people who haven't gone through the legal means to becoming citizens like our forefathers did. They want all the benefits but none of the responsibilities.

That's the great thing about being an actor, you know, you can just jump to different jobs.

Actors don't generally go asking other actors for advice too much, but I'll take suggestions wherever I can.

The worst thing I could be accused of is that I'm a one-way dude, only out for myself. But the worst thing a woman can do is not to say anything. Especially when you're starting a relationship.

It's a pretty good job being an actor, but it's work sometimes. And when I say work, I mean it's a job. You're going to a job.

Looks aren't a big thing to me. I keep reading these articles in fan magazines about me, and I don't even know who they're talking about. It's boring.

I like doing comedy, I like doing drama. Naturally I like to do, I like doing dramas, I like conflict, and when I do a comedy, you know, I've found that, like, romantic comedy is the trickiest one, because often it's neither: it's not romantic and it's not funny. So, like, I like a comedy that's biting. It's biting humor or really quirky humor.

One of the things I've learned over the years is that you only do what you can do as an actor. You do the best job you can, but you have no control over so many elements that are going to determine the outcome of that film. I never pay attention to what happens after.

It seems to be that more and more people are asking you to work for nothing on films, and that's unfortunate because you have to make a living. On the other hand, I don't do a better job because I get paid a lot of money. I'm never like, 'I'm not going to work as hard because I'm not getting paid as much.'

I'm not the greatest boyfriend, but I'm not a creep. It's more like I'm... absent-minded.

It seems like a cliche, but you do grow up a lot faster when you travel a lot, go through things like this interview, spend time away from home and hang around with other actors. It's inevitable that you're not going to have a so-called normal childhood.

I had acting teachers, and one of the things that was encouraged was to keep it fresh, to be spontaneous. That's the magic of film often.

I like to do comedy, but I'll be perfectly honest, I prefer to do drama and more character-driven-based stuff, generally.

I grew up with the white picket fence. My dad went to work nine to five, and he had a station wagon.

The growing pains of ... being an actor, that was a little frustrating at times because you feel like you have great capacity to do many things. And yet there seems to be a misunderstanding about who you are and what you're trying to do. And that requires patience, and people eventually will understand.

Obviously all religions get corrupted by man. The initial ideas are interesting but once they get organized they seem to become about politics and other things and they get misinterpreted. . . . Have faith but do the work. Live your life right. Dont expect things to happen. Thats why Im put off by magical realism.

The great, rewarding thing about directing is that you're overseeing the whole thing. When you're an actor, you're just one department.

My driving, I've been accused of not being the best, most safest driver.

I do get bottled up in interviews. You're thinking about what you're saying, and suddenly you get all tangled. So people think I'm sullen, or that I don't have much to say. But my friends will tell you: a lot of times I talk too much.

I've always liked Southeast Asia a lot. It's a wonderful place, an easy place. People are great, there's a lot of history and culture, and I like the serenity of Buddhism there. It's very beautiful. I find that to be a very nice place to visit.

I don't worry about whether a character is likable, as long as the character is believable.

Fame is part of me and my life as an actor. I enjoy the creative aspects of my life as an actor. I enjoy directing and acting as well. But the bottom line for me is not prestige and power. It's about having an exciting, creative life.

One thing that everybody told me about directing was, 'Never compromise'. And the whole job is a compromise. So it's very paradoxical. How do you not compromise when the whole thing is about compromise?

I think anytime you can do something you haven't seen or done in a film before, it's always a great day as an actor.

I don't consider myself a Hollywood liberal, but I have my convictions and my beliefs.

I've always wanted to do action stuff. I like it. You really want something that's special; that's got something special about it and not cheesy, I guess. I'll tell you something, it's fun, it's different. Comedy is difficult. Doing comedy is very difficult. Action stuff is fun.

Love is messy. It's not something that's real clean.

Acting is very competitive. There are few good scripts out there and the ones that are good are very competitive. You look at your options and often times they're not too appealing.

As an actor, you can't be off the market for too long.

I don't hide out. If you build a wall around yourself, it draws people to invade it. Fear is the enemy.

I don't know why, but I like the saxophone.

I don't like movies where everything happens fast. I like the buildup, the obstacles, the mystery.

I don't like to give out advice. I make suggestions when I get to know somebody a little bit, but I don't know about advice.

I have always wanted to play different kinds of stuff, but it's hard, first to find good material, and then to change people's perception of you so they'll let you do it. I mean, I would really like to play a poet, but once they get this notion of you as a street guy, it's hard to change that.

I like conflict, drama's conflict and if you don't have that in the character it's really not a worthwhile role to play for me.

I look for really great characters. I say great because as long as they're really good, there's something you can do. And really good storytelling. And when people ask me what the story is, I say it's really several stories really. They're intermeshed.

I sometimes think love is God's way of hoodwinking people into having kids. You fall in love, and all that passion goes into procreating and wanting children. I've felt that need to want to raise a child. It's a creative urge. But you can express that creative urge in other ways.

I think a lot of directors, they come out of film school, they don't know anything about acting. Or they're writers that don't know anything about the process. And I think they're afraid sometimes to talk to actors and be honest with actors.

I'm not a Buddhist, or a card-carrying member of any religion.

In politics there are so many holes, so many contradictions, you don't know what's happening.

It's really nice to be able to do something that you've never done. I think that's the gift of being an actor because I get to play a cop, a racist cop and I've never done that before. It's nice to inhabit these other worlds especially when you get to work with great actors.

It's tough when you started out as young as I did to look back and see how far I've come. I try to be easy on myself and go 'Look man, you were younger, you were learning; you learn, you grow.' But I'm not my best judge. I always feel like my best work is still ahead of me.

Of course, if you're gonna make movies, you gotta make movies, and I'm not gonna say no to a good role.

Racism was just a tool to deal with frustration and pain and that people are in denial about the way we feel and desperately trying to control their environment the way their lives are. And ultimately their scapegoats aren't going to make them feel better, it's just going to increase hatred and the problem gets worse and worse.

Well I can tell you that for me generally speaking that I think things that I deal with are all to do with not accepting things, not excepting life on life's terms. My life becomes a lot easier when I'm willing to just accept. I don't have to like circumstances as they are, but I have to accept them and that's where I always seem to get thrown, when I try to will my way instead of accept things the way they are.

I know this sounds kind of crazy, but I think we're all actors.

I think the reason I've survived that long is because I've taken my work so seriously. Maybe sometimes too seriously, but it's always been important for me to do my best regardless of the film. I think the biggest compliment I get is when people on the street stop me and say they've liked the choices I've made.