Paul Giamatti quotes:

I was the youngest child and got a lot more freedom than my brother and sister. I used to wander, doing my own thing under the radar, but I didn't get in bad, bad trouble.

Academia is a rarified culture, especially an Ivy League academic background.

I get tired of myself pretty fast.

It is because my dad died suddenly that I became an actor. I thought, I'm going to make money doing this thing I enjoy.

You are absolutely free to describe me as a turtle or something.

Come on, man.... Hemingway, Sexton, Plath, Woolf. You can't kill yourself before you're even published.

Lead roles are fun, but I'm especially happy other, more colorful supporting stuff has come along.

As an actor, to have achieved financial stability is amazing. But I always have this weird fear that I'm not going to get any more work; it's about not having enough money.

I suppose there must be some way in which I'm compelled to show some side of myself - or of people - that's paranoid and fraught and beleaguered and downtrodden, just as Tom Cruise wants to show that he's terrifyingly upbeat and terrifyingly heroic all the time.

I definitely had a top-notch education.

I don't think film actors need training, really.

Somehow whatever I play ends up being sleazy.

I think I have a tendency to overwork things. I have a hard time finding that sweet spot that most actors seem to be able to hit where they're doing the exact right amount of work, not overthinking, not underdoing it. I seem to either overdo it or underdo it.

I learned how to fire a sniper rifle, which I'm sure will be useful at some point.

Acting can be a really silly thing. It's like playing dress-up.

This whole business feels kind of intense, like a bad fit. Round peg, square hole. But whatever, I'll take it.

I don't consider myself a very interesting person. I have the mentality of a supporting actor.

The supporting thing can be harder to pop in and out of. The hardest thing is the people who have to come in and play, say, the bartender for a day - that's a lot harder than playing the lead role. You have to pop in and get it right. It's a lot of pressure to just pop in there and fit in and find your footing really fast.

I don't mind being stereotyped in some way and playing certain kinds of guys, but if I can find something to occasionally get a break from that, that would be nice. And I feel like I manage to.

It'd be disingenuous to say I don't like attention - I'm an actor for God's sake - and it's flattering and all, but attention was never my big goal. I just like to work and have a good time.

I have the mentality of a supporting actor.

I like playing weird, kind of shady people.

Maybe it's because I have too much pride or self-respect, but I thought, `Why does a guy who has thinning hair and who is overweight have to be a loser or a joke?'

I like to work - I probably work too much.

I've got to be the geekiest guy in the world in a lot of ways. I'm like a zeta male.

I'd like to have permanent time off, really. The goal is financial security and permanent time off, basically.

Well, you know, when people say stuff about you, it's always really flattering. But does it mean anything to me? It's not really real to me; there's no reality to it.

And I asked my mother 'can I touch the lady in the water? And she said yes I could, but I had to touch Mommy first. And then I asked, 'Mom, can I date the lady in the water?' and she said smiling 'sure, but you gotta date me first.' And yesterday I said 'Mom, may I marry the lady in the water?' and she said o.k., but you'll have to marry me first.

I always would be happy to make a character even more unlikable, but you know, there's a limit and if you go there, you get into a very different kind of movie, man.

I definitely have a tendency to only see the blemishes of things, and see lots of things about my acting that I don't like.

I don't mind talking about acting. I don't have anything interesting to say about it, but it's interesting talking about it.

I don't think I gave a good enough performance to be nominated for it. I thought I gave a fine performance, but those things are supposed to be about giving an extraordinary performance.

I feel like in a lot of ways I've gotten kind of soft as an actor, not doing stage stuff. In terms of being a better actor, it's really important.

I get a fair amount of time between projects, which is great. It takes me awhile to start getting nervous about getting another job again. I don't mind having a lot of down time. I'm pretty lazy. So I really don't mind it. But I'm lucky; I work fairly steadily. I'm lucky that I've managed to do that.

I get tired of myself pretty fast. So I can't imagine other people don't get tired of me.

I have a son who's been raised Jewish because his mom is Jewish. I have a whole different set of holidays to celebrate. Everybody is thrown together with their family in such an intense way, opening all of that stuff again. You're cooped up with everybody and forced to exist with them, and you're forced to try to relate to them in this way that's more open. I guess that just doesn't work for a lot of people.

I married a Jewish lady, and we're raising our son Jewish, and since I'm not Jewish the whole thing is just a mystery to me. I leave it to her, actually, because it's just a great mystery.

I mean, I'm not going to play the hero of something.

I never thought I would have any particular career in movies at all.

I still want to be the guy who can get on the subway and check out the freak on the subway.

I think that deep down all I have been looking for is to be accepted and liked by as many people as possible.

I wouldn't say that I'm aggressive in going out to find work and stuff like that. I just sort of, if something comes along, and it's something I like, and they want to hire me, I'll do it. I won't just do anything.

I'm clearly not Brad Pitt, and I'm never going to be Brad Pitt.

I'm not a big wine guy. And bars, I never go to bars anymore. It's such a drag, man.

My definition of likeable may be different from other people's. That's not traditional likeable. Sympathy is a different thing [to define it].

The broad comedy thing is really hard to do on film.

I've very critical of myself, and film has been an adjustment for me.