Peter Dinklage quotes:

My mother was an elementary school teacher for 35 years and taught at the Nixon School in New Jersey. I was raised as a very liberal Democrat, and she was protesting Nixon when he was in office.

I was once part of a Christmas cabaret. I sang 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.' I tap-danced. I had a ten-gallon hat. It was quite absurd.

I have a friend - not a dwarf - who's an alchemist of sorts. He concocted a men's cologne... He gave me a bottle as a gift. I was thinking we should totally put this on the market. You know how Jessica Simpson and Beyonce have signature perfumes and make a mint? I'm thinking this cologne could be my ticket to fortune.

Each year, billions of animals are subjected to cruelty on factory farms, feed lots, and slaughterhouses. The brutality that these animals endure would be grounds for felony cruelty charges if inflicted upon our cats and dogs.

Lassie' was amazing. I didn't have any scenes with humans. There's a couple little bits, here or there, but mainly just me and my horse and a couple of dogs in the Isle of Man.

I have a need to always make people laugh. I have a desperate need. I love a great sense of humor. The people I sort of surround myself with have that.

I spend my nights just sitting and reading a book and drinking my tea and walking my dog. That's about as exciting as my life gets.

I dress and eat like a fifth-grader, basically. I like sandwiches and cereal and hooded sweatshirts.

Maybe everyone is a little too reassuring that things are going to be OK to college graduates. It gives them a false sort of security.

I knew David Benioff a bit socially. I knew his wife, Amanda Peet. He's a smart guy, so I always sought him out at dinner parties.

We, as Americans, at least - I mean, I love my country - but we're so self-righteous sometimes, in terms of, like, our nationality, our country. But we're people from somewhere else; the true 'Americans' are the original peoples. It's funny, but we're a very territorial species.

When people are infected by my charm, they don't see my size. My piercing deep blue eyes are distracting.

It was hard doing scenes with Bobby Cannavale because I would break up laughing because he's so funny.

There's a thing at the Museum of Natural History in New York, where I live: they have a stairwell where you follow the beginning and the course of this planet, and it's a very long stairwell, and you follow, and you follow, and then you reach the top, and we're, like, half a step on the stairwell - the timeline for us on this planet.

I think my mom drove by a nuclear power plant when she was pregnant. But I wouldn't be in 'The Station Agent' if she hadn't.

I just don't like boring myself. That's one of the main reasons I did 'Ice Age' - because I'd never done something like this before.

I don't like people being cautious and tentative and choosing their words carefully around me because I'm a dwarf.

Animals used for food are treated like unfeeling machinery.

Friends don't care about issues like dwarf tossing.

Game of Thrones' fans are the nicest people ever, but a thousand nice people coming at me gives me claustrophobia.

My family had a habit of collecting creatures that didn't always want to be pets. The first animal I can remember was a Lab named Zoe.

I'm on 'Game Of Thrones,' and every time we have someone new coming on our show, we welcome them with open arms and get revitalised by this new presence. Then we kill them off very quickly.

I don't socialize. I'm kind of a hermit. The life of an actor can be very lonely.

My brother, who's a violinist now, was the real ham, the real performer of the family. His passion for the violin is the only thing that kept him from being an actor.

Women respond to comfort and a sense of humor. I was always able to make them laugh, so that helps a lot.

I feel like life is much greater than a hero or a villain: there's good people that sometimes make mistakes.

Even 'Lord of the Rings' had dwarf-tossing jokes in it. It's like, 'Really?'

I think successful movies that are based on books are their own thing. I think if you're too faithful, word by word, character trait to character trait, it can hurt the movie.

I think 'No' is a very powerful word in our business that is very hard to use early on in your career. But I also think I was pretty arrogant when I was younger... I used that word maybe too much, but it did help me with finding roles that I did like.

I'm always attracted to anti-hero roles.

It's amazing what they can do with animation nowadays. It's really beautiful. The 3D stuff is out of hand.

You want your privacy as a human being.

I love working with the same actors repeatedly. That happens a lot. It's kind of inevitable, especially if you work with the same writers and directors and you start to form a company of actors. You gravitate towards each other.

Every person my size has a different life, a different history. Different ways of dealing with it. Just because I'm seemingly O.K. with it, I can't preach how to be O.K. with it. I don't think I still am O.K. with it. There's days when I'm not.

Jen Lawrence is quite a fan of 'Game of Thrones.'

Game of Thrones' is an amazing show, and I have no problem speaking of the virtues of HBO.

I do not fault anyone else who makes choices to play characters that they wished they hadn't... Because at the end of the day, none of us are happy with our jobs all the time.

I was opposed to doing TV for a long time because I thought the quality of writing wasn't very strong, as opposed to film, but there's been a shift in term of the quality of scripts. HBO has attracted a tremendous amount of great writing talent.

It is hard working with animals, I've got to say.

I think a lot of great male comic actors are introspective, quiet personalities, which I really admire. But they are really able to turn it up when the camera's on.

So I won't say I'm lucky. I'm fortunate enough to find or attract very talented people. For some reason I found them, and they found me.

I've been to Sundance before, but I'd never seen a lot of screenings.

I was a sullen kid who smoked cigarettes and wore black every day, and I went to a school that was lacrosse players and Izods.

I feel as much of a stud as... I can't come up with a metaphor. That's how lacking in studliness I am.

It's a shame how a lot of actors use theater as a stepping stone to film and television work; I think it shouldn't be treated that way. Maybe it's narcissism or something. I think we should always go back to it. I try and do a play a year, and I think that's really helped me.

What I really want is to play the romantic lead and get the girl.

I like playing the guy on the sidelines. They have more fun.

I never lived in an abandoned railroad station.

Anything that opens up people's perceptions a bit is good.

Any swagger is just defense. When you're reminded so much of who you are by people - not a fame thing, but with my size, constantly, growing up - you just either curl up in a corner in the dark or you wear it proudly, like armor or something. You can turn it on its head and use it yourself before anybody else gets a chance.

Bad guys are complicated characters. It's always fun to play them. You get away with a lot more. You don't have a heroic code you have to live by.

I should call people back more readily. I'm not the best friend sometimes in terms of that. I do follow that white balloon and get distracted a lot.

My favourite superhero? I have a soft spot for Batman, because he doesn't have any super powers - he's just a person. And he's pretty dark.

Writing is getting killed by too many chefs. Back in the Bogart days, it started with great scripts. You had a writer, and he wrote a script, and that was your movie. I think that's been watered down a bit lately.

I like animals, all animals. I wouldn't hurt a cat or a dog - or a chicken or a cow. And I wouldn't ask someone else to hurt them for me. That's why I'm a vegetarian.

Call me a midget, but just be real. I am all for correct terms, but please don't tiptoe around feelings. Don't be too careful, because that shuts you off from people.

I'm not going to play my violin, but with my dwarfism, I'm a bit of a mutant.

You'd be surprised how condescending people can be.

There are a lot of directors out there who are very specific, visual craftsmen, and while I have the utmost respect for that, they don't really communicate with the actors.

Women on the whole are often not as shallow as men are. They can be, but they cut through things a little more easily than men do in terms of that superficial stuff.

I think more money can be very detrimental to movies and TV because things get solved economically rather than creatively, and that's never a good solution.

I have a friend who says, 'The world doesn't need another angry dwarf!'

A lot of parts written for people of my size, dwarfs, are either foolish idiots or, like, these sages that are all-knowing, and they're very, sort of, come-to-them-for-answers.

We're not environmentally doing very good things to this planet, and we might not be around too long.

Sometimes, when the material is really good, you put expectations on yourself to make it the best possible show. You're not just serving up the regular hash and doing your job and going home.

I would love to play Richard III.

I was fortunate enough to have an upbringing that made me more accepting of who I am.

Sometimes on sets, I shut down, try to focus.

I think everybody goes through changes, and the same should be said for fictional characters, especially ones that you follow on television.

I guess the word to call me is my name, Pete.

I like the busted-nose look. I think it's a good look for me.

A lot of directors straight out of film school are very technically minded, but they don't have an understanding of actors or how to talk to them.

[on his dwarfism] When I was younger, definitely, I let it get to me. As an adolescent, I was bitter and angry and I definitely put up these walls. But the older you get, you realize you just have to have a sense of humour. You just know that it's not your problem. It's theirs.

Animals on factory farms all face pain and fear, just like the animals we share our homes with, yet are repeatedly abused in shocking ways.

Any swagger is just defense. When youre reminded so much of who you are by people - not a fame thing, but with my size, constantly, growing up - you just either curl up in a corner in the dark or you wear it proudly, like armor or something. You can turn it on its head and use it yourself before anybody else gets a chance.

Being on television, playing the same character for many years, for me, I think that would get a little tedious.

Call me Elf......one more time!

George Martin is an incredible writer.

I hate that word - 'lucky' ...

I love animals. All animals. I wouldn't hurt a cat or a dog â?? or a chicken, or a cow. And I wouldn't ask someone else to hurt them for me. That's why I'm a vegetarian.

I think if actors are successful at one thing, they paint themselves into a corner sometimes, and what's the fun in that?

I waited a long time out in the world before I gave myself permission to fail. Please don't even bother asking. Don't bother telling the world you are ready. Show it. Do it.

Saying I was lucky negates the hard work I put in and spits on that guy who's freezing his ass off back in Brooklyn.

That's one of the things about theater vs. film - with theater, actors have a little more control, and one of the disappointing things about films is that once you're done shooting, anything can happen, you know?

You can say no. You can not be the object of ridicule.