On a motorcycle, you can't really think about more than where you are. There's a freedom that comes with that - from stress, worry, sweating the small stuff.
Laurence Fishburne
In order to be the best version of yourself, you have to dedicate time, effort, and support to other people who need it.
I certainly believe that being in contact with one's spirit and nurturing one's spirit is as important as nurturing one's body and mind. We are three dimensional beings: body, mind, spirit.
It's my luck that I was born a bit of an old soul, and it's served me well.
I have this unshakeable faith. I believe in myself; I believe in God.
I have heard a lot of people talk about this grind of series television. I have not seen it yet.
We are three dimensional beings: body, mind, spirit.
I was in a movie with Marlon Brando. Now, I didn't have any scenes with Marlon Brando, but I had scenes with Martin Sheen and was around Dennis Hopper, who was a child actor in the studio system and was enamored of James Dean, as was Martin, and they were all sort of disciples of Brando.
I'm left-handed: I can think and feel at the same time. My feminine side is very highly developed.
People think my name is Morpheus. Many times, people will say to me, 'Morpheus!' and I will complete the sentence by saying, 'is not my name!'
I was a child actor but not a child star.
There's great theatre in New York City, but no New York City in theatre.
Doing theater makes you feel like a real actor.
I ain't afraid of germs, man. And I ain't afraid of getting sick.
It's nice to get the feedback from a theater audience. It's a gas.
We are our children's first teachers.
There's a lot of stuff that's not good that's touted as being good.
I'm not dyeing my hair and trying to pretend I'm 40. That's not going to work for me.
I try to stay in shape a little bit, but I don't obsess about it.
I think of myself as being a relatively intelligent man who is open to a lot of different things and I think that questioning our purpose in life and the meaning of existence is something that we all go through at some point.
Mine were informal mentors. They were all in my working life.
I really don't know that I'm iconic. I don't even know that people think I'm cool.
When I think of Othello, I think of a poet-warrior. Let me say that again - a romantic warrior. And I think I have those qualities in common with him.
Paulo Coelho's 'The Alchemist' means a lot to me.
It's a huge blessing to know you've done something that has affected people the way 'The Matrix' has. It's like, there's 'Star Wars,' and then there's 'The Matrix.' It's cool to be a part of that.
Having 50 to 60 years on the planet should give you a sense of how to master the way you look and live your life.
I learned tolerance at a very early age.
We don't really see a lot of war movies about the people that are left behind, dealing with the deaths of those who serve and the sacrifices they make.
I don't believe in acting teachers for me, so it's God's joke that he gave me a best friend who's an acting teacher.
I always want to read the script and know everything and at least understand the context of the world that you're in and why you're there and all that stuff. It's good to know something. I like to know, but I've never been one of these, 'Just show me my stuff,' no, I like to know what the whole picture is so I can understand how I fit into it.
Special effects are characters. Special effects are essential elements. Just because you can't see them doesn't mean they aren't there.
As an actor, Coppola trained me. That was my training ground.
I didn't have much of a childhood, but that's O.K. I have a livelihood.
I can't remember a picture that has expressed black attitudes and personal relationships as vividly as we've done in 'Cadence.'
It's funny, a lot of people think I take myself seriously because I come off so serious sometimes. But it's not that I take myself seriously, I take what I do seriously.
As a movie star, you get good tables at restaurants.
I didn't want to be a big star. I wanted to be a really good actor.
My vocation is I do what I do. I'm an actor; that's what I do.
I've played a lot of bad guys, 'cause that was the only work I could get. People saw my face and went 'oooh'.
If you're playing a real person, then you want to do a certain amount of research, but that's only going to be so useful to you. Each role requires a different kind of approach to get ready.
I actually had the opportunity to stand at the lectern in the Supreme Court and face the justices, which was really a powerful thing for me.
Acting and philanthropy are braided together. I've tried to seek out things that speak not just specifically to the community that created me, but that speak in a way that's universal and all of humanity celebrates.
I certainly believe that being in contact with one's spirit and nurturing one's spirit is as important as nurturing one's body and mind.
I have taken care of my gift, and because I've taken care of my gift, I feel like I've been continually and constantly blessed to get to do wonderful things.
As a man of colour, I've spent my life asking people to see me for who I am. With Obama in the White House, it feels like people have finally caught up to where I've been most of my life.
I carry a lot of feminine energy as well as masculine energy, and that's the hit that people are getting. That vulnerable thing is not what we assume with black males. You get it, and then they cease to become scary. They become human. You cease to have a bogeyman.
If you asked someone who was a Maori about how they felt about how they were treated in Australia or New Zealand, you'll get an answer. They'll have something to tell you. And you might not like what you hear.
I think everyone is very surprised at how 'Matrix' has become the pop culture phenomenon that it is.
I play characters. I don't think I really have a persona per se. I don't play the same guy every time. I show up, you don't know what I'm gonna do. I like it that way. I've intentionally tried to do it that way. I think that's what's interesting.
'Apocalypse Now' was my craziest experience ever. I was 14 years old, and I'd lied about my age to get the role. I haven't had another film top it.
