When you act in a film, you're inevitably surrounded by people you didn't choose, right down to the set painter. I like being able to pick the family I'm waking up to in the morning that's going to make this group effort to tell a story that applies to what's interesting to me at that stage in my life.

Sean Penn

There's a lot of mediocrity being celebrated, and a lot of wonderful stuff being ignored or discouraged.

Sean Penn

I had a house burn down once, and everything in life burned, except my family, and it was so liberating. I didn't have a bad moment about it. It sort of reinvigorated my interest in a lot of things.

Sean Penn

We've let the blade of our innocence dull over time, and it's only in innocence that you find any kind of magic, any kind of courage.

Sean Penn

That on a romantic level, if you feel it about somebody and it's pure, it means that they do too.

Sean Penn

Anger can be a problem, but it has tremendous potential, too. It's just figuring out what to do with it.

Sean Penn

I'm a huge Woody Allen fan. Good movie, bad movie, it doesn't matter - I just like his movies.

Sean Penn

Selling a movie feels like a hustle to every bone in my body. Many actors have careers dominated by modeling. They're all over the place. It turns me off. People who are good at what they do ought to practice something bigger.

Sean Penn

When I was growing up and somebody like Robert De Niro had a movie come out, it was a cultural event. Because he had such a confidence and a single mission that was so intimate.

Sean Penn

I just want real creative freedom without worrying about, you know, car payments.

Sean Penn

I love acting, truly my favorite people are actors.

Sean Penn

It has nothing to do with the emotional demands of a role; I've done comedies that are as draining to me as any drama.

Sean Penn

When you act in a film, you're inevitably surrounded by people you didn't choose, right down to the set painter. I like being able to pick the family I'm waking up to in the morning that's going to make this group effort to tell a story that applies to what's interesting to me at that stage in my life.

Sean Penn

At this stage, what would be rewarding would be for audiences to want to watch.

Sean Penn

Somewhere along the line, the actions of this government are the actions of me.

Sean Penn

I've never really been one to get what they call stage fright so much.

Sean Penn

So if we have anything original to offer, it's to speak from our own life about the society we're in.

Sean Penn

I can always see light in any situation. It's just the way I'm made.

Sean Penn

I am a Justin Timberlake fan.

Sean Penn

I choose movies that I think will speak to what's important.

Sean Penn

The thing that's very close in the process is writing and acting, not directing. Directing's very different.

Sean Penn