Quotes from Christoph Waltz

The fact that Facebook presents facial recognition programmes as a desirable development, well, that in itself is a decisive step toward fascism, as far as I'm concerned.

It would be completely laughable if I claimed I was always motivated by the pure craft of acting and that recognition doesn't play a part. Of course it does - that's human nature.

By looking into more details of American history, we can make more sense of what's happening today.

You know, I don't talk about the characters that I play. Years ago, I was a little timid about it and I kind of squirmed when I was asked, 'Could you tell us something about your character.' Now with a little self-confidence that comes with the grey beard, I just flatly refuse.

There are plenty of people over there who understand the difference. And there are plenty of people over here who understand the difference. It's still one world and it has been for a long time.

Something that is very special today might not be special tomorrow, but to hold it, to grasp it, to keep it, to make it special, to elevate it from the ordinary, that's when you open up the champagne. To make it sparkle.

I'm trying to be very aware of not repeating myself.

I'm very bad with improvisation. I hate it.

Facts can be so misleading, where rumors, true or false, are often revealing.

I go with the most interesting thing that comes my way,I don't expect it to come from India to tell you the truth, but if it did, fine by me.

I used to hate exposure situations. What is generally referred to as 'red carpet.'

It's not the number of trucks parked outside that make a movie interesting but if you have more money, you have more time. More time enables you to try out other possibilities or follow an interesting lead. I don't like indulgence, but to have more possibilities is always more interesting.

Stephen Sondheim I am in awe of.

I am almost neurotically private myself. Because I think it's an important distinction to make between privacy and public sphere.

When a new book comes out or becomes accessible in whatever form, I get it and I read it.

I wouldn't really, realistically speaking, know the difference between wearing an S.S. uniform and a U.S. Marine uniform. To me it's all a uniform.

Our hubris needs to be downsized, thinking that profiteering on Earth, on whatever level - environmentally, economically, culturally - is unlimited and everybody should get as much as he wants or she wants. Humans need to be shrunk again to their actual size.

You get hit over the knuckles enough, you don't stick them out anymore.

You can't always do the extraordinary, in between you have to do the ordinary. Because if you didn't, what would constitute the extraordinary?

I think in Europe, movies are made like a commodity and then sold as art.

The actor is there to translate what's on the page onto the stage or the screen. So I find it important that an actor manages to actually get out of the way, vanish as a person behind the character, never to be seen or talked about again. That's my philosophy.

I've always been able to work as an actor and support my family and did great jobs, and more often than not, I got to turn down jobs that I didn't really want to do for various reasons or refuse to work with people I didn't like - and there are quite a few.

A James Bond film can be artistically fulfilling. Absolutely it can. It can be complex, and it can be interesting. I consider Bond movies to be an extension of popular theatre, a kind of modern mythology. You see the same sort of action in 'Punch and Judy' or in the folk theatre of various cultures, like 'Grand Guignol.'

It's a misconception that you don't have seasons in southern California. They are just very subtle. The vegetation is very different. Plants react differently. You just have to be a little more observant.