Quotes from Ed Harris

Seeing what happens when you rip yourself open is what your job is all about.

I'm not an activist per se, but I have strong feelings about things. People can jump on celebrities for being ill-informed or naive, but I've got a right to say what I believe.

You can't betray yourself too often, or you become somebody else.

I hope to direct a few more films before I leave the planet, so I hope I can find the material.

In the past 10 years, I've looked at life as this Pollock stuff. And now I'm almost in the post Pollock phase.

For The Truman Show, I worked for a few weeks, do my gig, then I was done.

If I'm daring at all, I guess it would be emotionally. I try to keep things interesting for myself and to do things that challenge me.

I made career decisions that came from the part of me who wanted to shun the limelight.

I was born in 1950, so there were tons of Westerns on TV by the time I was 6, 7, 8 years old. In terms of television, 'Maverick' and 'Have Gun - Will Travel.' But filmically, classics like 'High Noon' and 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance' - that's one of my favorite films.

You can mostly forget ethnic or religious differences. The competition for a bigger share of the oil proceeds is behind much of the fighting.

When I decided to direct, never having done that before, is something I'm very proud of.

I haven't directed a film since 'Appaloosa,' and I've been looking for something because I love the directing thing.

I feel like my place in this industry is still progressing.

I love this country very much, and I'm proud to live here, but I think our current administration is extreme. These are not merely conservative people, these are extreme right-wing people.

I think most families have a few secrets or some strange aspect to their history. We're all fascinated by family dynamics, but I'd much rather sit in an audience and watch someone else's problems!

A lot of films come out before they're finished.

One of the first things I learned about acting was, the only person you compete against is yourself.

I was concerned about filling my life up with something important to me. To me, it was just necessary

You get three hours' sleep and then you start all over again. Relentless. Pre-production was almost harder than filming. I was all over the city every day. It was really exhausting.

When Bush first got elected, the very first time there was talk of going to war with Iraq, the mainstream media gave his position total credibility. I didn't get it then, and I don't get it now

I had some really dear friends who died from AIDS-one in particular. His family wasn't around and he didn't have many friends. I spent a lot of time with him in his later days.

If I started worrying about how my constituents are going to react to every move I make, I wouldn't be able to do my job here. I'll do what I think is right and explain it later.

There's, what, 300 films at the Telluride or Toronto or something. How many are those people gonna see? How many of those are actually gonna be in a theater, you know? You know, as an actor, I mean, I learned a long time ago that the fulfillment in this business is the doing of it because you can't rely on anything coming out.

I bought the rights to this book, 'The Ploughmen,' by a Montana writer named Kim Zupan, and I've written the screenplay, and I really feel pretty strong about it. It's really hauntingly beautiful. It's got some suspense and great drama, but it's a real character thing.