Quotes from Kevin Spacey

I think it is just a function of the fact that I moved around so much as a child that I learnt early on to make every place my home.

Fundamentally, I like to accomplish things.

Whether it's 'Veep' or 'Homeland' or 'The West Wing' - which is a more idealised version of democracy - people are fascinated by politics.

My mother always, always, always thought that I was going to be famous. Thought that I was going to win Oscars. In fact, I believe I accepted the Oscar as a ketchup bottle many a time in front of my mother in the kitchen. 'I'd like to thank the Academy,' I said with a ketchup bottle.

President Obama will go down as having passed some of the most historic bills in the history of this country.

Partisan rancour and party politics and ideology have got in the way of compromise - and compromise is the only thing that has ever made politics successful.

The Old Vic has always been first and foremost an actors' theatre, a home for great talent and memorable performances.

When you study, as I did, every theatrical beginning in this country, none of them have been greeted well. The Royal Shakespeare Company was a disaster, Peter Hall was a disaster, Richard Eyre was a disaster, Trevor Nunn was always a disaster.

Its a really wonderful thing to focus your life on something other than your own personal career and ambition.

I felt that I shouldn't be an actor who just makes movie after movie in a quest for prestige and money.

The only real experiences I've had with therapists were the ones who were working with me and my family when my mother was ill.

I find it sad that by not talking about who I sleep with, that makes me mysterious. There was a time when I would have been called a gentleman.

I open myself up every time I walk on screen and give you everything that I am. There are parts of me that are in every movie that I've done. That to me is what my job is.

You must find a way to express your ideas and compel your audience to react through the idea itself, and then figuring out what the best representative of that idea may be, and bringing it to life.

One can never take the cynicism one comes across in life too seriously.

What I like about Britain is that I can live a normal life here.

And I certainly won't lay out areas of my life that I think are just private.

I believe this: If an actor wants a role or wants to work with somebody, then you do everything within reason to try to get that role. If they want you to audition, you audition. If they want you to screen-test, you screen-test. If they want you to come and tap-dance in their hallway, you tap-dance in their hallway.

Anytime someone can beat the acting out of someone else, I think it's a wonderful thing.

It's a great thriller or mystery, but on another level it's a film about the fact that, if you only look at a person through one lens, or only believe what you're told, you can often miss the truth that is staring you in the face.

I often make the analogy with tennis. Every match the rules are the same, but no game is ever the same. Theatre is like that. Every time is different.

People have different reasons for the way they live their lives. You cannot put everyone's reasons in the same box.

I think that there was a period of time - and I would reckon it was about 12 years - where I was just determined to see if I could build a career for myself.

The next day I was in my school's production of All My Sons. This was the performance where I realized something was happening between me and the audience that I hadn't recognized before.