Quotes from Kevin Spacey

Some politicians that I've seen have been brilliant with the public. They almost speak with the skill of an actor.

As the years have gone on, I find one of the dangers of watching dailies... is you fall in love with moments.

I think people love it when anybody acts bad; its not particular to me.

People think that direct address was invented by Ferris Bueller, but in fact, it wasn't. It was invented by Shakespeare.

No one should ever feel sorry for me. I've been treated very well for the most part.

I was on a couple of scholarships. I had a job in the school administrative office. I had a job as a hat-check boy in a restaurant. I had another job as an assistant to a casting director. It took a lot to get myself enough money to put myself through Juilliard.

Storytelling helps us understand each other, translate the issues of our times, and the tools of theater and film can be powerful in helping young people to develop communication/collaboration skills, let alone improving their own confidence.

I have long been a supporter of The Prince's Trust, and so when American Express asked me to launch 'Amex Be Inspired' and help young people build their confidence and fulfil their potential, I was delighted to get involved.

For kids growing up now, there's no difference watching 'Avatar' on an iPad or watching YouTube on TV or watching 'Game of Thrones' on their computer. It's all content. It's just story.

There are times when you do a play when you are living in the character over a two-and-a-half-hour period or longer, and you come to the end of the night, and you can feel like you were hit by a truck.

Let's let people live their lives and do it the way they want to do it.

I always thought that, in a way, you want your Superman to be a total unknown.

At the end of the day, storytelling is actually very simple in its origin as long as there are people who want to tell stories and there are people who want to hear them.

I accept the fact that some things don't go the way you hope.

Meeting the person you are going to be playing is very unique.

Francis Underwood was entirely based on Richard III. When Michael Dobbs wrote 'House of Cards' in the original British series, Richard III is what he based the character on.

No matter how good you might be in a movie, you'll never be any better. But in a play, I can be better next Tuesday. That's the thrill of it.

One of the tasks that any artistic director has is, you're trying to bring elements together that will work. The truth is that you could bring all the best talents in the world together and produce a big turkey.

Sometimes it's the crazy people who turn out to be not so crazy.

For me, coming to work every day has turned out to be exactly what I hoped it would be.

If someone can watch an entire season of a TV series in one day, doesn't that show an incredible attention span?

If you haven't turned rebel by twenty you've got no heart; if you haven't turned establishment by thirty you've got no brains!

When you're just able to distill it down to the idea and the feeling that a character is experiencing in a scene, it can become very, very razor sharp and really clean and really efficient and simple. And sometimes it takes twenty-five years to learn how to be simple.

It's so easy for us to misperceive and see the things in others that we want to see. And, when we're wrong, and often we're dead wrong, we miss the truth.