Quotes from Jonathan Majors

In sci-fi, the Black guys always die. So, it's extremely important to bring African-American characters to the genre and not have them killed.

I'm not a pastor. I'm not a man of the cloth, but I have my own calling.

I'm a military brat; my mother's a pastor. There's been a lot of order in my life that I don't have control over, that I just dedicate myself to.

If you can't find peace inside, you'll never be at peace.

In war, the first thing that goes, when you try to take over culture, is the statues. I think we all can recall statues with their heads cut off in museums.

I dreamed about being Michael Jordan, Michael Jordan being my dad at some points, or him helping me play basketball.

There comes a point in everybody's life where you either learn to handle things or you get handled.

If you're not on set, if you're not on stage, go to class. Find teachers you trust and who push you and who you respect as people. That's what you're getting with a teacher: a point of view. You end up taking those points of view and that turns into your point of view as an actor.

I had so much joy as a boy: middle child, lots of energy, big emotional life. I was a clown and still am.

So the survival of the spirit, the body and the emotions? That's the way to win in 'Lovecraft Country'.

You keep your rent low, which takes some of the pressure off. So when I say 'no,' I mean 'no.' I don't mean, 'Give me more money.' I mean 'no.'

My first kiss was fourth grade, girl named Krista West. We're walking out to the black top, and I throw my arm around her. I kiss her on the cheek.

We say Black lives matter, but a lot of white folks don't know Black folk.

Sadness is a privilege. To be mopey about something, that's a privilege. I did not grow up with that.

The thing about terror and why it's so interesting is that terror is there to keep us safe. But then the issue comes in: Well, how do you ever grow if you can't get past this fear? That's called suppression.

Racism is earthbound - it's something we only do to each other here on earth. Legacy, on the other hand, is otherworldly. It pushes us forward to our future.

I have a very high frequency of anger, and a very high frequency of sadness.

I'm a drifter. I go where the wind blows.

And if you think this young boy, from Dallas, Texas, is adding to the canon of theater arts, of performing arts, of cinema, well I'm humbled and I'm very excited.

The first thing I do when I start a role is I look to see where we're similar. What do you get for nothing, you know?

So I feel now very much like a guardian. I'm standing in front of art. I'm standing in front of cinema. I'm standing in front of Black culture. I'm standing in front of the history of America, and I'm protecting it by making art, by protecting our art, and by promoting our art.

I try to do my best to differentiate each fella, each spirit, from the next one... and once it's exorcised it doesn't just go away. It becomes a part of you. So every role becomes a part of you.

Because when you're in drama school, you're playing multiple characters at once. You know, in the morning you're doing a Chekhov play, and then you're doing a Shakespeare workshop midday.

I look for what responsibility the character has in telling the story. If you remove the role from the story, can you still tell the story properly? And if the answer is no, then I'm interested.