Quotes from John Lithgow

Next to the word 'luvvie' in the dictionary, there's a picture of me. At least in the American editions.

Britain has a great sense of its own national pride. It's like the monarchy is the embodiment of that pride.

I went to Princeton High School when I was very serious about being an artist.

Money is just a low priority for me. I'm more interested in good work than a big bank account.

I really prize and love great painting.

In animation, there's this exhilarating moment of discovery when you see the film and you say, Oh THAT'S what I was doing.

When I was a teenager, I remember the extraordinary feeling of accomplishment for completing 'Vanity Fair.' I don't think it was even for school.

As an actor ages north of 60, he tends to be in more father roles than anything else. It's generational. And it tends to be a relationship that fascinates people, the flawed relationships between parents and kids.

That's how you deal with stardom; you make it the least important part of your life.

I got a wonderful college education. I went to Harvard. In those four years I accumulated a lot of knowledge but I also created a kind of habit of learning that has stayed with me my whole life.

Other people have often had more faith in me than I had in myself - I never thought I could pull off Roberta Muldoon in 'The World According to Garp,' or 'Of Mice and Men's' Lennie as one of my first acting jobs.

If you're an actor, you tend to fool yourself into thinking you're much younger than you are because you're playing parts and behaving like a child all the time.

When you end a successful sitcom, the most sensible thing to do is go back to the theater.

If my life was a play, age 35 was my intermission.

I'm getting older, but better, too. And the roles are getting better.

Good acting is really excellent carpentry.

I won two Golden Globes, and there was a long, long period in between the wins. That might be explained by the fact that when I first won the award, for '3rd Rock on the Sun,' I satirically compared aliens on the show to the Foreign Press Association. And they did not take that well.

I was married very young. I lived a very middle class life. I was married at age 21, divorced at 31. I didn't sleep on people's couches.

Academics tend to have wonderfully infantile senses of humor.

I'm a fun father, but not a good father. The hard decisions always went to my wife.

I'm very concerned for the future of the earth and its amazing creatures. We've got to be careful and make sure we don't foul our own nest.

Everybody's a dreamer.

I have a lot of faith in people.

The most exciting acting tends to happen in roles you never thought you could play.