Quotes from Powers Boothe

I'm not going to make my living out of beating my head against somebody else.

Since I've had some success, story and character are always the two elements I think about first in material presented to me. Some of my choices have been more successful than others.

I'm really enjoying the character now, but I don't want to just be Philip Marlowe. I wouldn't mind playing him every couple of years, perhaps, as a kind of open franchise - you know?

If I rob a gas station, I'm going to get 15 years. If I steal $400 million on Wall Street, I start plea-bargaining.

Everyone has this vision of Jones as a maniacal ogre. Wrong. He was charming, sweet, and a fabulous speaker.

I think I'm pretty politically informed, and I find myself watching Senate hearings on C-SPAN.

When I'm out there, it's just me. Nobody's controlling me, and I can do whatever I want to do. I'm my own man.

That joy of a creative environment, without any restrictions, is hard to leave.

If you're down, it's curse; if you're up, it's a blessing.

I come prepared when I come to work. Not just knowing the lines, but I think I know something about what I do.

The office of the presidency is what's important, no matter who's in it.

I've had presidents in my lifetime - and I'm old enough to have seen several - that I really detested, but they're still my president. I've had presidents that I've really liked.

When 'Deadwood' came along, it was totally like Shakespeare. The long speeches were like soliloquies. If one phrase of a monologue was out of whack, the entire one-page speech didn't work.

Some stars can make five or six failures in a row and continue to work - with a raise. I can't figure how that works. Maybe foreign sales or a smart agent.

Any of us can sort of say we would do any number of things to feed our children.

Actors have far fewer choices than the public thinks they do.

It's never a matter of career decisions. I don't think in those terms. What matters is whether a role is interesting, if I will enjoy playing it, and if I'm confident I can do a good job.

I've always felt if you followed a real private detective around, it would be boring.

I got a lot of flak; in Texas, football is not only the social thing you must do, but you do it also to prove your manhood. They all couldn't conceive of why I'd want to stop to do 'The Importance of Being Earnest.'

You don't do classics with a Texas accent.

I was raised a Democrat, and now I'm an Independent.

I've always wanted to play a hard-boiled gumshoe, as they say.

I was the first one in the family, on either side, to go to college - much less graduate school.

Before I accept a job, I always talk to folks about it. 'Why does he kill these 22 people?' If they say, 'What difference does it make?' I know we have nothing more to talk about. A character has to be three-dimensional.