Quotes from Ethan Hawke

If you're not a real chameleon of an actor and if you're not one of those guys who can really shape-change themselves all the time, one of the ways to keep pushing yourself and keep changing is to be in different kinds of movies.

I kill flies, I eat meat, you know, whatever.

It just makes sense to remember gratitude and the place that gratitude should have in your life, and that none of us are owed these wonderful experiences, and we should always make the best of them.

The biggest problem in my life is trying to be the kind of man that I want to be, the father that I want to be, and how to process the failure of my marriage.

I think that if you walk through this life and I end up being a bad father, then it won't matter anything else I achieved in my life. It will all be irrelevant.

I auditioned for Robert Redford once and I was so starstruck I couldn't even speak. I had a mic wire at a screen test clipped to me and then I got kind of nervous and I paced in a circle and then took a step and tripped and fell on my face. You just have to forgive yourself and keep going on.

There's something about knowing life is finite that makes it so precious.

Your development as a person should coincide with your development in all aspects of your life.

All that stuff with the tabloids is a kind of luxury tax I pay for all the good things I do in my life.

If you can understand the inner life, then you can wear the uniform, the tattoos, or whatnot and realize that the things that are different about us become superficial.

I don't think Emma Watson needs any advice. She's an incredibly smart young woman who knows what she wants out of life and she has some great parents.

The writing process was some of the most exciting and rewarding moments of my life. It felt a lot like being in a band.

Sometimes in the life of an actor you're not getting offered any jobs that speak to you. The trouble with acting is that you're only as good as your opportunities.

I've always been interested in directing. I started acting when I was thirteen years old, so I've had some desire to do something else in my life.

If my kids are doing well, then my life is going pretty well. And if my kids aren't doing well, it doesn't matter how the other elements of my life are. It's kind of amazing to have a context like that. This is really wonderful.

I really did Regression to work with Alejandro [Amenabar]. I found him very interesting. His movie, The Others, is one of the better scary movies of the last period of time.

It is quite rare to find people who are really dedicated to a level of excellence. Most of us are really quite lazy most of the time.

I think having nature be a part of people's lives helps all of us see ourselves as part of something larger.

You know, I auditioned for 'Titanic.' Sometimes I muse on what would have happened. That would have been such a different life.

Everything is so finite but that's what makes our time and specific moments so important.

There's some kind of actors that can radically change who they are from movie to movie. I've never really been that kind of actor. I enjoy changing the worlds that I'm in.

The theater, for me, has always been a place where I'm free to be more creative, a place to sharpen my tools.

I can't tell you how many times in the '90s I'd meet somebody, we'd be having a nice time, and they'd sigh and go, 'This is exactly like Before Sunrise.' And I'd have to get up and leave.

Time is so much a part of what makes you close to people.