Quotes from Penn Badgley

I realize I stare at everyone, especially when I'm walking down the street. I'm just a curious person.

Money is... I'm very conscious of it because I have it. It's powerful, man. It can change you ever so slightly, ever so slowly, and all of a sudden you're addicted to a million-dollar lifestyle and you've got no choice but to make a bad movie.

When it comes to the fame side of things. I don't think anybody, whether they're famous or not, could claim to understand that phenomenon or have any sort of power over it.

The phenomenon of fame is literally invisible, but it influences and dominates your life if you aren't careful.

All the little things you nitpick in your head, nobody really cares that much outside your head.

I couldn't date someone who didn't like dogs. There are exceptions to the rule, but I find that if someone doesn't like animals, I am a little suspicious of them.

I know this might sound absurd, but since I've been famous, I believe I've only been on two dates that would be considered a 'first date.' It's not the way I've ever really engaged in terms of romantic relationships.

To be proud of something is a really nice feeling.

I don't believe that pure evil exists, personally.

I want to be an actor - I don't want to be a celebrity. They are two different things, and people have forgotten that they are different.

I'm quite monogamous. Thoroughly monogamous.

I absolutely appreciate the opportunity it's been. I wouldn't be here without 'Gossip Girl,' so I will always be in debt and grateful.

I'm grounded, I can say that. I can say that. I am, and it's great. I don't know where it comes from. But I've always been like that.

When you come to L.A. as a kid with your mom, you're lured into doing things that you think are cool and fun and a good idea, but they're cheesy and awful. And recording a pop single was one of them.

I think pineapple is very sexy. It reminds me of bikinis and the beach.

The 'Gossip Girl' idea and ideologies, like, they sort of encourage this certain kind of, like, materialism and superficiality that isn't, I would say, the best thing in the world.

Because I came into fame so early on, I've never done that. I don't investigate through the Internet about people who I know in the same way that I think most people do because I know what that's like to be on the other end of it. I think it gave me a certain kind of discipline, or empathy.

In 'Gossip Girl,' I was far too judgmental of everything that was happening, because I was young.

In Iran, education is not a given at all. For decades, in fact, the Iranian government has been systematically depriving members of the Baha'i faith their right to higher education, attempting to bar their advancement and marginalize them in Iranian society.

If there's anything the name #MeToo calls to us, it's that there's a lot more dimension to the equality of men and women and the empowerment of women, which also is like the empowerment of men.

When you're making a show or a movie, there are a million people and things in your way. As an actor, you're like a glorified session musician or player. You really are.

Like, if you are a celebrity, then anyone will let you be in a film or on a TV show, and if you're an actor, chances are if you are successful, you are becoming a celebrity.

I guess I never really had a high school experience. I went for about a month, and on the first day one of my friends got punched in the eye. It was Southern California Public High School. Needless to say, I wasn't there for long.

Gossip Girl' was a great opportunity, but it would be misleading to think that anyone on that show doesn't have anything more to offer.