Quotes

[on providing the voice of Superman in Superman: The Animated Series (1996)] Initially, I thought, "Oh, this is a fun little job doing a little cartoon." I didn't realize the grave responsibility that was bestowed upon me.

I've found that the majority of my work is just a series of grunting, groaning and straining noises. Because, you know, Superman is forever getting clobbered with force fields, nuclear weapons, trains -- whatever large, blunt, heavy objects are at hand to clobber him. I have to dig deep for those special noises.

When Superman comes along with his red cape and his blue outfit, it works on such a primary level. Here's this guy who wears no mask. He's very positive. He tries to help everybody as much as he can. I think readers and especially children gravitate to that. They know they can trust this guy.

[on Superman's animated appearance] I look great as Superman. I am so buff.

I've always felt if my nose were more crooked, critics would focus more on my acting.

One of the things that I share with Bryan Becket is this hole in my childhood memory. There's about five years of my life that's virtually gone. I've thought about it a lot, and I've come to the conclusion that it might be for my own protection that those memories are gone, and maybe I don't want to dredge up those things.

Thank God for acupuncture. It's been around for 2000 years. It's not going anyplace and people use it all of the time for a variety of cures and to avoid illnesses.

Eastern medicine is not about curing your sickness. It's about keeping you well.

We sort of have given up on the idea of taking any sort of personal responsibility for what we see. I don't understand it at all. There are many things that I won't let my kids watch.

Well, I have a farm in Vermont that's my main residence, where I do lots of digging and mowing, and ride tractors - just so you don't get the wrong idea that I'm too girlie!

It's an actor's job to play all the human conditions - light, dark, and medium.

Well, I've seen a bunch of acupuncturists and one of my sister-in-laws is an herbalist. So I know a lot about alternative medicine. I don't know a lot about the practice but I know about the world.

I have this burgeoning reputation for playing a scumbag.

What can I say: I got started on the whole wife-and-kids thing at a young age.

I grew up with actors, so I never thought of them as anything but human - sort of horribly, inextricably human.

I can't help teasing people. That's the way that I am, and I hope that nobody takes it too personally.

I don't think I gave Wings (1990) its due. I was young. I wanted to light the world on fire.

Everybody wants to have their Breaking Bad (2008). It went to Bryan Cranston. It couldn't have happened to a better guy or a better actor.

I appreciate all the devices the Windows people are coming up with, but the operating system... I just want to smash it.

I know this sounds stupid, but in some ways, the way I look is a drawback.

I have no illusions of being the big box office draw. But I would like to have some choices.

I like bothering people and stirring things up.

I have a beautiful wooden Superman statue with a removable cape - I really love that piece.

I had so much fun on The Mindy Project (2012).

I love getting on the subway because you get on the car, and you see the entire human race represented in any given subway car.

I never had the desire to get in front of the camera. It never occurred to me! I always thought I'd be a theater actor.

I think I'm a lot more complicated than my looks might indicate.

I love babies - I love being with them. As for acting with them, it's kind of hard because they don't know how to act.

I never have thought of myself as a brand. I've thought of myself as an artist.

The biggest compliment I can ever get as an actor is to have someone say, 'We didn't recognize you.'

I will always look for things that are different from the last thing I played.

It's become a cliché to think of marriage as a disaster area and a war zone.

My natural self is John Goodman. If I relaxed, I'd be him.

People are human beings. They talk about stuff, they make mistakes, they try to impress each other with their tidbits.

The creative tension with spirituality vs. practicality in the world of politics is a vital conversation.

Wings (1990) offered me the rare opportunity to be a full-time dad and a working actor for eight years.

I had my kids while I was in utero.

I am a member of the human race. There's a certain irony about the cyberworld. You don't know who is talking to you, if it's a machine, so I tend to try to reach out to those fellow humans.

For people like me, who have blocked out a chunk of their past, you wonder - if you open that door, if you walk into that room of your memories, what will happen? Will it destroy you or will it make you stronger?

I could have been a rich kid who stayed in college and got by on the path of least resistance, but I got much more out of being in the world and pulling my own weight.

I get offered a lot of parts where I want to say, 'Why don't you just hire a model? Don't hire an actor.' I'm trying to convince people I'm a real actor, not some mannequin.

I just can't stand the fact that they're going out on their own - I love having my kids around, and I'm angry at them for going out and becoming independent. I want to tuck them in and drive them to school in the morning, but they just won't let me do that anymore.

I look for characters that offer me opportunities to explore some aspect of the human condition. I think a lot of actors would say that and would look for that. I've been lucky enough to find projects that let me do that.

I didn't dream of being in television or film. But then I got married pretty young and had children, and I wanted to feed the children, so I worked a lot of film and television.

I was a little bit of a slob who was sort of surrounded by dirty laundry. I can trace the exact moment that I became a tidy human being, and that moment was the day my son Sam was born.

I love exploring the relationship between fathers and daughters. I think that's a special thing, especially with daughters who are dealing with being adults.

I realized that my grandfather walked with Martin Luther King forty years ago. That was his dream. And in his little way, he helped us get closer to where we are today.

I was 9 years old, and this was - well, whenever it was, they paid a thousand bucks. I thought I was going to be rich forever! But I had no thought I would be an actor at that point.

I used to build lofts in SoHo back when there was nothing there. I had a stoop on West Broadway between Prince and Spring. My partner and I would sit there, eat dinner, and watch the world go by.

It's ironic, really, because I've spent the bulk of my career making my living in a very commercial realm: network television. And yet, my sensibilities don't necessarily line up with how I pay my rent.