Joaquin Phoenix Quotes

My career is based off of me talking about my emotions.

Opening up is something I have to learn how to do if I'm going to be in this business.

Mahesh Bhatt has changed me a lot. I used to be very held back with my words. He has made me open up. He has taught me how to say what comes to my mind, just as he does.

Out of frustration, I say things. Now, people listen to me so much I can say it under my breath and everybody hears me... I said in the past that I'm a work in progress, and I feel like I'm progressing.

I can be Erykah the human being more than the celebrity.

I think I've become more comfortable about being a human being.

I try to find what is closest to me in the character. There's many sides to personality, but it's a matter of, do you entertain those specific areas of your personality, or are you afraid to entertain them?

I think I was very shy and introverted when I was younger, and yet, when I got in front of the camera or went out on the town, I was able to go out half-naked and do anything.

Even within the last three or four years, I have a greater ability to communicate, I think. I have more courage to show the stuff... And it does take courage.

The hardest thing is spending twelve hours a day accommodating the rest of the world, then going home at night and criticizing it. I would be curious about what I'd write if I didn't have to worry about offending.

I'm opening up my heart to the idea of dating. It's funny - my friends would always come to me for romantic advice. I know nothing, and things have changed since I was dating in high school! I'm really trying hard to spend this time working on myself.

I think I need to play somebody who expresses themselves and is able to communicate on a more open level, something really different.

I am a more rounded person than you see on television. You don't bark your way to being a success.

Anybody can act. Correction. Anybody can act if they know their own weaknesses.

I share personal things about myself in the context of my interviews and in 'It's Messy' - but that's 20 percent of my life.

I'm grateful that the public think of me as a sweet guy, but there are times when I get worried that my behavior would disappoint the public. I'd like to show them that there are different sides of me.

Don't be afraid of growing up and changing and getting used to these newer versions of yourself and becoming more comfortable sharing those versions of yourself with the people in your life, even people who knew you when you were younger.

When I put my first project out ages ago, I didn't want to show anyone my emotions. Now I think it's better for people to understand how I am as a person and let them relate.

There are quite a few honest songwriters out there writing about relationships and their own personality traits. But for some reason, once they step out of the bedroom, their honesty doesn't seem to come with them.

I'm very private in person. I'm very sensitive and shy with men individually. But when I'm talking, maybe there's this other channel or this other side and other way of working in my mind, and I convert and become carefree.

It took awhile for me to get used to speaking candidly about my own life. I got into it, and it turned out to be a wonderful experience.

I feel like I'm a much better person when I'm developing my imagination and my innocence and my vulnerability. I like that version of me better than the version where I'm just working on my analytical mind.

I think it's a brilliant tool to have, not only to have a sense of humor, but to be able to use humor to help one navigate life, and I tend not to be that type of person. I wish I were.

There has to be a balance between power and vulnerability. That's something I feel I have in my own life, something I struggle with and - on a good day - like about myself.

You bring out a lot of your own thoughts and attitudes when acting. I think a great deal of it has to do with the inner you.