Quote collection
271 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"The big thing I tell my kids is you have to control how you label things. It's very important to me they understand the power they have to create the lives that they want."
"Even Hitler didn't wake up going, 'Let me do the most evil thing I can do today.' I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was 'good.'"
"There ain't no problem that some other dude didn't have 1,000 years ago."
"I believe you need to be educated about what you want to do in life, but I don't believe you actually need college to get you there."
"You have to create something in a way that has direction, that it has vision, and then your partner will take it and figure out whatever their expertise is."
"I'm starting to be a lot more comfortable with allowing people to decide for themselves and almost creating a situation that forces people to decide for themselves whether they like it or don't like it or agree with the character or disagree with the character."
"The value of a story isn't that it just has a narcotic effect. It's that it awakens something in you that makes you want to think, that makes you talk to other people, that stirs something that makes you examine the story that eventually turns into self-examination."
"I've always been attracted to characters with insurmountable odds and obstacles, because innately, however inarticulately I've always believed that my dreams and my desires can command and bend time and space to be the things that I want them to be."
"I love you and I'm here for you."
"I consider myself an alchemist. An alchemist is basically a mystical chemist, right? And one of the great feats that alchemists used to do is they would take lead - just take a chunk of lead - and they could turn lead into gold."
"Begin each day as if it were on purpose."
"I was raised in a Baptist household, went to a Catholic church, lived in a Jewish neighborhood, and had the biggest crush on the Muslim girls from one neighborhood over."
"I had to focus and create a character in Bagger Vance, not just do my 'Will Smith' thing and get paid."
"I honestly believe that if I decided to be the president of the United States, I could do it. That might sound foolish to some. But in my mind, if Ronald Reagan can become president, why not Will Smith?"
"You have to make every group you come in contact with better."
"Life is dangerous and you're not gonna live a life without risk."
"Anything can go away. There's no such thing as safety and security. You can do things that give you the illusion of safety and security, but there's really no such thing."
"If you're always ready, you don't have to get ready."
"I know who I am, I know what I believe, that's all I need to know. From there, you do what you need to do."
"I believe that eclecticism is a virtue. It may not be a word, but its definitely a virtue."