Top 73 Quotes & Sayings by Patrick Wilson

I like it when my wife is in her jeans, with very little makeup. But, I also appreciate the range - the different ways she can look. The moment she walks out all dressed up and... whoa! That's always good.

You're defined by your older brothers' or sisters' music.

There are a lot of Christian fundamentalists; there are a lot of Muslim extremists. Every religion - Mormonism - has something way on the side that's completely using the religion as some weird backbone for their twisted faith. It has nothing to do with their religion.

I just don't watch a lot of TV.

When you're playing the good guy, you want to find the dirty parts - and when you're playing the bad guy, you want to find the vulnerability.

I'm an early-morning owl.

You know when you see those guys and their sideburns are just a little too high? You don't need to have sideburns, but don't have to have them right above the ear. I knew a guy that did that in high school and I was like, 'What are you doing? Just let them down a little.'

I am an avid runner, mainly on weekends.

I grew up in the South and went to church a lot.

There's such an immediate intimacy with film that you just don't get in theater.

If somebody wants to go to church because they like the ritual of it and want to sit in silence for a while one time a week, then that's great. If someone wants to go because they believe that God them and Jesus rose after three days, then that's great, too.

If I ever get looks on the street, which, for the record, is almost never, it's rarely because they think I'm someone they saw in a movie. More often someone sees me and thinks, 'Hey, was that guy my waiter the other night?'

The way you deal with a scare is the way you deal with a laugh. The timing has to be perfect. When you're dealing with fear or laughter - emotions that happen spontaneously - you hope it's working. But in the moment, you really have no idea.

I love making movies, but there's nothing like being in front of an audience.

My father is an anchor and my brother is as well.

I try to do as many different roles as the system will allow me. That's the benefit of not being in a giant blockbuster where you're the lead and you get typecast in that kind of role. I am able to slip in or out of a lot of different parts.

I love to go to casinos with my wife. I play poker, and she's an old-fashioned slot queen. She even has a visor.

There's just a natural instinct to want to be great, I think.

Nobody ever wants to really make someone feel bad.

A heroic nature is very Greek.

For me, I always have to establish a reality for the character. In very actor-y terms, you just have to understand his reality.

I think your teenage years define your musical roots forever. You're always looking for a theme for your high school years.

When I look at a character, whether he's good or bad, one scene or 10 scenes, I just have to find my way in.

I don't like being lied to.

The great thing about doing theater is that you get to do it better the next night.

Yeah, I'm a spiritual person.

Emasculation does seem to be a theme in the roles that I choose.

With actors like Steve McQueen, Paul Newman and Harrison Ford, what made them such icons is that even in dramatic movies, their characters had a sense of humor.

In a normal movie, you'd never see one guy talk for an entire page, whether good or bad.

If you look back on the breakups that you've had, whether it's a long relationship or a one-night stand, it's always awkward.

If I'm not going to get a part, tell me why.

The thing about abs is if you hit them daily, you feel more put-together.

You don't ever see a thriller with a spiritual backbone.

I was convinced in middle school that I invented tight-rolling your pants, because I would get hand-me-downs from my brothers, and of course they were bell-bottoms from the '70s. So I would fold and fold over the bells. I like to think I started the trend. But I didn't.

I don't know if I have any feelings about psychics. I never really met any.

For everybody that does something bad there's gotta be someone that does something good.

I am fascinated with religion or things that people believe in and question that. I think it's interesting.

Musical theater is one of my passions.

It's very hard to maintain focus in the gym.

I try to shave at night so my skin has a chance to settle by the early morning call-time.

I'm an actor who wants to do great parts, and I've been very fortunate, for a long time, to get meaty roles, and sometimes some of them are meatier than others.

When I went to LA I was almost 30, I'd been nominated for two Tony awards, and on the New York theatre scene I was pretty well known. I went out to LA to meet with casting people, and I remember walking into one meeting and saying: "Hey, how are you? I'm Patrick..." And they said: "I'm so sorry! I thought you were British!" When I asked why, she replied: "Because you're 30 and I've never heard of you!"

I always grew up around acting. I did commercials as a kid and all that kind of stuff and my oldest brother did theatre in High School. It's funny, when I was 15 I had a friend of mine who dragged me away to a camp at Boston University. It was the first time truthfully that acting didn't feel presentational; it felt very personal. I didn't just feel like I was singing and dancing for my friends in High School. It felt like I was doing a scene and all of a sudden I started to feeling something - I started to feel emotional.

I don't concentrate on if a moment is scary or not. That's not my job.

Somebody can paint with a fine brush like Monet and do millions of little dots or somebody can splatter it up there like Kandinsky or Jackson Pollock and go "Yep, that's art." That's okay.

It's very hard to just break into movies. I always felt like it would be giving up a theatre career to go and try and be in movies. So, I thought I'd exhaust the theatre thing, go as far as I can, and originate roles, be on Broadway, maybe win some Tony Awards, and then hopefully some door would open. Luckily, it did.

I think the balance is between what you can get, what you want and what wants you.

At an early age my dad - probably because he's a journalist - said: "Just have something to say. Don't just blather. Always have one line in your mind." So, that was always my thing whenever I met someone when I was younger, if ever I got to meet a real celebrity.

I've always had good relationships with directors. I'm one of those people where, if there's a good idea coming from the sound guy, I'll take it. Filmmaking is a collaborative effort, whether it's a first-time director or it's Mike Nichols. I think that's the standard that the great ones set.

I didn't win prom king. By that point, I'd quit sports except for soccer, so I was really just a theater guy. I totally lost to the captain of the football team.

When you're younger you don't care so much, but as you get older you have a family and stuff like that. But I've always kept my foot in theatre and I've kept my foot in independent film, so I'm really happy going back and forth. So, if I can't find the meaty roles in studio films, then I'll go back and dig up a little independent where I can flex my muscles a little bit.

When I met Harrison Ford I just kept thinking: "At what point do I break out my Star Wars memorabilia? When is it OK to have him sign something? Will he? And will I look like a total idiot!" The only time I ever got anything from another actor to sign was for my brother or my kids because both of my brothers are die-hard Star Wars fans.

I knew I wanted to go to college and I wanted to study it acting, so I just looked for the best school that I could get into. Luckily, I had very supportive parents. I went to a conservatory that is basically drama school. You take one English class and one history class for four years but you don't take any other science or anything like that. It's strictly, from 7am until night, all acting. It's a lot. Some people find it too much, but for me I was preparing for a career and I never really looked back.

I grew up around media so for me I've always been interested in that topic, whether it's a complete satire or a documentary. I love anything that touches on the state of information versus entertainment and what's newsworthy and what's not.

It was always acting for me, since I was about 15. My middle brother always wanted to be a news anchor, so we always felt that he'd be the one to take over for dad, so we could go and do our thing.

You have your vision and you need to be focused, but you have to listen. I never felt a sense that the wheels were going to come off because we're all friends and family. It was all good.

Honestly, if you're just going to be the love interest then at least let it be a really good movie. Not every role is going to be Hamlet, I know that.

I've got whole years of unfortunate clothing in '80s.

Mike Nicholls saw me in the musical of The Full Monty and brought me in to audition for Angels in America for HBO. And that opened a lot of doors because you could go to LA and say: "Well, I'm starring opposite Al Pacino and Meryl Streep..."

A wide receiver like me wouldn't have won. The quarterback - or even the running back - always wins.