(His sadomasochistic scenes in the new movie "Secretary"): "I did something in that scene that I`d never done in a film before but that`s been the case with so many of my movies."

If I don`t need the money, I don`t work. I`m going to spend time with my family and friends, and I`m going to travel and read and listen to music and try to learn a little bit more about how to be a human being, as opposed to learning how to be somebody else.

I`ve had a lazy career, sometimes one film a year, sometimes none. I`m walking around in the street and doing this other thing, living, that I`m much more interested in. I just do some acting on the side. - 2005

I had real trouble, actually, for a long time, getting people to hire me. My anxiety used to manifest itself in strange ways. I`d go in to read for some innocent, vulnerable character, and the feedback would be, `Well, we met Jimmy...and he scared us.` - 1990.

I didn`t have a great knowledge of this genre. The only demand I was putting on the picture was that my paycheck came in and that I had fun making it. It seemed like it would be rather light-hearted. And it was. I`m not a big fan of films that take themselves seriously. - On doing Stargate.

I`m not eager at all to present my life out there for public consumption. I like to do one or two films a year and then do what is absolutely obligatory in terms of promoting them. My life outside of films is vital to me. - 1995.

("Why did he accept the lead in `Sex, Lies & Videotape`?"): "I took the film because I was interested in doing that part. Looking at work as stepping stones is something I don`t have any time or energy for. It seems a shame to look at your work as some sort of means to an end, because the end is death, you know? The means is the flesh and blood, so you`d better enjoy it. F--- the end."

You know, when you choose to make your living as an actor, it`s all fine and good to look at it as some kind of artistic endeavor. At its best, it is that. But the fact is, most of the actors out there don`t earn $3 million a picture and can`t afford to take two years off between films and look for the right thing. Most of us are tradesmen. Acting for me, is a passion, but it`s also a job, and I`ve always approached it as such. I have a certain manual-laborist view of acting. There`s no shame in taking a film because you need some money. No shame in taking a film because you have always wanted to visit China. I was thinking about this last night as I was driving home. I started to go back through the different films I`ve done, and the television movies I`ve done and I started to think about why I chose them at that time. And I realized, every single film I`ve ever done I`ve taken because of the money. Every single one. I`m not ashamed to say that. - 1990.

You just want to work. I like playing character roles and I do not mind being a real son-of-a-bitch, or embarrassing myself. But as you go along you begin to realize that the work has a criterion and as your choices get broader you start cutting out the things that are not worth the time. On the whole I have been lucky; I do not look back with a huge amount of distaste for the work I have done.

"I drove a truck for a while for a meat packing plant. I shoveled manure at the Clarmont Riding Academy in New York. Mopped floors for a while. I uploaded railroad cars and trailers at a warehouse. I wasn`t really qualified for anything else." - On his menial jobs before acting.

"I grew up a Red Sox fan. I grew up going to Fenway Park and the Museum of Fine Arts and the Science Museum and Symphony Hall and going to the Common, walking around. My whole family at different times lived and worked in Boston."

"I played cops and robbers and pirates and all the rest when I was a kid, but I didn`t want to grow up and be an actor and play cops and robbers and pirates. I wanted to grow up and be that, be cops and robbers and pirates."

"Sometimes with people their work is the most important thing to them, and sometimes the work enables you to do other things that are more important to you. I probably am closer to that."

"Acting is a great way to make a living, especially when I consider what my alternatives were and probably still are. I mean, you are only making movies. It is a lot less pressure than being a surgeon; although it seemed like the only other thing that I was qualified for was manual labour."

"I have my own artistic sensibilities and Crash complements them. It is a provocative, challenging, disturbing film made for adults. It`s not a skeleton in the closet for me."

"Studio people are afraid of `Crash.` It makes a statement about whoever releases the film. Miramax took a lot of flak for releasing Kids. The same will happen for whoever releases `Crash.`"

"If I don`t need the money, I don`t work. I don`t mind going to somebody and saying, `Okay, this is how much money I need to pay my bills for the next six months. If you pay me that, I`ll do the film`."