Jake Gyllenhaal

“I don't think you can approach any piece of art with boundaries or rules. I think respect is a very important thing, but I also think what we discover along the way is really important.”

“Every man goes through a period of thinking they're attracted to another guy.”

“One role blends into the next role. I mean, there's strange idiosyncrasies from roles that I play that I picked up that will never go away.”

“I remember being in college knowing I didn't want to go anymore. I wanted to try and become an actor. There is a something in me, with a risk of sounding cliche, that I just had to do it. I knew from an early age that acting was my path.”

“I'm going to continue doing what I want to do. And if it means I want to go and make a big movie, if it has something to say, I will want to make it. I don't want to spend my life wasting my time. If it's a big movie, I want to do it. If it's a small movie, I want to do it.”

“Theater has given me a different perspective on the way I approach films.”

“I'm like, 'What world am I living in?' Aren't movies made to have something to say? Why make a movie if you don't have something to say? What are you doing it for? Are you doing it because you want to make a lot of money?”

“When I was young, before school, my father would wake me up and we would go running together. A love of being physical, being active and being outside was something he instilled in me.”

“Crazy people don't sit around wondering if they're nuts.”

“Some movies you fall a step behind, and some you stay in the same place, make the same choices. And then sometimes there are people who know more than you but show you, and that's the maximum you can hope for - doing that with someone who says, 'I like you for what you are, and I want you to be in my picture.'”

“I think it's important for every man to find the right woman and every woman to find the right man.”

“I think you hear a lot of people say 'I support the troops' and all of that, but I really feel deeply that I do.”

“I think that we all have within us the potential for almost anything. If we play close attention to our lives, then we can get at it somehow.”

“I hope I'm a spiritual person. I'm trying to be a spiritual person.”

“Romance is important, but to have a friend you can use as a mirror, who can give you an objective response, that's what's really important.”

“My experience on 'Jarhead' was life changing.”

“It bothers me when people say, 'Oh, you're so down to earth - for an actor.' Even when they don't say 'for an actor,' I feel like that's the implication. Why are the standards so low for performers?”

“I've learned over the years that freedom is just the other side of discipline.”

“I can't make a movie unless I believe in the themes behind it. I mean, that's the first question I ask myself, always, is, 'What is this movie about?'”

“I am inherently a little brother - that's just my nature. It has to do with my sister being very strong and wanting to protect me. It's the natural order of things.”