Best 203 quotes of Denzel Washington on MyQuotes

Acting is like music and you improvise. It's like jazz, there's no rhyme or reason to it. It's not a plan. You practice to music and you just play it.

Acting is just a way of making a living, the family is life.

Acting, it's not my life, my children and my family, that's life. I'll get up every morning, God willing, for that.

A film is just like a muffin. You make it. You put it on the table. One person might say, 'Oh, I don't like it.' One might say it's the best muffin ever made. One might say it's an awful muffin. It's hard for me to say. It's for me to make the muffin.

After directing the first film it feels kind of tricky being back to being in front of the camera, because I've always got one eye over there, kind of thinking of what they are doing, and how the shot is being composed. I think it takes a couple of films to just get back to just being an actor.

A man once told me that you step out of your door in the morning, and you are already in trouble. The only question is are you on top of that trouble or not?

Americans love to talk about the Constitution and how it protects the rights of every citizen and promises freedom to every citizen, but it's also a country based on racism and they don't talk about that too much and every time there's a film which deals with it there's certain parts of the country that feel uncomfortable.

Any good piece of material like Shakespeare ought to be open to reinterpretation.

A part of me still says, 'Maybe, Denzel, you're supposed to preach. Maybe you're still compromising.' I've had an opportunity to play great men and, through their words, to preach. I take what talent I've been given seriously, and I want to use it for good.

As an actor in the theater you're taught that you never play a bad guy. You have to love who you are. You can't say, "Oh, I'm a bad guy." How do you play that?

As an actor, you're a color of paint on someone else's palette. But as a director, it's your canvas and you make the painting you want to make.

A sociopath will do anything to win. Anything.

At the end of the day, it's not about what you have or even what you've accomplished. It's about what you've done with those accomplishments. Its about who you've lifted up, who you've made better. It about what you've given back" (23).

Bad guys need love too.

Be careful what you ask for because when you pray for rain, you have to deal with the mud as well.

[Black people] come into the world exactly like you. It's just that there are circumstances in the culture that are dictated and put on our lives that we have to fight against.

By the way, sitting with other mommies is probably the most frightening experience in the entire world. They're serious into mommy-shaming.

Cats are too independent. They piss me off. They play when they want, and then they turn their back on you. Dogs, you throw the ball, and they bring it back, tongue hanging out, tail wagging. Cats are like "Not right now, too busy." Definitely a dog man. Except when it comes to cleaning up after them! Cats win that!

Come on, I know bad acting when I hear it.

Cursed be the ground for our sake. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for us. For out of the ground we were taken, for the dust we are and to the dust we shall return.

Dakota Fanning is a child, but she is a wonderful actor. I don't know what a child actor is. She's an actor who's a child.

Don't get all sentimental on me, Makes me think I'm gonna die.

Denzel Washington: I like the collaboration, I like seeing people do well, so I really plan to direct the rest of my days.

Don't be afraid to fail big, to dream big.

Don't aspire to make a living, aspire to make a difference.

Do what you gotta do so you can do what you wanna do.

Do what you have to do, to do what you want to do.

Dreams without goals, are just dreams and they ultimately fuel disappointment.

Even though the story [Fences] is set during the 1950s, some contemporary women might have trouble understanding her decision.

Everybody has a job to do. There are people in Iraq on both sides of this war who do what they do for religious reasons, and they feel with God on their side. Some people are good at annihilating people. Maybe that's their gift.

Every day, sincerely and without phoniness, Lou demonstrated by his actions how very vital it is - more than anything else - to understand and appreciate the people who work with you...Do your job well, but always remember that the people you work with are your most valuable asset. Embrace them. Honor them. Respect them" (206) - "Prescriptions for Success" by John Schuerholz

Every failed experiment is one step closer to success.

Fall forward. Here's what I mean: Reggie Jackson struck out 2,600 times in his career - the most in the history of baseball. But you don't hear about the strikeouts. People remember the home runs. Fall forward. Thomas Edison conducted 1,000 failed experiments. Did you know that? I didn't either - because number 1,001 was the light bulb. Fall forward. Every failed experiment is one step closer to success.

For me, success is inner peace. That's a good day for me.

For whatever reason, God has blessed me with the ability, put me in a position to make these leaps and bounds. I'm fulfilling my part of the bargain, which is to give back and be a positive influence on others.

Fundamentally, the most important thing is to get the film made for me and to get as many people to see it as possible. And if I help that, then - I know I help that, let's put it that way. I do know that I help that. It is called show business.

Goals on the road to achievement cannot be achieved without discipline and consistency.

Got to be who you are in this world, no matter what.

Growing up I didn't watch movies.

Hate, hatred for yourself, for other people, will confine you, but love can set you free.

Hate put me in prison. Love's gonna bust me out.

[Having monologue] are talking to somebody even if it's just to yourself, convince yourself if that's what you're trying to do.

I actually don't hang out with any celebrities. My closest friends are old friends. And my real close friends, none of them are actors.

I always say the time to worry about flying is when you're on the ground. If you don't trust the captain, don't go.

I am not going to bury my son! My son is going to bury me!

I asked my mother I said, "You divorced my dad, how did you decide? She said, "I decided twelve years before he knew it." I was like wow; I'm learning something new every day.

I believe in God. I don't fear man, I fear God.

I called Scott Rudin, and I told him I wanted to do the play [Fences], so that's how the ball got rolling. I never said, "I'll do the play, and the next year I'll do the film, I just wanted to do the play.

I'd be more frightened by not using whatever abilities I'd been given. I'd be more frightened by procrastination and laziness.

I didn't want to audition the kids so much; I just wanted to talk to them because I like seeing how they are because their mothers usually mess them up with practice. So, I'd rather talk to them and see how they respond. I just throw things at them and see how they can hit the ball back, and Saniyya Sidney was good.