Laurence Fishburne Quotes

I work with my instincts. I don’t have a process that I learned in an acting class whereby I break a script down or whereby I do a certain kind of research.

Anytime we’re talking about Thurgood Marshall, that’s a good thing, I think, because it gives us an opportunity to go back, look at the history, and recognize what his contributions were.

There’s great theatre in New York City, but no New York City in theatre.

When I think of Othello, I think of a poet-warrior. Let me say that again – a romantic warrior. And I think I have those qualities in common with him.

I’ve played a lot of bad guys, ’cause that was the only work I could get. People saw my face and went ‘oooh’.

The 50s are the age of elegance. That’s kind of my intention when I get dressed: casual elegance.

Doing ‘CSI: N.Y.’ is not ‘CSI.’ Doing ‘CSI: Miami’ is not ‘CSI: N.Y.,’ it’s ‘CSI: Miami.’ It has a very, very specific tone. It has a very specific look. It has a specific way in which they tell their stories that’s different from ‘CSI: N.Y.’ and ‘CSI.’

I don’t ever get to the point where anything is old hat.

I can’t remember a picture that has expressed black attitudes and personal relationships as vividly as we’ve done in ‘Cadence.’

My production company, what we are trying to do is I’m trying to create content that speaks to me, and it’s not one color. It’s not one size fits all.

I think I’ve certainly learned a lot of lessons in humility and continue to work on that part of myself.

Obviously, after ‘The Matrix,’ it was a case of, ‘OK, I did that. What’s next?’ I mean, it’s always like that, but more so this time. How do I change it up? How do I keep it interesting for myself?

I wouldn’t say that going into a weekly television series is actually stepping away from anything. It’s another medium in which to work as an actor.

I was a child actor but not a child star.

Some characters need to be more performance-orientated; some, you have to be still.

You can’t be bad when you’re working with a kid. They have the instincts that all great actors have.

We don’t really see a lot of war movies about the people that are left behind, dealing with the deaths of those who serve and the sacrifices they make.

The commercial I did for Kia was hilarious and unexpected, so that, I think, is also another way of signaling to the audience that there’s more to me than Morpheus.

I’m left-handed: I can think and feel at the same time. My feminine side is very highly developed.

I certainly believe that being in contact with one’s spirit and nurturing one’s spirit is as important as nurturing one’s body and mind.

My vocation is I do what I do. I’m an actor; that’s what I do.

Most of us are afraid of our success, that we will actually be great.

If you like rock and roll, if you like rhythm and blues, if you like jazz, if you like hip-hop, you might be black-ish.

I see that I have, as part of my stock in trade, a very regal personality and carriage. I see that I have a kind of strength, a kind of command, and a kind of power that one would associated with a monarch.

I didn’t have much of a childhood, but that’s O.K. I have a livelihood.

I ain’t afraid of germs, man. And I ain’t afraid of getting sick.

Shooting a film with seven to eight actors together is complicated sometimes because you have to cover everybody.

If you asked someone who was a Maori about how they felt about how they were treated in Australia or New Zealand, you’ll get an answer. They’ll have something to tell you. And you might not like what you hear.

I play characters. I don’t think I really have a persona per se. I don’t play the same guy every time. I show up, you don’t know what I’m gonna do. I like it that way. I’ve intentionally tried to do it that way. I think that’s what’s interesting.

People think my name is Morpheus. Many times, people will say to me, ‘Morpheus!’ and I will complete the sentence by saying, ‘is not my name!’

We know that passion, prejudice, party, and even good-will, tempt many who preserve a fair character with the world to deviate from truth in the laxity of conversation.

People think that I’m haughty and stuck up, but really I’m just very shy.

I always wanted to play a cowboy. I just didn’t get to do it the way I thought I would.

I don’t believe in acting teachers for me, so it’s God’s joke that he gave me a best friend who’s an acting teacher.

John Wick is not a guy that asks for help, so when he goes to somebody for help, whoever that is, you know he’s a serious cat.

Do mainstream crowds want to watch a movie about good things happening in black neighborhoods? Do black audiences want to see a little girl doing something in a white world?

Mine were informal mentors. They were all in my working life.

When you’re on screen with Mads, there’s some real fireworks because your character is his intellectual equal. In a way, maybe your character has an instinct as to who this man really is.

I didn’t want to be a big star. I wanted to be a really good actor.

Having 50 to 60 years on the planet should give you a sense of how to master the way you look and live your life.

In order to be the best version of yourself, you have to dedicate time, effort, and support to other people who need it.

I’m passionate about all the things I do, really.

It’s important for a lot of young black males to value swagger over intelligence. Swagger is important, but intelligence must come before the swagger.

Philanthropic work reminds you of everyone’s common humanity, and that’s really the common denominator for everyone.

Some people think of me as an actor and some as a movie star, so I sort of guess that makes me both. I love making movies, and I love playing on the stage.

When I first read ‘Boyz,’ I cried. It could have been about some kids in Warsaw, Poland. I knew it was good, but I had no idea what it would do to me.

I love the opportunity to use my full range, and so playing in the comedy ‘Black-ish’ gives me the opportunity to show my lighter side, and playing in this beautiful, elegant horror story of ‘Hannibal,’ I get to use my darker and more cerebral side. It’s really wonderful.

It’s always a collective group of people coming together to oppose those things which are fundamentally contrary to our basic humanity.

I was in a movie with Marlon Brando. Now, I didn’t have any scenes with Marlon Brando, but I had scenes with Martin Sheen and was around Dennis Hopper, who was a child actor in the studio system and was enamored of James Dean, as was Martin, and they were all sort of disciples of Brando.

I think there’s going to be many special episodes of ‘Blackish.’

After ‘Othello,’ it was, like, ‘I can stop acting. I have played one of the great characters in the English language. I feel I have played him well and honorably. I have nothing to prove anymore.’

I have heard a lot of people talk about this grind of series television. I have not seen it yet.

We are three dimensional beings: body, mind, spirit.

I have this unshakeable faith. I believe in myself; I believe in God.

I learned tolerance at a very early age.

I can’t imagine not coming back to the theater. It’s where I started.

I have a voice. It’s one of my gifts. I intend to use it on behalf of the children that UNICEF seeks to aid.

I have a man cave somewhere in California – a totally undisclosed location where manly things occur. There are motorcycles, there are secret doors and passageways. Women are welcome, but they must knock.

I have a relationship with the southern hemisphere that’s a really good one. I love it there.

I carry a lot of feminine energy as well as masculine energy, and that’s the hit that people are getting. That vulnerable thing is not what we assume with black males. You get it, and then they cease to become scary. They become human. You cease to have a bogeyman.

There’s a bunch of plays that I never got to do because I was either too young or too old for the parts, like ‘Slow Dance on the Killing Ground’ and ‘Dutchman.’ For ‘American Buffalo,’ I was the wrong color.

If you’re playing a real person, then you want to do a certain amount of research, but that’s only going to be so useful to you. Each role requires a different kind of approach to get ready.

Doing theater makes you feel like a real actor.

I think of myself as being a relatively intelligent man who is open to a lot of different things and I think that questioning our purpose in life and the meaning of existence is something that we all go through at some point.

It’s funny, a lot of people think I take myself seriously because I come off so serious sometimes. But it’s not that I take myself seriously, I take what I do seriously.

We are our children’s first teachers.

On a motorcycle, you can’t really think about more than where you are. There’s a freedom that comes with that – from stress, worry, sweating the small stuff.