Ben Affleck quotes

“My movies are unadorned, they're not particularly fancy, I think they're kind of workmanlike in some ways, focusing on the writing and the acting.”

— Ben Affleck

“One guy told me I was a great actor, I just would never be on the cover of a magazine.”

— Ben Affleck

“I'm very insecure. I'm human, just like anybody else.”

— Ben Affleck

“People of similar political persuasions tend to flock together.”

— Ben Affleck

“But when I felt like I had something to prove? Then I got up early every morning and worked all day long. I didn't know if I had any more talent than anyone else directing, but I knew I could work hard at it, and so I did.”

— Ben Affleck

“A friend of my mom's was a casting director so, really as kind of a lark, I had a couple of acting jobs that had just enough exposure to give me the option to continue if I wanted to. I followed through with it.”

— Ben Affleck

“My kids aren't celebrities. They never made that bargain. We were offered a lot of money to sell pictures of our kids when they were born. You'll notice there aren't any. I make no judgment about people who decide differently; a lot of them give the money to charity. For me, it was a matter of principle.”

— Ben Affleck

“Yes, I'm going to be the President of the United States. You know why? You think you can get chicks by being in the movies? You can really get chicks by being the President.”

— Ben Affleck

“You're basically the sum of all the experiences you've ever had, and they're sort of shaken up in you and reproduced in the things you create, and that includes seeing movies.”

— Ben Affleck

“I like to think that if I were gay I would be out. Rupert Everett-style.”

— Ben Affleck

“I remember back when I was a kid there was a comic strip called Plastic Man. His body was elastic and he could make his extremities as long as he wanted. As a youngster I didn't fully appreciate. But I'm now thinking Plastic Man was probably pretty popular with the ladies.”

— Ben Affleck

“I grew up in a home environment where I wasn't getting esteem for anything I did.”

— Ben Affleck

“Marriage hasn't been my thing. But gay people, knock yourselves out!”

— Ben Affleck

“The trap for an actor is that you become too successful at what you're trying to do, and you can find yourself stuck there.”

— Ben Affleck

“Well I've never used that phrase before, but yes she is bootylicious.”

— Ben Affleck

“Not that it entirely matters: There is a perception that all actors make their movies. A lot of people assume you're responsible. George Clooney told me actors get all of the blame and all the credit.”

— Ben Affleck

“You have to look also to the media, where you have a vast majority of the loudest and most influential political voices in America media from people who came from the entertainment world.”

— Ben Affleck

“I have a good relationship with the world. But I don't know what the trick is to maintaining it.”

— Ben Affleck

“It's wrong and disgusting to follow children around and take their picture and sell it for money.”

— Ben Affleck

“The first day of 'The Town' was one of the most satisfying days of my career.”

— Ben Affleck

“You get old, you slow down.”

— Ben Affleck

“You know George M. Steinbrenner III is the center of all evil in the universe.”

— Ben Affleck

“Every single director-actor I talked to, from Warren Beatty to Clint Eastwood to George Clooney, said the biggest mistake they made is not shooting enough footage of themselves.”

— Ben Affleck

“I like acting for myself as a director. I act and I know that I'll have a chance to have some say in what gets used and that I'll be able to give myself enough takes and be on the same page as myself about how the scene should play.”

— Ben Affleck

“It was a dreamlike time for me from December 1997 to March of '98. Before that, I was basically unknown. Then, bang! The starting gun fired, and everybody just started running. It was learn-on-the-job. And there were more opportunities for work than I had time to do them.”

— Ben Affleck

“After 2000 or so, I started to realize I wanted to be doing something else. I didn't want to be in front of a camera. I was frustrated. I didn't think I would stop acting, but I didn't want to be seen.”

— Ben Affleck

“Anxiety is a kind of fuel that activates the fight-or-flight part of the brain in me. It makes sure that a velociraptor isn't around the corner and that you do as much as you possibly can to survive. Because Hollywood has a lot in common with 'Jurassic Park' and its primeval-dinosaur universe.”

— Ben Affleck

“As an actor, you can steer a scene in another direction by playing it a little differently. And honestly? I like being an actor, and I want to keep having a career.”

— Ben Affleck

“I didn't do anything for two years but work on 'Gone Baby Gone,' and it was miserable and hard, but at the end? It is a good movie. I liked it very much. If it had been dismissed and deemed worthless, it would been definitely devastating. But that didn't happen.”

— Ben Affleck

“I got into acting as a young child on account of a sort of arbitrary thing. A friend of my mom's was a casting director, so really, as kind of a lark, I had a couple of acting jobs that had just enough exposure to give me the option to continue if I wanted to. I followed through with it.”

— Ben Affleck