Phrases

01. Go boldly and honestly through the world. Learn to love the fact that there is nobody else quite like you.

02. Working hard is important. But there is something that matters even more, believing in yourself.

03. I meet hundreds of people, and I’m not going to remember them. But every single one of them will remember their interaction with me.

04. There’s no shame in enjoying the quiet life.

05. I’m very comfortable discussing my personal life, because it’s so boring.

06. Being self-critical is good; being self-hating is destructive. There’s a very fine line there somewhere, and I walk it carefully.

07. Don’t try too hard to be something you’re not.

08. I’m the only kid in the world who doesn’t want an eighth Harry Potter book.

09. There’s never enough time to do nothing!

10. I’m not an easy person to love. There are lots of times when I’m a very good boyfriend, but there are times when I’m useless. I mean, I’m a mess around the house. I talk nonstop. I become obsessed with things.

11. You never want to be forced to do something. But the world around you starts to influence you in ways you never expected.

12. As much as I would love to be a person that goes to parties and has a couple of drinks and has a nice time – that doesn’t work for me. I do that very unsuccessfully. I’d just rather sit at home and read, or go out to dinner with someone, or talk to someone I love, or talk to somebody that makes me laugh.

13. I’m not clumsy; just accident prone.

14. I used to be self conscious about my height, but then I thought, f*** that, I’m Harry Potter.

15. I will never, ever do a film as successful as the Harry Potter series. But neither will anyone else.

16. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done, and there’s a difference between talking the talk and walking the walk.

17. It’s interesting for myself, growing up as an Asian-American filmmaker. Coming into the industry, my parents always said, “No one’s going to give you the opportunity. You just have to do the work. Be better than everyone else, so they can’t deny it.”

18. I know I’m not a coal miner, but I do long hours and I never complain, and there is nowhere else I’d rather be. So, yeah, that’s how I’d define myself. I want to do it right, and prove people wrong once and for all about the myth of child stars.

19. I’m an atheist, but I’m very relaxed about it. I don’t preach my atheism, but I have a huge amount of respect for people like Richard Dawkins who do.

20. To the children who loved Harry Potter, I want to say your enthusiasm was the real magic. I so enjoyed being on the journey with you. And to the adults who bought the Harry Potter books and devoured them, I just want to say, those books were for children.

21. I’m an atheist, and a militant atheist when religion starts impacting on legislation.

22. Though I am not religious in the least, I am very proud to be Jewish.

23. Well, I think I’m a feminist, just by the virtue of the fact that I believe in equal rights for everyone.

24. You don’t have to be gay to be a supporter- you just have to be a human.

25. I don’t want anyone to ever say that I don’t belong where I am.

26. I thought I was an actor playing a wizard. But really, I was a wizard playing an actor.

27. If I die on a film set when I’m 80, I’ll be happy with that.

28. There is something inherently valuable about being a misfit. It’s not to say that every person who has artistic talent was a social outcast, but there is definitely a value for identifying yourself differently and being proud that you are different.

29. What I learned is that acting is to a large extent about trying to stave off self-doubt long enough to be natural and real onstage.

30. Personally, I prefer the dark side.

31. The most wonderful thing I hear is people coming up and saying ‘Thank you for my childhood’, which still blows my mind but is very sweet.

32. Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has confessed that until recently, he thought the 16-year-old fellow tween idol [Justin Bieber] was a female. ‘I only heard Justin Bieber for the first time two weeks ago. I genuinely thought it was a woman singing. I’d never heard it before. Is it big in England yet?’

33. I don’t [believe in God]. I have a problem with religion or anything else that says, ‘We have all the answers,’ because there’s no such thing as ‘the answers.’ We’re complex. We change our minds on issues all the time. Religion leaves no room for human complexity.

34. The real challenge of acting for me, I suppose, is just getting to know a character very, very well and just applying what I know about them to every single scene. That’s what it can be broken down to.

35. Just keep acting is my plan, I just want to keep going for as long as I can. I’ve had a fantastic time on Potter, I will be very sad to leave it because every time I look back on one of these films, every scene I watch will be forever linked to a memory of what happened that day or something that was happening around that time in my life.

36. The only thing I can think of is my favorite album at the moment by this guy called Father John Misty, and the album is called I Love You, Honeybear. It’s just brilliant. It’s the album I’m currently obsessed with. It is original, and the lyrics are fantastic and [it’s] brilliant. So that’s blowing me away.

37. I am very critical! I hate watching myself but I know I have to because I’m going to be asked so I need to have some sort of semblance of what the films with me are like. But it’s not an enjoyable experience watching yourself. I hate it less than I used to but I still don’t enjoy it.

38. There were some parts of the film [Swiss Army Man] that the Daniels [Kwan and Scheinert] really wanted to look as elegant as a piece of ballet. As Hank and Manny go on in the story, they get better and better at being with each other and more and more adept – Hank knows more and more what Manny’s going to need at any given point, and having that choreography helps a bit.

39. I met Elijah Wood once, I met Peter Jackson, I met Orlando Bloom, and they’re all really cool.

40. As an artist, you have a path that you’re on that evolves with the kinds of stories you want to tell.

41. Yes, gay marriage is about symbolically blessing a relationship, but the larger issue is about transmitting a fundamental message about equality. Gay people should have equality in law everywhere.

42. I think part of me would love to play a drag queen, just because it would be an excuse to wear loads of eye makeup.

43. I’m getting better now, but I used to be incredibly awkward with girls. I think any guy who says ‘I’ve never had an awkward moment with a girl’ is a liar.

44. I’m also a fan of ridiculously coloured and patterned socks.

45. The thought of dancing scared me. A lot. Because I have absolutely no aptitude for it.

46. England is my home. London is my home. New York feels like, if I have to spend a year living in an unfamiliar city, this is a pretty lovely one to spend a year in, but I will be going home at the end of it, certainly.

47. I wasn’t the most popular kid in school.

48. I like science and I love gym. Oh, and I like art, but I’m really bad at it. I’m just a terrible drawer. I can’t draw a circle. Even with a ruler, I can’t draw a straight line.

49. I used to joke I was a point-and-click actor. My whole process has been about trusting your instincts and hitting your mark.