Bale: "I always figure hey, look, I'm not a rock star, I'm an actor. I'm somebody who's meant to be other people and I'm not meant to be here representing myself. I'm happier when I'm presenting myself as other characters."

Bale: "An actor should never be larger than the film he's in."

Bale: "A teenager usually wants to try to get people to notice him in some way, to feel like someone gives a damn. Me, all that attention, I just wanted to fade into the background. Be invisible. Disappear."

Bale: "I think mostly it's the adventure that I will have in making the movie. That's what I look for."

Bale: "No, only disappointment in myself on those occasions I didn't manage to rise to the occasion as I felt I should've done. I can always see how to do it, and then the challenge is, Can I manage that each and every day?"

Bale: "I only sound intelligent when there's a good script writer around."

Bale: "It's got to do with putting yourself in other people's shoes and seeing how far you can come to truly understand them. I like the empathy that comes from acting."

Bale: "The only thing that I'm obsessed with is sleeping, and actually, it is more than an obsession, it is a pleasure."

Bale: "I have this theory that, depending on your attitude, your life doesn't have to become this ridiculous charade that it seems so many people end up living."

Bale: "If everyone really knew what a jerk I am in real life, I wouldn't be so adored in the slightest."

Bale: "I went backwards and forwards over it until I was 22. And then in the past few years I began to say to myself, OK, look, I'm not messing around. This is something I want to attack, instead of thinking, I'll just see what happens with it."

Bale: "I tend to think you're fearless when you recognize why you should be scared of things, but do them anyway."

Bale: "My hope is that people will be repulsed by the character's complete lack of ethics and obsession with consumerism - that's what I was saying about the difference between the character's message and the film's message."

Bale: "Working out is incredibly boring. I swear it's true that the bigger your muscles get, the fewer brain cells you have."

Bale: "A movie star is someone people look at and go, 'I want to be like that person'. There's the responsibility of desire. It's not something I'm interested in trying. I would fail miserably at it, so why even bother?"

Bale: "I think trying too hard to be sexy is the worst thing in the world a woman can do."

Bale: "But I learned that there's a certain character that can be built from embarrassing yourself endlessly. If you can sit happy with embarrassment, there's not much else that can really get to ya."

Bale: "I find something fascinating about the quiet man in the background who has no desire to be the center of attention."

Bale: "I've always believed that the director does whatever the hell he wants. That's what you sign on for as an actor - I can't stand it when you have actors who are trying to leverage directors into doing things they don't want to do."

Bale: "Planning a career, I always find that such a tricky thing, because I don't have much of a plan, really."

Bale: "I'm not an actor that tends to care. I don't ask 'Is this a close up? Is this a master? Is this a wide? What are you doing? If I look up and notice the camera I go 'Oh, it's a big one today, must be an IMAX.' And that's kinda it for me because it doesn't affect what I'm doing."

Bale: "I'm an actor I'm not a politician. I always kick myself when I talk too much about family, or personal things."

Bale: "Essentially, I'm untrained, so I just go with my imagination and try to put myself as solidly as I can into the shoes of whatever person I'm going to be playing."