Cruise: "I'm passionate about learning. I'm passionate about life."

Cruise: "I've never made a film that I didn't believe in, you know? However the picture turns out, I've always given everything to it. That's kind of how I approach life. I can't help it. There's no part-way with me on anything in any area of my life."

Cruise: "I go without sleep, I just go hard."

Cruise: "I always look for a challenge and something that's different.

Cruise: "I've never done work for money ever. If your choices are based on grosses and the film doesn't do well, what does that mean? It leaves you with nothing."

Cruise: "Do I make mistakes? Yeah."

Cruise: "If you have kids, it is the most important thing to create good times."

Cruise: "I love what I do. I take great pride in what I do. And I can't do something halfway, three-quarters, nine-tenths. If I'm going to do something, I go all the way."

Cruise: "Individuals have to decide what is true and real for them."

Cruise: "I want a world without war, a world without insanity. I want to see people do well. I don't even think it's as much as what I want for myself. It's more what I want for the people around me. That's what I want."

Cruise: "The exciting part of acting, I don't know how else to explain it, are those moments when you surprise yourself."

Cruise: "Nothing ends nicely, that's why it ends."

Cruise: "I have respect for what other people believe. What I believe in my own life is that it's a search for how I can do things better, whether it's being a better man or a better father or finding ways for myself to improve."

Cruise: "I disagree with people who think you learn more from getting beat up than you do from winning."

Cruise: "I've gotten very good at scheduling my life, scheduling the scene and preparing myself for knowing, saving the energy, consuming the energy, knowing when to go for it and having the available reserves to be able to do that. You have to think about that, because it's endurance."

Cruise: "I'm an all-or-nothing kind of person, and when I become interested in something, I give it my all."

Cruise: "Here's how I've lived my life: I've never been late to a set. I make films I believe in. I feel privileged to be able to do what I love."

Cruise: "What I find sometimes that is tricky is if actors are using too much of their own life in a picture, in a scene, they get locked into a particular way to play the scene, and it lacks an immediacy."

Cruise: "The important thing in life is just to work toward being competent at things - in any area."

Cruise: "I've spent many birthdays on a movie set, all great days."

Cruise: "I look at the Samurai because they were the artists of their time. What I think struck me when I read Bushido is compassion. 'If there's no one there to help, go out and find someone to help.' That hit me, because I try to lead my life like that."

Cruise: "I love kids. I was a kid myself, once."

Cruise: "Awards are wonderful. I've been nominated many times and I've won many awards. But my journey is not towards that. If it happens it will be a blast. If it doesn't, it's still been a blast."

Cruise: "I don't care who you are, life has challenges."

Cruise: "When I first started out all the attention could be a bit unnerving, especially when people stared. Now I find the best thing is to just relax. Being recognized is just something you have to get used to."

Cruise: "Talk is over-rated as a means of settling disputes."