Jackson: “The best advice that was given to me was that I had to be 10 times smarter, braver and more polite to be equal. So I did.”

Jackson: “I’m not as angry as I used to be. But I can get in touch with that anger pretty quickly if I feel my space is being invaded or somebody is not treating me with the respect that I think I want.”

Jackson: “Anyone who tells you money can’t buy happiness never had any.”

Jackson: “Take a stand for what’s right. Raise a ruckus and make a change. You may not always be popular, but you’ll be part of something larger and bigger and greater than yourself. Besides, making history is extremely cool.”

Jackson: “I sit at home and read books… I’m not a big party guy.”

Jackson: “I read, watch television, watch movies, hang out with family. I like my clothes and I have great cars, and I drive those. But for most people, it’s like, 'That’s boring. You don’t club? You don’t party?'”

Jackson: "We need to change America's image round the world. America has lost some lustre in terms of how folks aspire to be like us."

Jackson: “Sometimes one of my ways of choosing movies that I want to do is if it’s the kind of movie I would have gone to see when I was a kid, and this is a movie I actually did go see, as a kid. And I think it will be exciting for audiences to see now.”

Jackson: "I don’t mind dying, I just don’t wanna go out like some punk."

Jackson: “I’m a good son, a good father, a good husband – I’ve been married to the same woman for 30 years. I’m a good friend. I finished college, I have my education, I donate money anonymously. So when people criticize the kind of characters that I play on screen, I go, ‘You know, that’s part of history.’”

Jackson: “I’m pretty focused on what I do. I think directing is a very specific talent, and I’m not real big on putting puzzles together, which is basically what a film is.”

Jackson: “When I’m not working, I like to play golf.”

Jackson: “I’ve made a way to allow myself to do big films, small films, dramas, comedies, action films, horror films, or whatever interests me, as a movie-goer. I like watching myself in movies. I want to choose movies that allow me to enjoy myself, the way that I want to entertain myself.”

Jackson: “I think the biggest challenges for franchises are keeping them fresh and exciting, and most times, you need a good bad guy to make that thing continually work, and sometimes they don’t.”

Jackson: "Not everybody goes to movies to get their life changed."

Jackson: “I never had one beer. If I bought a six-pack of beer, I kept drinking till all six beers were gone. You have to have that kind of understanding about yourself. I haven’t had a drink now in 12 years.”

Jackson: “I see myself as a storyteller. So, when I read something, I see the story, and I see it on screen, in my head, in a certain way. I always want to see it and see me in it.”

Jackson: “Lifelong readers continue to read, finding in books the means to enjoy life or endure it.”

Jackson: “I just always knew that I lived in two worlds. There was the world of my house and community, but to make my way in that white world I had to modify the way I spoke and acted. I had to sometimes not make direct eye contact.”

Jackson: “I have a lot more energy than I used to have.”

Jackson: “When people want me to sign an autograph in a restaurant, and I’m eating. I don’t even have to say no, I just kind of stop and look at them … 'Oh, okay. I’ll … I’ll come back.'”

Jackson: “I don’t understand how people live without creating.”

Jackson: "All movies aren't fun; some are hard work. You try to do something and convey a set of emotions that have to do with some real life kind of stuff."

Jackson: “Painters get up and paint. Writers get up and write. I like to get up and act. It’s not a big deal. It makes me happy.”

Jackson: “I understood, through rehab, things about creating characters. I understood that creating whole people means knowing where we come from, how we can make a mistake and how we overcome things to make ourselves stronger.”

Jackson: "I get paid all day, every day, which is almost too much for a sensitive artist."

Jackson: “We’ve come a long way in our thinking, but also in our moral decay. I can’t imagine Dr. King watching the ‘Real Housewives’ or ‘Jersey Shore.’”

Jackson: “If you have an opportunity to use your voice you should use it.”

Jackson: “People know about the Klan and the overt racism, but the killing of one’s soul little by little, day after day, is a lot worse than someone coming in your house and lynching you.”

Jackson: "It wasn't until I let go of the idea of the brass ring that it showed up, and fortunately for me, it coincided with getting clean."

Jackson: “I voted for Barack because he was black. ‘Cuz that’s why other folks vote for other people – because they look like them… That’s American politics, pure and simple.”

Jackson: “If you do not have courage, you may not have the opportunity to use any of your other virtues.”