I am going to stop calling you a white man and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man.

Man is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.

You're going to relegate my history to a month.

It's what I learn from the great actors that I work with. Stillness. That's all and that's the hardest thing.

As you grow in this business, you learn how to do more with less.

People say it's a movie about boxing, but... I don't agree at all. I don't think it's a movie about boxing. Boxing is like a platform. It's just a stage where this is played out.

Life doesn't offer you promises whatsoever so it's very easy to become, 'Whatever happened to... ?' It's great to be wanted. I spent a few years not being wanted and this is better.

I do know there are a lot of people who seem to be in my corner, and that's, of course, wonderful. I'm really more interested in the nomination than in the award, because I think the nomination just puts you within a group of outstanding actors.

I don't know what my favorite film of mine is... But I think the most important film I was in was 'Glory'.

Just that working with Clint again is like coming home.

And that if you become a star, people are going to go to see you. If you remain an actor, they're going to go and see the story you're in.

I gravitate towards gravitas.

If you live a life of make-believe, your life isn't worth anything until you do something that does challenge your reality. And to me, sailing the open ocean is a real challenge, because it's life or death.