Top 70 Joaquin Phoenix Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “It takes nothing away from a human to be kind to an animal.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

2. “I like working all the time. I hate taking breaks. I don’t like the weekends.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

3. “Is it that your dream is unattainable or is it that you have the wrong dream?”

— Joaquin Phoenix

4. “Animal rights is a part of my everyday life. When you live by example, you create a certain level of awareness. Friends of mine – people I have never discussed animal rights or vegetarianism with – are adopting vegetarian habits because they see it.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

5. “I’m proud of my brother. I would never not want to be associated with him.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

6. “I don’t believe in god. I don’t believe in an afterlife. I don’t believe in soul. I don’t believe in anything. I think it’s totally right for people to have their own beliefs if it makes them happy, but to me it’s a pretty preposterous idea.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

7. “I’ve been in clubs. I don’t like being in an enclosed place with really loud music, and a lot of drunk people. It’s not my idea of a good time. It’s just such a miserable life.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

8. “I don’t know a single person in life that doesn’t have conflict.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

9. “For me, I’d rather have an intense experience than not.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

10. “I once told a journalist that girls call me ‘Kitten,’ but I couldn’t have been more sarcastic, and no matter how many times I’ve said that it was a joke, it still doesn’t go away.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

11. “I’m like the kid that crams for tests and never remembers anything.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

12. “I guess my experience with some stuff is kind of abstract.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

13. “Do I have a large frog in my hair? I have the sensation that something is eating my brain.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

14. “My significant other right now is myself, which is what happens when you suffer from multiple personality disorder and self-obsession.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

15. “I don’t have the slightest desire to speak over my dead brother. It gets on my nerves to always be compared with him. My brother was a magnificent person and an outstanding actor.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

16. “I know if I’m lost in the moment or not.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

17. “I’m very thankful for the people that I’ve had the opportunity to work with. I have a good life. It’s been amazing. I’m not complaining. It’s not like acting has ruined me so I have to leave. It’s not that. I’m just done with it.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

18. “Getting into the character is difficult and letting go of your life and the things that kind of define you, whatever it is in life that’s your daily routine because you sort of find yourself in this other life and that’s difficult and the other end is difficult.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

19. “The footage that you’re about to watch of China’s dog-leather trade is one of the worst things I’ve ever seen.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

20. “When I go out with the ladies, I don’t force them to pronounce my name. I tell them I like to go by the nickname of Kitten.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

21. “I just I don’t feel challenged by acting anymore. I don’t enjoy the process anymore.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

22. “I didn’t know much about him, and I wasn’t a big country music fan. I listened to the Beatles and David Bowie, so I didn’t know a lot about him.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

23. “I had a really wonderful upbringing. We were a tight family. It was wonderful to grow up with so many siblings. We were all just a year or two apart, and we were always so supportive of each other. I learned everything from my older brother and sister and taught it to my younger sisters.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

24. “I’ve never made $20 million. I’m scared. I don’t know if you gave me The Ring if I could carry it and bring it to Ozamorph, or whatever you call it.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

25. “My personal life absolutely goes down the drain when I start working; that’s something that I’m incapable of doing.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

26. “I love having a master. I have no problem serving my director. That’s my job. I want to make them happy.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

27. “I’ve been prepping for my role as Medusa.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

28. “It’s hard for me to put my feelings into words.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

29. “I’m going to sound a little weird here, but I like to spend a lot of time on my own in the woods. I don’t exactly sneak off in the middle of the night, but I like to be in a place where no one can reach me by phone or e-mail.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

30. “The reason I keep making movies is I hate the last thing I did. I’m trying to rectify my wrongs.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

31. “I love doing the music. I love programming beats and kind of working on the music as much, if not more, than the actual rapping.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

32. “I’m vomiting days before I start shooting a new movie.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

33. “I always have the fear that, if I don’t commit 100 percent to my work, then it’s gonna suffer.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

34. “I enjoy writing rhymes and sitting alone in a room listening to beats. It’s pretty amazing.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

35. “I still think that movies are amazing; I respect actors and directors.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

36. “I enjoy humour more than anything, I don’t really sit around banging my head and crying all the time.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

37. “My dissatisfaction with acting has nothing to do with being uncomfortable or vulnerable or feeling like people are going to criticize me. That’s not the problem.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

38. “Every movie soaks into you for a certain amount of time.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

39. “Whether you think a film will affect society or it’s plain entertainment, it’s all excellent, it’s all noble.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

40. “I think the day that I become comfortable doing interviews and going on talk shows is the day that I don’t know what it is to be a human being anymore.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

41. “When I look back I can’t believe how my parents managed, but the cliche is true. We didn’t have money, but we were rich in so many other ways.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

42. “I have this horrible sense of humor where I think discomfort is funny – partly because I experience discomfort a lot, and it’s a way of laughing at it and getting a release.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

43. “As a nation, this is the moment to start seriously investing our time, energy and resources into proven methods of reducing violence, both within our nation as well as internationally. The cost of violence to our culture and our children is simply not sustainable.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

44. “I do like to collaborate, and I like hearing other people, and I like how somebody’s performance will affect my own.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

45. “I don’t spend most of my life in front of the media.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

46. “It’s an amazing feeling to go into a studio and really be alone.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

47. “I becan acting when River was doing this TV series and they needed two kids for the show, so they got me and my little sister, Summer, to do it. After that I did some really weird guest spots with orangutans and stuff.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

48. “I like being an employee. I like making somebody happy – and if they’re not, then I’m crushed.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

49. “I don’t think one should be comfortable standing on a stage with people applauding and laughing at every stupid thing you say.”

— Joaquin Phoenix

50. “Acting is real important to me. I love it, and it’s something I care about.”

— Joaquin Phoenix