I never like being touched, ever. People used to say I held my breath when they were hugging me. I still do.

I love reading people. I really enjoy watching, observing, and being able to figure out a person, the reason they wore that dress, the reason they smell the way they do.

I have no problem if someone wants to hug me – if I know him!

I always think if you are asking somebody for something it is a good idea to give them something first.

I guess maybe when you get past 70, other people start asking you how you feel.

Public behavior is merely private character writ large.

I spent a lot of years trying to outrun or outsmart vulnerability by making things certain and definite, black and white, good and bad. My inability to lean into the discomfort of vulnerability limited the fullness of those important experiences that are wrought with uncertainty: Love, belonging, trust, joy, and creativity to name a few.

I get naturally uncomfortable when I’m put under a magnifying glass.

You know, God has some really weird kids, and I find it hard to be in their company most of the time.

I know who I am, I know what I can and can’t do. I know what I will and won’t do. I know what I’m capable of and I don’t agree to do things that I don’t think I can pull off.

You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him.

I’m not that keen on the idea of being unconscious.

There are certain things that bother me and certain things that don’t. Personal attacks on me? I think I’m just so used to it.

I won’t let people write anything they want to about me.

I’m not comfortable being around too many people. I don’t like being out in public too much. I don’t like going to bars. I don’t like doing celebrity stuff. So most of the characters I play are people who don’t always feel comfortable beyond their small circle of friends.

It is very hard to not be able to engage with people in a real and honest way because they either want something from me, or they see me as something that I simply am not.

If we’re really honest with ourselves, most of us will admit that we want to impress people, and this is what’s causing us to do what we do.

I’ve always put everybody else’s child first before my own health, before my own outfit, before my own time frame.

I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me… All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.

The other night I ate at a real nice family restaurant. Every table had an argument going.

I hate pain, despite my ability to tolerate it beyond all known parameters, which is not necessarily a good thing.

Why is it you always meet people when you look your worst?

I am not a second option person. It is that or nothing. If it is not the way I see it I prefer not to see it.

There is no private life which has not been determined by a wider public life.

My concerts are about me being very private in public, but I’m very protective.

When I walk outside, people have something to say about it.

Luckily for me, people don’t scream at me that much in my everyday life.

The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly greater than that of any other animal.

You have to be careful about how much you reveal to people that look up to you so much.

I love hugging people. I still hug everybody in my meet-and-greet lines.

I could never give relationship advice to anybody!

One of the most terrible feelings in the world is knowing that someone else doesn’t like you. Especially when you don’t know what you’ve done to deserve it.

I was raised in a family where vulnerability was barely tolerated: no training wheels on our bicycles, no goggles in the pool, just get it done. And so I grew up not only with discomfort about my own vulnerability, I didn’t care for it in other people either.

When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.

If I’m in a bad mood, or if I’m uncomfortable, it’s probably what I’m wearing that’s making me feel that way.

NBC had a show called ‚The Toughest Bouncer in America‘ that I did. But I told them I didn’t like that term, ‚bouncer.‘ To me, it’s offensive. A bouncer likes to get physical, likes to put his hands on people.

Our whole life is set up in the path of least resistance. We don’t want to suffer. We don’t want to feel discomfort. So the whole time, we’re living our lives in a very comfortable area. There’s no growth in that.

If you don’t stand your ground, then all that happens is people push you backwards.

Not everybody is comfortable with the idea that politics is a guilty addiction. But it is.

I don’t dabble and spend much mind or time dealing with, I don’t know, people’s perceptions of me. I truly don’t.

If I feel anxious every time someone is staring at me, well, I can’t control what they stare at, but my reaction is, I’m just not going to go outside the house. I’m going to stay in and chill. And when I do go out, I understand what comes along with that.

Sometimes I’ve been to a party where no one spoke to me for a whole evening. The men, frightened by their wives or sweeties, would give me a wide berth. And the ladies would gang up in a corner to discuss my dangerous character.

Even now I will go to, like, an industry event, and all the ladies will be over here and all the guys over here, and I will go to the guys‘ table and sit because I just feel I can have a much better conversation over there. And that’s automatic; it’s not prejudice.

You know, you can make a small mistake in language or etiquette in Britain, or you could when I was younger, and really be made to feel it, and it’s the flick of a lash, but it would sting, and especially at school where there’s not much privacy, and so on. You could, yes, undoubtedly be made to feel crushed.

I’ve learned that usually, the less I know about other people, the better off I am.

After coming into contact with a religious man I always feel I must wash my hands.

Don’t tell your problems to people: eighty percent don’t care; and the other twenty percent are glad you have them.

I don’t like people looking at someone else’s image.

Working out the social politics of who you can trust and why is, quite literally, what a very large part of our brain has evolved to do.

I dislike feeling at home when I am abroad.

The only person who ever called me Paul was my father, so I always associate it with doing something wrong, you know. So, you know, occasionally, people will come up to me on the street and try to, you know, ingratiate themselves and call me Paul. I don’t like it, actually.

I try to very hard to avoid a situation where I would be eating cat or dog; I’ve managed to gracefully avoid that. It’s hypocritical of me and an arbitrary line, but one that I have managed to avoid crossing.

Give yourself more opportunities for privacy, when you are not bombarded with duties and obligations. Privacy is not a rejection of those you love; it is your deserved respite for recharging your batteries.

I have a difficult time sitting down for long periods.

The answer I found is you stay away from the people who make fun of you, and you join these ad hoc groups who understand your craziness.

An Englishman thinks he is moral when he is only uncomfortable.

I felt extremely uncomfortable as the focal point, in the spotlight. I really like the behind the scenes role, because all my freedom is there.

Hell is other people.

My father had a dairy farm. He employed three black families and one white family, and I used to play with black children.

I don’t compare myself to anyone else; I don’t make comments about anyone else because they do what feels right for them, and that’s okay by me.

It’s not a slam at you when people are rude, it’s a slam at the people they’ve met before.