The art of acting is not to act. Once you show them more, what you show them, in fact is bad acting.

Proper sleep has helped me get to where I am today as an athlete, and it is something that I continue to rely on every day.

This soul, or life within us, by no means agrees with the life outside us. If one has the courage to ask her what she thinks, she is always saying the very opposite to what other people say.

I have never used Auto-Tune in a live television performance, and I have never used Auto-Tune in any of my concerts. That is a promise.

I’m not a playwright.

At some point in time, you definitely have to go drama. Not to say that you’re going drama just because everybody else does it. You do it to challenge yourself. You do it because, naturally, in the profession of acting, you want to show growth. You want to say that you take the craft seriously.

Bad performances can happen and are not that serious – even with new players. You can’t, say, sell him, get a new one.

The worst crime is faking it.

I always wanted a great love affair: something that feels big and full, really honest, and enough. No moment should feel slight, false, or a little off. For me, it had to be everything.

Like any creative human being, I would like a bit more control so that it would be a little easier for me when the director says, ‚One tear, right now,‘ that one tear would pop out.

Sincere words are not fine; fine words are not sincere.

There are very few people who really appreciate my shows. People come to the show and they pay and they enjoy it, but I don’t really think most people really understand what they’ve seen.

I meant what I said and I said what I meant.

Let us begin by committing ourselves to the truth to see it like it is, and tell it like it is, to find the truth, to speak the truth, and to live the truth.

One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so when I hear about negative and false attacks, I really don’t invest any energy in them, because I know who I am.

The most virtuous are those who content themselves with being virtuous without seeking to appear so.

Never pretend to a love which you do not actually feel, for love is not ours to command.

I will never say something I don’t agree with or believe in… even if the reward is massive!

I’m always cast in these strange men… that’s not me, really.

All I can do is try to create my own brand and have people appreciate me for that.

The people who truly know me know what I’m like. There have been people who try to say things that aren’t fair, and I check them. And then they don’t like me because I checked them.

If you begin to understand what you are without trying to change it, then what you are undergoes a transformation.

I suppose my best attribute, if you want to call it that, is sincerity. I can sell sincerity because that’s the way I am.

All I have to say is basically if performing, singing, acting, and dancing is what you want to do, then you just have to do it – no matter where it is.

It’s very rare that you get a director that lets you be creative and bring what you feel your character should do or should be.

Who I am on stage is very, very different to who I am in real life.

I enjoy singing my songs in front of people.

Friends accept you the way you are.

I have learned that as long as I hold fast to my beliefs and values – and follow my own moral compass – then the only expectations I need to live up to are my own.

Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit.

I don’t make people bend over backwards, and I don’t like that in people. I am definitely no diva.

It’s like, remember who you always were, where you came from, who your parents were, how they raised you. Because that authentic self is going to follow you all through life, so make sure that it’s solid so it’s something that you can hold on and be proud of for the rest of your life.

I think one of my pursuits over the years is trying to answer the question of, ‚What else can you do with a voice other than stand in front of a microphone and sing?‘

My parents were the same in the pulpit as they were at home. I think that’s where a lot of preachers‘ kids get off base sometimes. Because they don’t see the same things at both places.

Dancers are always striving for perfection. A great dancer never achieves it: you always want to do another turn, a higher jump,a more difficult acrobatic jump.

When you are in good form, you keep hitting the target. You may have the best match but you may still not have the goals. But scoring is most important and it feels so good that I have been knocking them in. It really boosts the morale.

Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.

Act well your part, there all the honour lies.

I don’t feel much pressure to fit in. I never have. I’ve always just wanted to do my thing. I have really good friends and good family, and if I don’t fit in somewhere else, I fit in at home.

I never sell a book. I sell myself. And the way to sell yourself is to be an instrument of love.

Any artist, the work you do, if it’s a painting or if it’s a performance, you hope it translates to a common denominator with the people that they see something in their own life in there. Or they see something in somebody else’s life. That’s what’s fun about sharing art.

Jesus lived a life that was full of joy and contradictions and fights, you know? If they were to paint a picture of Jesus without contradictions, the gospels would be fake, but the contradictions are a sign of authenticity.

I’ve got no need to prove to myself that I can do Shakespeare. I’ve done it.

God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.

I’ve got a great sense of humor, and if I’m able to say or do something in a movie that people feel like they want to repeat, that’s hugely flattering.

My whole life is a theater piece.

Unless I am both capable of and willing to reopen the wound every time I write a song, if I choose to not look inside myself to write music, I’m really not worth being called an artist at all.

Vulnerability is about showing up and being seen. It’s tough to do that when we’re terrified about what people might see or think.

There are more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible that in any profane history.

If you’re performing music that is not who you are or where you’re at, it is painful. It’s painful for the performer and for the audience.

Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one’s thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.

I never wanted to look pretty on stage and sing about something we’ve all heard about before.

We can’t just choose to tell some facts and not others because we don’t want to upset people. We have to tell it like it is.

Some of the kids in school used to call my father a fake or a phony. That kind of thing brought on a few fights.

Those outside the church expect followers of Christ to live differently, yet today many in church are chasing after the world – not to win them, but to be like them.

The fact is that when you do something from your heart, you leave a heart print.

Give a critic an inch, he’ll write a play.

Hard times arouse an instinctive desire for authenticity.

Endorsements are a reward for good performance on the field, and the commitments made after signing them need to be done.

There’s a gap between what I want to do, what I do on camera, and what gets edited. Right? So the goal is to try and close the gaps. What’s the biggest compliment is if I read a review and it’s exactly what I wrote down in my diary before ever filming it. That’s really cool. That’s the biggest signifier of closing the gaps.

I’ve always been – you know, my personality is motivating and encouraging. And so I’m just being who God made me to be.