An actor should never be larger than the film he's in."

"I took it like a man. He was really tender, very caring. He hugged me afterward. But he never writes. He never calls. Goddamn him! Actually, it was a freezing night when we were doing the scene, and it was far less explicit than Ewan and myself thought it was going to be. The camera was on another roof looking across at us. The only thing Todd did was whisper, 'Cut,' rather than shouting it, so that Ewan and I couldn't hear. We were going at it for ages. Then Ewan sort of turned his head and realized, 'Hey, the camera's not f--king pointed at us anymore!' So, I sort of turned my head. We stop, and the whole crew is just sitting there. They'd cut ages ago!" - Christian Bale, on filming the sex scene with Ewan McGregor in "Velvet Goldmine".

"(It was) horrific. I was almost crying in interviews and running away during press conferences, pretending I was going to the bathroom and just disappearing." - on dealing with the resulting media attention of Empire of the Sun at age 13. "I enjoyed making the film, but I was shocked when I received all the attention when I got home to Bournemouth. Girls were all over me, boys wanted to fight me and I was being asked to open local fetes when all I wanted to do was ride my BMX bike in the woods. I told my parents I wasn't interested in doing anything again because the attention ruined it." - on the sudden fame that resulted after Empire of the Sun

"I don't want to know about the lives of other actors and I don't want people to know too much about me. If we don't know about the private lives of other actors, that leaves us as clean slates when it comes to playing characters. That's the point, they can create these other characters and I can believe them. I think if you're a good enough actor, that's the way to longevity in the film business. Keep everybody guessing."

"My first kiss was from a young Polish trapeze artist named Barta."

"I have a fear of being boring."

"All I wanted was to be a Storm Trooper in Star Wars."

"I want to work as much as I can and still go to parties and be the geezer in the corner."

"I love going to night clubs, but there are things that should be done anonymously, y'know? The key is to dress like shit, which I always do."

"You say something bad about Newsies and you have an awful lot of people to answer to."

"I've been lucky because there wasn't a sudden leap where people were saying, 'Oh, what a cute kid,' and then it's, 'Bloody hell, what happened there, he's got zits and hair in his arm pits--he must be spending a lot of time alone in his room.' Of course I was spending a lot of time alone in my room."

"I have a jones for actresses."

"I'm sort of a paradox."

"My musical days are over."

"I'm really boring. I'll have to reassess my life."

"I don't want to sound like some cheesy commercial, but you can tell everything about someone by her eyes."

"If it [his film career] all ended tomorrow, I'd just live by the sea and be perfectly happy."

"If everyone really knew what a jerk I am in real life, I wouldn't be so adored in the slightest. I consider it very flattering, but I don't dwell on it too much." -from an EOnline interview

"I also had an obsession with Watership Down when I was younger--I read it, like, eight times in row. I don't know why. I've always been a real animal lover, and it was all about rabbits, so I found it really fascinating." -from an EOnline interview

" It's bizarre, but if you're an actor, there have to be times when you're ready to step up to the plate and make a fool of yourself and possibly embarrass yourself. But I find that with sex scenes, they always become quite funny and the opposite of sexy." -from an EOnline interview.

"Well, yeah, because he was behind me. You know, position. It's just basic biology." -when asked if there is any difference in a gay sex scene and a straight sex scene.

" I had a strange meeting with someone when I was younger. I was sitting with some friends in a café. A couple of girls sat down with us, and one of them told us she was dating Christian Bale, which was sort of bizarre. So, I listened to her, and we were saying things like, "Oh, wow, he must be horrible. I'd hate to be him." Then I said, "You idiot, that's me!" and she sort of ran from the coffee shop."

"Horseshit! [Laughing.] I love the smell of it."