Matt Damon

Some people get into this business and they're so afraid to lose anything. They try to protect their position like clinging to a beachhead. These actors end up making really safe choices. I never wanted to go that route. If I go down, I'm going down swinging.

Being known as a writer did change the relationships I had with directors. The rap on actors is that they always want to inflate their parts. But when directors know you write screenplays and have a different view of things, you really get invited into the huddle in a much fuller way. And those collaborations end in friendships.

You will never solve poverty without solving water and sanitation.

Sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage

It's just better to be yourself than to try to be some version of what you think the other person wants.

If I had a bucket list, I'd say raising my four girls to be strong, good women would be No. 1.

There are people who appear in the magazines and I don't know who they are. I've never seen anything they've done and their careers are over already. They're famous for maybe 10 minutes. Real careers, I think, take a long time to unfold.

Listen, here's the thing. If you can't spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker.

Part of the American ethos is that you want to leave something better for your kids than you had and I know that my parents felt that way and I know that my grandparents felt that way and everybody worked hard so that their kids had a better chance. I just don't want to be the first generation that doesn't do that.

I think what's important for kids to know is that your decisions here on earth matter, your behavior matters and how you treat other people matters.