I enjoy the bad things that are said about me. It enhances [book] sales and makes me feel evil. I don’t like to feel good ’cause I am good. But evil? Yes. It gives me another dimension.

Source:Tough Guys Write Poetry by Sean Penn (September 1987); in Sunlight Here I Am: Interviews and Encounters 1963-1993(Sun Dog Press, ed. 2003), Page 221
Find more on

Themes