67 Quotes by William Petersen

I can’t figure out how they decide on those things. So I don’t have any regrets about anything that I did that didn’t get a lot of people to see it.

I’ve been telling anybody who would listen that I wanted to do a series for the last 10 years. But I wouldn’t do it if I was just another cop pushing bad guys up against the wall.

I was horrible at science and math. I couldn’t pass a test to save my life! I’m surprised that it didn’t take me until I was 20 to graduate. That’s why my role is so cool – Grissom is the complete opposite of me.

Now I’m seen by more people in one episode than I was in 20 years of theatre and movies. It’s gratifying to have an impact on 25 million people a night, but I can say goodbye to my lunch-pail life as a working actor. I’m scared I might be a celebrity.

I get a lot of stuff from Germany – stuffed bugs and tarantulas.

Grissom is a character who doesn’t really want people poking around in his life. He likes to poke around in his work.

I’ve never been in this business for the recognition or the awards. I just want to do good work, grab a decent paycheck, and move onto the next job.

I won’t miss Grissom. It was a complete life for me that’s reached its end, and it’s reached it in the right way, I think. So I won’t miss Grissom. And I hope that the audience won’t miss him either.

One of the things I love about theater, one of the reasons I’ll never give it up, is that it’s fifty percent the audience’s responsibility.