Ricky Gervais quotes
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Famous people are above the law,
-- Ricky Gervais -
I get so sick of people asking: "What's your demographic?" Or: "Oh we've got to aim this at..." No, you have to aim it at you. You do the thing you would love... make the thing you would love and be proud of. There's enough people in the world that, if you do that and do it well as a single vision, they'll go: "That's my favourite thing ever!"
-- Ricky Gervais -
Same sex marriage isn't gay privilege, it's equal rights. Privilege would be something like gay people not paying taxes. Like churches don't.
-- Ricky Gervais -
I think doing something creative is the most important thing to me, and I think it's probably just good for the soul for anyone, whatever it is. You don't have to be a film director - you can do gardening or something - but I think everyone needs to create something.
-- Ricky Gervais -
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Telling someone with depression to pull themselves together is about as useful as telling someone with cancer to just stop having cancer
-- Ricky Gervais -
The world is bigger than all the parts. That's the important thing, and one thing can throw everything off kilter. And you must never let yourself off. You'll let yourself off by mistake. So you shouldn't do it consciously. You have to be above it all and just be very disciplined with it. Just be very disciplined with it.
-- Ricky Gervais -
I've never been insulted by hateful satanists for not believing in their devil. Only by loving Christians for not believing in their God.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Comedy and drama are different sides of the same coin. And the thing about comedy and drama is about likability. It's about character first. It's about story. And for me, it's about empathy, and I think the realer someone is, the further you can go either way with them.
-- Ricky Gervais -
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Mondays are fine. It's your life that sucks
-- Ricky Gervais -
I've got three friends that you'd call famous, but I'm sure after 20 years, most of my friends will be famous or work in television, because that's the nature of what your work is. When I was working in an office, most of my friends worked in offices.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Take a picture not a trophy This is how real men shoot animals
-- Ricky Gervais -
Sometimes I'll be confident and go into a shop and say, "Hello, yeah, all right," and then the next day, if someone looks at me or talks to me, I just don't know what to do. If you're walking down the street with a baseball cap, you might be fine. But if you're in a pub and you see someone look at you, you think the worst thing in the world now is if they come over. It's a really weird feeling.
-- Ricky Gervais -
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Dear Religion, This week I safely dropped a man from space while you shot a child in the head for wanting to go to school. Yours, Science.
-- Ricky Gervais -
I think sometimes you get given a good pile of goodwill, and it's whether you use it up in the first six months or spread it out over a career.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Why buy a book when you can join a library?
-- Ricky Gervais -
It's a privilege to be in such a great category of people and... I don't believe in God, so I'd like to thank dogs. Dogs have given me everything.
-- Ricky Gervais -
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Unlike religious people, I look at all religions equally.
-- Ricky Gervais -
I think everyone has the ability to be loved.
-- Ricky Gervais -
If there is a God, why did he make me an atheist?
-- Ricky Gervais -
I've probably done the odd thing. I've probably done more than I would have done and some things you don't say no to. You don't say no to working with "The Simpsons"... the greatest comedy show on television. You mustn't. Even though going to my bad judgment, I remember saying that all I can do is make this show slightly worse.
-- Ricky Gervais -
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Opinions don't affect facts. But facts should affect opinions, and do, if you're rational
-- Ricky Gervais -
We only do what we think is good and what we're happy with. I do that in stand-up, I even do it with my children's books. I don't do market research, I don't have focus groups, I don't care. I don't care if it fails, honestly. I'd rather have something that's completely mine fail than something succeed that I'm not proud of.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Being an atheist makes someone a clearer thinking, fairer person. They [atheists] are not doing things to be rewarded in heaven; they're doing things because they're right, because they live by a moral code.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Someone asked me what three things I would save if my house was on fire. I said my cat, my salamander and one of the twins.
-- Ricky Gervais -
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People confuse the subject of the joke with the target of the joke, and they're very rarely the same.
-- Ricky Gervais -
You won't burn in hell. But be nice anyway.
-- Ricky Gervais -
People have let me down in the past. I've loved something, and it's become a disgrace. I'd rather start again.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Enjoy life. Have fun. Be kind. Have worth. Have friends. Be honest. Laugh. Die with dignity. Make the most of it. It's all we've got.
-- Ricky Gervais -
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I never think of myself as a celebrity - or even an actor, actually. I think of myself as a writer-director.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Next time someone tells me they believe in God, I'll say 'Oh which one? Zeus? Hades? Jupiter? Mars? Odin? Thor? Krishna? Vishnu? Ra?...' If they say 'Just God. I only believe in the one God,' I'll point out that they are nearly as atheistic as me. I don't believe in 2,870 gods, and they don't believe in 2,869.
-- Ricky Gervais -
I see myself much more as a writer/director or at least an aspiring writer/director - not necessarily in film.
-- Ricky Gervais -
It's better to create something that others criticise than to create nothing and criticise others. Go create, have fun!!
-- Ricky Gervais -
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I think the social faux par is probably what most people fear... more people fear public speaking than death and that's because we don't want to make a fool of ourselves. It's fundamental.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Life is so interesting... just every day life. I remember someone once saying: "Drama is real life with the boring bits taken out."
-- Ricky Gervais -
When you are dead, you do not know you are dead. It's only painful and difficult for others. The same applies when you are stupid.
-- Ricky Gervais -
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If you're surrounded by idiots, you're the unpopular one and the odd one out because idiots don't like smart asses.
-- Ricky Gervais -
I see Atheists are fighting and killing each other again, over who doesn't believe in any God the most. Oh, no..wait.. that never happens.
-- Ricky Gervais -
If you walked around like David Bowie in 1973 in Reading, you'd get beaten up. The 1970s in a small town was more like the 1950s.. and that's the truth. The backdrop was probably Victorian.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Science seeks the truth. And it does not discriminate. For better or worse it finds things out. Science is humble. It knows what it knows and it knows what it doesn’t know. It bases its conclusions and beliefs on hard evidence -Â- evidence that is constantly updated and upgraded. It doesn’t get offended when new facts come along. It embraces the body of knowledge. It doesn’t hold on to medieval practices because they are tradition.
-- Ricky Gervais -
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People think that it's fun to meet celebrities - but what do you mean by "celebrity"? Someone you recognise? What are they famous for? It's people who've done something that are exciting.
-- Ricky Gervais -
It’s a strange myth that atheists have nothing to live for. It’s the opposite. We have nothing to die for. We have everything to live for.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Popularity and democracy aren't a judge, they're just stats.
-- Ricky Gervais -
The best advice I've ever received is, 'No one else knows what they're doing either.
-- Ricky Gervais -
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Growing up, the two things that made my blood boil were religious intolerance and animal cruelty. I've never understood it. I can't stand to have an animal in pain.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Got a proper job at 28. Gave it up to try comedy at 38. Decided to get fit and healthy at 48. It's never too late. But do it now
-- Ricky Gervais -
I think the job of a comedian is to make people laugh, but also challenge them to laugh at things they didn't know they could until now.
-- Ricky Gervais -
The existence of God is not subjective. He either exists or he doesn’t. It’s not a matter of opinion. You can have your own opinions. But you can’t have your own facts.
-- Ricky Gervais -
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You can drive 1,000 miles across America and find yourself, whereas if you drive a few miles from Slough you're in London anyway, or you hit Wales and you're in another country! Also, wherever you are in England it's still raining.
-- Ricky Gervais -
I've never worked out what the moral of Humpty Dumpty is. I can only think of: Don't sit on a wall, if you're an egg.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Where there's a will - there's a relative!
-- Ricky Gervais -
I don't see myself as part of an acting fraternity or a comedy fraternity.
-- Ricky Gervais -
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Be happy. It really annoys negative people.
-- Ricky Gervais -
There are so many films now where you know the story is a supporting role to the visual effects.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Animals are not here for us to do as we please with. We are not their superiors, we are their equals. We are their family. Be kind to them.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Americans are brought up to believe they can grow up to be the president of the United States. Brits are told, It won't happen to you.
-- Ricky Gervais -
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Atheism is a belief systemâ€, is like saying “not going skiing, is a hobby.
-- Ricky Gervais -
I went to university with no money. I can't understand a society that wouldn't give a poor person the same opportunity as a rich person.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Honor is a gift a man gives himself. You can be as good as anyone that ever lived. If you can read, you can learn everything that anyone ever learned. But you've got to want it.
-- Ricky Gervais -
I always knew I had to be 100 percent in charge, even when I was a middle manager. I used to say to my boss, "Just give me enough rope and then fire me." I always knew I had to be 100 percent in charge, even when I was a middle manager. I used to say to my boss, "Just give me enough rope and then fire me."
-- Ricky Gervais -
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A Christian telling an atheist they're going to hell is as scary as a child telling an adult they're not getting any presents from Santa.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Real racist jokes or sexist jokes aren't funny - not because they're offensive, but because they're not true. As soon as a joke is based on an untruth, it's not funny.
-- Ricky Gervais -
I think comedy has to be an intellectual pursuit. It comes down to logic and analysis. As soon as it becomes emotional, it's not comedy anymore.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Never fear the truth. No bad can come of discussing a true subject. No bad at all.
-- Ricky Gervais -
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Hollywood is responsible for some of the greatest and worst movies of all time!
-- Ricky Gervais -
I think Hollywood's gotten more reactionary and conservative over the years, because there's no longer art in Hollywood. Art suffers in Hollywood.
-- Ricky Gervais -
You see reality TV and it's not reality TV. It's contrived and everything is plotted and scripted nearly. Documentaries are the same and just as bad.
-- Ricky Gervais -
I never understood redemption when I was young. Even before I was an atheist, I always thought with the prodigal son, "well, why's he getting the special treatment?".
-- Ricky Gervais -
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It's quite easy to make a load of people laugh, it's often a reflex action, but I think to make them cry is harder without manipulating them.
-- Ricky Gervais -
I'm not a film snob at all. I much prefer a really good Hollywood blockbuster than a thought-provoking art house movie because entertainment is sort of where it's at.
-- Ricky Gervais -
It's interesting that music in this country... we sort of sold something to America with The Beatles and they sold something back. And we've never been afraid to embrace American style rock 'n' roll and make it our own over here.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Whatever else is happening, things are better in the sun.
-- Ricky Gervais -
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I use people's real voices because I want realism. So often I mention the actors' physicality because I want it to be like a real documentary.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Someone trying to be funny probably isn't as funny as someone who doesn't want to be funny but is and can't help it. Someone being serious or angry might be funny. If you get angry, the first thing I want to do is laugh because I don't know why you're getting that angry. Pathos makes me laugh, funerals make me laugh.
-- Ricky Gervais -
When I direct my own scripts, it's much easier as it's been in my head for a year already. What I love about this is having an idea and seeing it come to fruition onscreen. I would like to direct someone else's script one day, but I might not get round to it before I die - you can't legislate for being hit by a bus!
-- Ricky Gervais -
When you think of things like The Sopranos, The Wire, Damages, they are beating film on a regular basis. Most films are terrible. It's only the 2% that are good. There's things you can do on TV which you can't do on film. There is something about those episodic, serialisations that are grand and operatic.
-- Ricky Gervais -
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There are good and bad critics like good or bad artists. A good critic says why they didn't like it. A bad critic gives it away that they don't like you as a person. I quite like that as well, because it means that I've won.
-- Ricky Gervais -
If you pay attention to good critics, you have to listen to the bad. So you have to ignore them all really. You can't just cherry pick the glowing ones.
-- Ricky Gervais -
[As a kid] I did enjoy making people laugh but I was also attracted to funny people. I'm [still] quite happy to not be the one trying to make other people laugh. I'm happy laughing at someone else. I enjoy laughing and I'll happily be the one just laughing all night if you can make me laugh.
-- Ricky Gervais -
I like big escapist films. It's odd because the type of comedian I am and the things I do when I'm writing and directing myself usually deal with the darker side of the human psyche and excruciating social faux pas. I often deal in taboos and the subjects I do as a stand-up are quite challenging. But my film roles have been much more fun and escapist.
-- Ricky Gervais -
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To complain about critics in a business is like a sailor complaining about the waves. Go back to the beach if you don't like it.
-- Ricky Gervais -
There's a difference between a job and a career - if you're the boss you don't stop at six o'clock, you have to worry about everything all the time.
-- Ricky Gervais -
The most important thing in comedy - apart from empathy, which I think is important even if disguised - is surprise. I like surprising people with the fact that something's even a joke at all.
-- Ricky Gervais -
There's nothing as perfect as the initial idea. And the only reason I write and direct is to protect the writing, because that's what's most precious.
-- Ricky Gervais -
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There was a nobility in poverty when I was growing up. My mom was poor but she was planting roses and she was cleaning the steps, you know what I mean. You didn't feel sorry for yourself.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Everything you do is autobiographical. Yeah, I grew up in a town called Redding and I had older brothers and sisters so it's all my memories of growing up.
-- Ricky Gervais -
I had great memories of growing up in a working class estate. I remember it being sunny all the time. So we're putting that on screen. It's not people wallowing in degradation.
-- Ricky Gervais -
The terrible thing in England is if you interview a thousand people, five hundred of them will talk like they're going into a Guy Ritchie movie and the other five hundred will be Mr. Darcy. So we had to find cool, working class kids with no profile who could be John Travolta and James Dean and people like that.
-- Ricky Gervais -
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It breaks your heart when you throw something away, but it's what left that counts. It's like worrying about the bits of rock you have knocked off in order to make a beautiful statue. You've wasted half the rock, yeah, but it's the Venus di Milo!
-- Ricky Gervais -
I feel that a lot of British comedy is often too bombastic, too obvious, dressing up and shouting and pulling funny faces.
-- Ricky Gervais -
I didn't have toys and bikes; I'd go out and pick up rocks. I was into science and nature. It was my first love. I was going to be a vet and a marine biologist. I went to university and studied biology for two weeks and I just thought: "I've been conned!"
-- Ricky Gervais -
I don't feel any pressure at all because I don't care. That's an occupational hazard... but if you're doing anything of any worth, and not doing something that's safe and anodyne and trying to be populist and a national treasure, then you've got to assume that as many people hate what you do - and you - as like what you do and like you.
-- Ricky Gervais -
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I always chose all my friends on whether they were funny. What's a better way to pass the time than laughing or smiling?
-- Ricky Gervais -
I want to get all the nations of the world together, it doesn't matter what colour or creed, and I want to sit them down and say: "Guys, The Office is still available on DVD."
-- Ricky Gervais -
I've always dabbled. I've always nearly written a book, I've always tried painting, I've always tried to make something out of ideas, really. It was never a plan. I never thought, "Right. First I'll get famous, and then I'll do a book.
-- Ricky Gervais -
I have to be excited, I have to have an adrenaline rush about doing something, or it bores me, I feel trapped.
-- Ricky Gervais -
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I've never regretted saying no to anything, or finishing something. When I'm in the middle of doing something I love, I can have a better idea, and I'll go, "Oh God, I can't finish this." Maybe I've got some sort of disorder.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Even if it's such a lowly art as TV, you've got to get stuff off your chest, because that's what makes something different and original, your particular take on stuff.
-- Ricky Gervais -
Where's our Paul Newmans? Where's our Robert Redfords? We've got Jason Statham, who is great... blue collar and cool, which is fantastic. And we've got Hugh Grant, which is great. But where's this crossover, this blue collar guy who is cool? Where is our James Dean? Where is our John Travolta and Steve McQueen?
-- Ricky Gervais -
For every wacky postcard, there's a million people waiting to buy it, and for every $10 million of those things, there's one Rembrandt. Purposely, I think I want to aim at doing something that a lot of people won't like. I'm just worried that it looks like I've compared my work with Rembrandt. "Gervais says he's better than Rembrandt!".
-- Ricky Gervais -
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