Gerard Butler quotes: on what he would’ve been if it weren’t for acting, what motivates him, being a bachelor in a city full of hotties, and more.
“Be the hero of your own life story.”
“Do the best work that you can and [don’t] make it bland… because you’re going down a lane that is trying to make everybody happy. You have to take an angle on these things.”
“At the end of the day, what matters is that you do your best in every job you do.”
“The fact that you touched somebody’s soul or made them laugh – that’s a wonderful thing.”
“To me, it’s always good to retain a sense of wonder and never get too big for life, like you’ve seen it all before.”
“The thing about courage is it’s something that we have to learn and relearn our whole lives. It’s not just in you, it’s in every choice we make every day.”
“Lessons not learned in blood are soon forgotten.”
“Don’t take yourself too seriously. Over the years I’ve been given many bits of advice, but that is the one that will keep you happy.”
“Ever since I was a child, I have loved being the center of attention, but similarly, I can’t remember a time in my life that I haven’t battled with all sorts of quandaries, fears and weaknesses.”
“I have a level of fear going into every project, and that’s what keeps me going.”
“You know that every bead of sweat falling off your head, every weight you’ve pumped – the history of that is all in your eyes.”
“I think there’s a part of you that always imagines that if you encounter success, every fiber of your being will change. You know your whole cellular structure will change. And you will suddenly think and feel and behave like a different person… and you don’t.”
“I wasn’t going to be an actor. I was going to be a lawyer. I came from a family just above working class, just below middle class, a great family of wonderful values. The idea of me having a chance for a law degree was enticing. Enticing to me but also very enticing to my family.”
“I’m very happy, but I’ve had a pretty intense and crazy life. I’ve been through a lot, and a lot of it I wish that I hadn’t. As an actor, I’m so glad that I went through it all because if I hadn’t had been through the craziness that I went through, I’d be a lawyer.”
“I did spend a lot of my childhood playing out movie scenarios in my head. I’d walk along the road, pretending like I was in the army, talking on the radio, and doing maneuvers. I dreamed a lot about performing in movies and living in fantasies.”
“It was always a dream as I was growing up. I would watch movies, mostly American movies, and be so engrossed in those stories, all I wanted to do was be there. I wanted to be part of that romance or that fantasy or be that warrior or that struggling soul who finally makes it good.”
“I don’t know whether it’s spiritual development or trying to learn the psychology with being an actor, but I realize the more I get into it that this was something I was always supposed to do. That allowed me to sit easier in the life I was living. But that doesn’t mean to say you just stroll through it. It takes work and the work is not always about acting. It’s sometimes about how you deal with the ups and downs of hope, of expectation.”
“There’s a great sense of achievement, testosterone, fun, being able to live out your masculinity when you play an action role or an action-adventure or a real tough-guy role.”
“When I’m making a movie, it’s making use of my creative juices, and it fills me up with what really is – I think my purpose here is to tell stories. Telling a story, having an impact on people’s lives, moving them and making them laugh.”
“I’m a very intense person, so I go very intensely and passionately into what I do.”
“I think it’s one of the nicest privileges as an actor is to know that you can move people in one moment, make them think about their lives, or make them laugh or make them cry or make them understand something. Or just make them feel something because I think so many of us, including myself, spend too much time not feeling enough, you know?”
“I had to prove myself to a lot of different people.”
“The chance to be both artistically appreciated and commercially appreciated… that’s what you hope for.”
“I see a lot of actors for whom life becomes one big schedule. I guess I try to be more sensitive to my private life – to take a breath of fresh air and be in the countryside or on a golf course.”
“It’s only recently that I’ve started to think that everything I am, good and bad, is what makes me. Instead of fighting all the bad and just being so unhappy. That’s just me, that’s just the way I am. I am not saying I’m going to try to improve but there is a level of acceptance. I’m doing well and I’m doing well because of who I am.”
“Manscaping and all of that is not my thing. I’m more of the Clint Eastwood kind of guy.”
“No matter what you have to go through and what you suffer, when you have true love, you can put up with anything.”
“I love to spend a lot of time on my own. I can seriously go into my own head and often love to let myself travel where I don’t know where I’m going.”
“When I’m 80 and sagging all over, I can tell my grandkids, ‘Look, when I was a lad, People magazine thought I was sexy!'”
“Now, I feel like I’m sitting pretty. I’m loving the work and loving keeping up with it all. It’s good times at the moment; I sometimes complain, but then I’m reminded by people that I could be mopping up toilets somewhere or, which is even worse for me personally, be back as a lawyer in Scotland!”
“I feel pretty good. I don’t think I look too bad! I’m comfortable enough with myself to be happy.”
“I’m a single successful Scottish actor in a city full of beautiful women, and I will admit to having the time of my life.”
Related: Bradley Cooper quotes.
