Cillian Murphy quotes: the actor who is Irish, and happens to have stunning eyes, speaks his truth.
“The best roles you have to fight for. You have to really want to do it and you have to go after it.”
“You have to get what you want your own way.”
“You can change what you do, but you can’t change what you want.”
“When you plan something, well, there’s no need to rush.”
“Those of you who are last will soon be first. And those of you who are downtrodden will rise up.”
“You take the job very seriously and between action and cut, that’s where your focus should be. And then there’s a lot of levity in between and a lot of good fun.”
“You have to learn your craft, learn your trade—and also you have to live a life and experience things.”
“If you make work that people like, they’ll get in contact with you.”
“You do your due diligence. It’s about bringing as much truth and honesty to the portrayal as possible.”
“I think it’s necessary to keep moving forward. I’ve always said that the nostalgia is death, really, for anyone creative.”
“I try not to think retrospectively. It’s important to look forward, always. I do try to take work that involves some challenge. If you approach a piece of work and you’re going, ‘Yeah, yeah, I can do that,’ then that’s kind of a red flag.”
“There’s always a level where you think you can improve and do better. Certainly at the beginning.”
“It’s always nice to be challenged.”
“I personally think if something’s not a challenge there’s no point doing it because you’re not gonna learn much.”
“My only two constants are to challenge myself and to try not to repeat myself.”
“I’m interested in pressure, I’m interested in duress. All the great works of art, or film or literature, in my opinion, have elements of those in them. I like seeing people under pressure. I like seeing what happens to people when they’re under pressure.”
“A good man needs to hold out sometimes.”
“Lies travel faster than the truth.”
“If you apologize once, you do it again and again and again.”
“You strike when your enemy is weak.”
“Fortune drops something valuable into your lap, you don’t just dump it on the bank of the cut.”
“I come from a long line of teachers. Not only did I not go into the family business; I had an aborted law career and I played in bands.”
“I’m Irish and very proud of being Irish. I’m an actor who is Irish, not an Irish actor. And you shouldn’t be limited by your extraction.”
“I’ve never done a film for the money. I always needed to get up and perform.”
“It’s always about the work. If it’s good writing, I’m there. All I’ve tried to do as an actor is follow the good writing. That’s been my main drive. It’s not always possible, so when you do come upon it, like when I came upon this, you realize pretty quickly this is something you need to be involved with.”
“It’s hard work, and it should be hard work.”
“I just want to do the work as best as I can, and if that effects change for somebody, then that is great. I don’t want to change the world.”
“I don’t consider myself a shy person necessarily, but there’s something about getting under the skin of a character and allowing you an abandon or a sense of courage that you would never have in your own life.”
“I feel very lucky to be making good work still. The confidence of youth, or that sort of competitiveness you get when you’re 22 or 23, the impatience—that’s probably been tempered.”
“What’s the best age to be? The age you are, I guess. That’s what everyone says, isn’t it? I really like being middle-age. There was no sense of panic at turning 40, I’ve got a lot more common-sense now than I had when I was 21.”
“Patience is required. If you want to have any kind of longevity in this game, you’ve got to be able to pick and choose the work, and not just work all of the time.”
“Business and art are uneasy bedfellows. As you get older, you realize there has to be a balance.”
“I’ve had the pleasure and the great luck to work with some incredible actors over the years and you have to observe and learn and take something from it and try and become better yourself.”
“If you behave like a celebrity, then people will treat like you like a celebrity, and if you don’t, they won’t. There’s not much to write about me in the tabloids.”
“I like being at home with my music and my books. I’ve done all the partying, I’ve done enough partying for four or five people as a young fella. But now I like the quiet life.”
“I hope that I have gained some wisdom, but I don’t know. I have kids, and that certainly puts things into perspective. I think I’m a more patient person. I hope I’m a more patient person. I’m a little more relaxed about the peripheral side of this business, which I used to find very confusing and alarming.”
“After kids, the desire to improve as an actor remains, but time becomes hugely important. I want to do good work and do it well but then be at home. I love hanging out with my children, seeing how they behave, and stealing ideas off them.”
“Becoming a father has changed me. It gives you a jolt and you re-examine the big questions. I’m enjoying it, and without sounding schmaltzy I hope it’s made me a better person. They’re everything to me, those kids, and it does make you realize that all we do is dress up and make movies. Yes, movies are worthwhile, and they’re important, but the stuff of the day-to-day is children.”
“For me, it’s about being at home and living a life. Taking the dog for a walk, doing the shopping, emptying the dishwasher, going for a run.”
“Running is the only form of exercise that I enjoy. I used to do 10Ks and half marathons, but now I just run for my head.”
“I luckily found something that I could aspire to be good at. I got very passionate about it very quickly.”
“I’m not interested in a good man’s life. I am interested in contradiction.”
“I’d probably have been wealthier if I had stayed with law, but pretty miserable doing it.”
“You need to be as clean of a slate as you can be, as an actor. You have to try to be open to every experience.”
“I’m not a traitor to my class. I am just an extreme example of what a working man can achieve.”
“I’m still a work in progress. It’s a constant course of learning and hopefully improving.”
“Men and women are custodians of this society, and we both decide what’s going to happen for our future. I feel that very, very strongly.”
“There is no rest for me in this world. Perhaps in the next.”
“I’ve been lucky, for whatever reason.”
