Russell Crowe quotes: thoughts on arrogance, temper tantrums, becoming a genius, the one thing better than a beautiful mind, and more.
“Imagine what you will be, and it will be so.”
“I think that’s what it’s like with all our dreams and our nightmares… we’ve got to keep feeding them for them to stay alive.”
“In my life there were times when dreams have nothing to do with reality, but obviously they were prophetic dreams. And I know that if we look closely and listen carefully, we can see the supernatural signs that determine our future. We all meet with various everyday difficulties and, overcoming them, we grow and develop.”
“If you live like it’s the past and you behave like it’s the past, then guys from the future find it very hard to see you.”
“Some people have got advice, some people have got horror stories. I like people that look you in the eye with a glow and say, ‘It’s gonna be cool.'”
“In tyranny lies only failure. Empower every man and you will gain strength.”
“When I was a young fellow, I used to learn the dialogue backwards. The point is that in a conversation between two people, you can’t have already made the decisions about what you’re gonna do. You gotta be very light on your feet. That leads you into areas where conversations can have a much bigger, grander meaning.”
“You need to learn to live with your mistakes. And you need to be in a position to say no once in a while. It’s important in life, and it’s important for any career that you want to pursue.”
“A lot of the things that other people from outside the business would see as crazy or strange are just a natural part of the working process. Preparation is key, and detail and collaboration are the rule, but no matter how many hours you spend preparing, there’s always something.”
“The secret to riches is the same as the secret to comedy – timing.”
“I’m looking forward to the time in my life when I’ll do something that I think is good. There’s always stuff you can do better, stuff that maybe you didn’t uncover enough.”
“I really feel sorry for people who are, who divide their whole life up into ‘things that I like’ and ‘things that I must do.’ You’re only here for a short time, mate. Learn to like it.”
“Some things just come without any real understanding. I don’t bother to question it or myself anymore.”
“Perhaps it is good to have a beautiful mind, but an even greater gift is to discover a beautiful heart.”
“We can’t repay our good luck with bad grace. It invites darkness.”
“I’m sick to death of famous people standing up and using their celebrity to promote a cause. If I see a particular need, I do try to help. But there’s a lot that can be achieved by putting a check in the right place and shutting up about it.”
“Once you’re a parent, male or female, every single thing that happens in your life is seen through the prism of being a parent.”
“My kids are being raised in a much more affluent environment than was mine. My wife and I talk about that all the time because neither of us had this kind of experience.”
“Sport for me is about inspiring kids. Here’s the rules, here’s the play area, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. This is all about teaching kids how to approach life. If we’re not playing sport to benefit kids, I’m not really sure why we play sport.”
“I love going shopping. I have a black belt in it.”
“I got a guitar when I was six and, instead of learning other people’s songs, started to try to write my own, even at that young age.”
“While I was trying to save money to go to the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Australia I ended up getting all of this experience which meant that by the time I had enough money in the bank to go to school I didn’t really need to go to school anymore.”
“Reality is, I’m an actor and an entertainer, and I really wouldn’t know what to do with another profession.”
“I like villains because there’s something so attractive about a committed person – they have a plan, an ideology, no matter how twisted. They’re motivated.”
“Even bad men love their mommas.”
“My definition of genius would be about being completely involved in your art form. So that’s outside of sciences. Within the arts it’s about taking people on a journey, being able to involve me completely – whether you’re singing a song, whether it’s in the theater, whether you’re dancing – if you can make me forget I’m sitting in a seat, that’s my definition of genius.”
“I want to make movies that pierce people’s hearts and touch them in some way, even if it’s just for the night while they’re in the cinema; in that moment, I want to bring actual tears to their eyes and goosebumps to their skin.”
“I have absolutely no problem expressing myself. Like it’s such a big f*cking deal that Russell Crowe might cry? Are you f*cking kidding?”
“I don’t play chess with my life, you know. I respond in the moment, which is what makes me a good actor. It makes me, sometimes, a good interview subject but it also makes me a very easy target. I think my reputation is something that I’ll probably try to spend the rest of my life living it down and it probably won’t work.”
“I have worked with people who have just run the car into the wall, who don’t know that part of their job is to make sure there is an emotional and physical health within their crew. As much as I have learned what I want to do, I have also learned what I am never going to do.”
“People accuse me of being arrogant all the time. I’m not arrogant, I’m focused.”
“I never took any of the smoke being blown up my arse as being serious. Even through the largest periods of success in my life, my principle aim – when I finish the job – has always been to get home. To go to the bush and, more recently, to be with my kids.”
“I have a temper. My mum’s got a temper. My brother’s got a temper. You’ve got to have one. You know what happens if you don’t have one? One day you’re walking down the street and you just pop. You’re lying there dead on the pavement because you’ve been holding and suppressing all this bullsh*t, you know.”
“I don’t make demands. I don’t tell you how it should be. I’ll give you options, and it’s up to you to select or throw ’em away. That should be the headline: if you’re insecure, don’t call.”
“I’ve always found it to be a privilege to make movies. It’s a really expensive, creative medium. And people allow me to do it, and there are things that I can do as an actor that I couldn’t do in any other walk of life.”
“The important thing to me is that I’m not driven by people’s praise and I’m not slowed down by people’s criticism. I’m just trying to work at the highest level I can.”
“Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to.”
“I have to believe that when things are bad I can change them.”
“I knew a man once who said, ‘Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back.'”
“I don’t know if I was ever looking for this kind of success – it came along as a byproduct of concentrating on what I was doing.”
“I have to believe I got some kind of say over our lives.”
“I never actually expected success, but it doesn’t surprise me when it comes because I know how much work I put into what I do.”
“If you grow up in the suburbs of anywhere, a dream like this seems kind of vaguely ludicrous and completely unattainable – this moment is directly connected to those childhood imaginings. And for anybody who’s on the downside of advantage, and relying purely on courage, it’s possible.”
“I live a real life, man. It’s complex. Some days are absolute diamonds and some days are dog sh*t, same as everybody else. Unfortunately, some days that are diamonds I’ve taken them and turned them into doing sh*t. But you live and you learn. I’ll get wiser.”
“I’ve made the most important discovery of my life. It’s only in the mysterious equation of love that any logic or reasons can be found. I’m only here tonight because of you. You are the only reason I am. You are all my reasons.”
“Brothers, what we do in life… echoes in eternity.”
Related: Gerard Butler quotes.
