Ricky Gervais quotes: words of wisdom from the talented writer-director.
“Mondays are fine. It’s your life that sucks.”
“If you spend your days doing what you love, it is impossible to fail.”
“Life is just a series of peaks and troughs. And you don’t know whether you’re in a trough until you’re climbing out, or on a peak until you’re coming down. And that’s if you know, you never know what’s round the corner. But it’s all good. If you want the rainbow, you’ve gotta put up with the rain. Do you know which ‘philosopher’ said that? Dolly Parton. And people say she’s just a big pair of tits.”
“You have options. You can either continue to be miserable or you can just stop being angry at everyone and accept the way things are. Allow yourself to live.”
“Remember, happiness is the only success that matters and the one that your critics are most jealous of.”
“The best way to avoid criticism is never do anything ever. Or, do what you love, have a great life and let others spend their time criticizing.”
“It’s better to create something that others criticize than to create nothing and criticize others.”
“The next time someone is critical of you, just take a moment to consider their life. Then smile to yourself.”
“People who criticize you have usually never achieved anywhere near what you have. Most of them would be too scared to even try. Keep going.”
“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.”
“You do your own thing and you see if you survive.”
“We only do what we think is good and what we’re happy with. I’d rather have something that’s completely mine fail than something succeed that I’m not proud of.”
“Life is an amazing gift, but it’s only a gift if you’re able to enjoy it.”
“Everybody is screwed up in their own way, so being screwed up doesn’t make you different, or some kind of outsider; it just makes you normal. Being screwed up makes you ‘normal.’ It makes you human. It’s fundamentally human to have flaws and make mistakes. It’s okay.”
“Hope is everything.”
“Try something. And never be afraid to fail. That failure is useful too. It’s just another building block.”
“The grass isn’t always greener on the other side!”
“You can’t feel sorry for yourself. You’ve got to keep going.”
“Never fear the truth. No bad can come of discussing a true subject. No bad at all.”
“The truth, however shocking or uncomfortable, in the end leads to liberation and dignity.”
“I no longer needed a reason for my existence, just a reason to live. And imagination, free will, love, humor, fun, music, sports, beer, and pizza are all good enough reasons for living. But living an honest life—for that you need the truth.”
“If you can laugh in the face of adversity, you’re bulletproof.”
“Being on the edge isn’t as safe, but the view is better.”
“Be happy. It really annoys negative people.”
“Remember, when someone says, ‘You’ve changed,’ it usually just means you’ve stopped living your life their way.”
“Remember, no one can hurt your feelings without your permission.”
“That’s the amazing thing about life. You can just rub it out, like a blackboard, and start again.”
“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.”
“The best advice I’ve ever received is, ‘No one else knows what they’re doing either.'”
“If you try to please everyone, you’ll please no one.”
“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.”
“‘Do unto others’ is a good rule of thumb. I live by that. Forgiveness is probably the greatest virtue there is. But that’s exactly what it is: a virtue. No one owns being good. I’m good. I just don’t believe I’ll be rewarded for it in heaven. My reward is here and now. It’s knowing that I try to do the right thing. That I lived a good life. And that’s where spirituality really lost its way. When it became a stick to beat people with. ‘Do this or you’ll burn in hell.’ You won’t burn in hell. But be nice anyway.”
“I realize that everyone’s struggling and I feel like I should help the people who helped me. That’s what life is all about.”
“Trust, encouragement, reward, loyalty, satisfaction. That’s what I’m… you know… trust people and they’ll be true to you. Treat them greatly, and they will show themselves to be great.”
“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.”
“I think being nice is more important than being clever.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being respected by your peers. There’s nothing wrong with trying to do your best. There’s nothing wrong with success.”
“Beliefs do not change facts. Facts, if one is rational, should change beliefs.”
“Just because you’re offended, doesn’t mean you’re right.”
“Your reputation is still the most important thing that you’ve got.”
“I never had a plan. I just sort of ambled along, doing exactly what I wanted every day of my life.”
“I’d never tried as hard with anything as I did with The Office, and it was one of the things I’m proud of. I wasn’t trying to be famous or a comedian, but this opportunity came along when I was 38 or 39. It came late, and I couldn’t have been prouder of it.”
“I remember the first check I got for The Office, and it made me feel sad. It ruined it. Because there was sort of a nobility in poverty.”
“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.”
“Oh, these actors who ask, ‘What’s my motivation?’ all the time. Who cares? I’ll tell you what your motivation is: it’s the only thing you can do, and you’re getting paid to do it, so shut the hell up!”
“I think a comedian’s job isn’t just to make people laugh. I think it’s to make people think.”
“I never think of myself as a celebrity, or even an actor, actually. I think of myself as a writer-director.”
“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.'”
“Remember, when you are dead, you do not know you are dead. It is only painful for others. The same applies when you are stupid.”
“Growing up, the most important thing, after taking care of your family and getting a decent job of work, was having a laugh. That was the point to life.”
“If you can’t joke about the most horrendous things in the world, what’s the point of jokes? What’s the point in having humor? Humor is to get us over terrible things. A good sense of humor can be your salvation when the going gets tough.”
“You now have the least amount of time you’ve ever had, to do everything you’ve ever wanted to do. Enjoy your life. You only get one.”
“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.”
Related: Steve Carell quotes.
