Liam neeson quotes

I have no desire to play King Lear or Hamlet. I never had a grand ambition. I just followed my nose.

Well I think people think sex is controversial. Not always, but certainly it's something to be discussed.

To be honest, I'm scared to death of rollercoaster rides.

...Venice has been the living future of contemporary American history since its inception.

I love doing my own stunts but it's hard.

I thought, well of course, Kinsey absolutely adored teaching. He was a wonderful teacher. So these kids really inspired me. So that was a clue I hung onto. He loved young people, he absolutely loved them. And he loved teaching them and trying to help them.

And the Institute sent me a little film footage of Kinsey himself preparing to do an interview for television to talk about his work, so that was quite valuable for me.

If I get rejected for a part, I pick myself up and say, 'OK, not today, maybe tomorrow I'll get this other part or something.'

I think I survived by running away some. Running away to work.

It's extraordinary to look into a baby's face and see a piece of your flesh and your spirit. It makes you realize you are a part of the human race.

I'm fairly comfortable in fight sequences and stuff like that. I've done a few of them. I'm comfortable with that sort of stuff as long as I'm reasonably fit, and it's fun to do actually. I'm like a kid in a toy shop doing that stuff.

There's a ruthlessness to the city now that wasn't there before. I was in Dublin a few months ago, when we were shooting Breakfast on Pluto, and if I saw one kid throwing up on the street, I must have seen a hundred of them.

I will never become a director or a movie producer. I was always looking at picture directing because I didn't know what to do! You can't be a movie director without real preparation.

The whole awards thing is great. Why? Because the Golden Globes, the Academy Awards, they put a focus on the industry, and that focus translates into people buying tickets to see movies or download films, legitimately download them. And it keeps us all at work. So I'm a big fan of award shows.

Listen, I know how old I am and that I'm just a shoulder injury from losing roles like the one in Taken. So I stay with the training, I stay with the work. It’s easy enough to plan jobs, to plan a lot of work. That's effective. But that’s the weird thing about grief. You can’t prepare for it. You think you’re gonna cry and get it over with. You make those plans, but they never work.

I don't think for this generation, but for my generation and my father's generation, men had difficulty in accessing emotion and then being able to talk about it.

It's funny, but you get to a time in your life when you think you have all the friends you will ever have.

Rihanna is a very talented person. One of those people who are able to do whatever they want with great results.

We live in such a corporate world where everyone is passing the buck, it seems to me. Therefore I like stories where the individual takes responsibility for BEING the individual, and not just for himself, but for his comrades, his society and ultimately for his country. Ultimately, we can all learn a lesson from that and not be browbeaten by the corporate world which is taking over.

Northern Ireland is the world’s best kept secret, both in the character of its people and its scenery.

Live and die on this day... Live and die on this day.

Looking out for your children is an ongoing process throughout your life.

Queen's University flies the flag for the arts in Northern Ireland and beyond.

But let's just say, I'm Irish. I grew up in the 1950s. Religion had a very tight iron fist.

I learned my "facts of life" on toilet walls. I'd walk up in school bathrooms and there would be crude drawings and figures engaged in sex. That's how I learned.

But, you know, there's still an argument, there's still ten states that outlaw premarital sex, and many more states where adultery is still outlawed and a crime.

Standing under freezing cold showers every morning, - I did that. I got up to seven minutes most mornings, and it actually works; it immunizes your body, and your body starts getting used to the cold. It really works."

I gravitate toward women.

I'm keeping myself to myself. And I like it that way. I'm not hunting. I'm the opposite of a - what would a male cougar be? Is there such a thing? Whatever it is, I'm not that.

Forget the statistics...we have to do more. You cannot look these children in the eye and see how desperate is their situation without wanting to help.

I keep fit as much as I can.

In Los Angeles, it's like they jog for two hours a day and then they think they're morally right. That's when you want to choke people, you know?

Why would anyone ever tell anything personal to a journalist?

Being Irish and a citizen of the world, has made me truly appreciate Irish culture, music and history. Whether you're first, second generation Irish or even with no connection to Ireland, you should visit in 2013 for a unique experience.

Criminals thrive on the indulgence of society’s understanding.

I am totally for gun control in the U.S. The population of America is roughly 300 million and there are 300 million guns in this country, which is terrifying. Every day we're seeing some kid running rampant in a school. And do you know what the gun lobby's response to Newtown was? The National Rifle Association's official response was, 'If that teacher had been armed' It's crazy.

Men fear most what they cannot see.

Every cliche about kids is true; they grow up so quickly, you blink and they're gone, and you have to spend the time with them now. But that's a joy.

And as the hour approached for the execution, in his own mind, Collins became both the executioner and the victim. He would pace up and down, transformed in almost a kind of exorcism when he knew he was responsible for taking someone's life.

It is fun to explore these kick-butt characters.

Well, from an acting point of view, I bear no relation, I don't look like Alfred Kinsey at all, but I thought somewhere in my artist's soul, my actor's soul, I could capture something of the spirit of the man.

I've had an unbelievable life. I've been very lucky. You do create your own luck too, you know? I never forget where I'm from. Whenever I pass a building site or see somebody digging a ditch, I always think, 'That's real work.'

We live in an age where revenge seems to be the most important thing for individuals and countries.

I came to water late. I learned to swim at the age of 20.

Making a film, you do need stamina, whether you're doing fight scenes or not. It's important to keep fit. I'm not talking about having perfect abs and stuff, but you've got to be on top of your game, especially if you're playing the lead. You have to look after yourself.

Kinsey's quest was really for us all to be tolerant and accepting of each other.

I've made many films and only a few times I've played real people.

Hollywood is throwing action movies at me.

I was an OK boxer, I wasn't great, I was OK, but I loved the discipline of getting together every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, usually Saturday afternoons too, with a whole bunch of mates and training, very, very hard for about two-and-half hours.

Some mornings you wake up and think, gee I look handsome today. Other days I think, what am I doing in the movies? I wanna go back to Ireland and drive a forklift.

I'm a big believer in acts of kindness, no matter how small.

People ask me if I ever feel outside the Hollywood loop, and I never do, because both of us do a lot of theatre, so it's great for New York and it's also half-way between Europe and the west coast, so it's the best of both worlds.

You are not what you were born, but what you have it in yourself to be.

At the Sex Institute in Bloomington, Indiana, they were a phenomenal help, too. We went out there for a few days, and they gave us access to materials. And the biographies, there are four or five, ranging from very poor to excellent.

I do believe at the end of the night when you're with your family, the character gets hung up on the door like a coat, and is there to be taken on the next morning.

I'm not the kind of actor that would know what my character had for breakfast last Tuesday.

I'm so touched that complete strangers will send me a script asking me to be in their film. That still amazes me - and sometimes for a lot of money too.

I certainly notice the vitality in Belfast, which wasn't there in the Seventies. There was a war going on then. Now there are cranes everywhere. There really is a sense of renewal and hope.

The cause of making the world a better place for children unites us all.

Young people were once considered relatively safe from HIV/AIDS. Today, their lives and futures are at risk throughout the world because of this disease. I believe it is young people throughout the world who offer us the greatest hope for defeating this deadly pandemic.

Your compassion is a weakness your enemies will not share.

For every successful actor or actress, there are countless numbers who don't make it. The name of the game is rejection. You go to an audition and you're told you're too tall or you're too Irish or your nose is not quite right. You're rejected for your education, you're rejected for this or that and it's really tough.

It's an extraordinary thing, this tiny little province of Northern Ireland, where carnage happened. And I was part of it. I grew up in it.

I'm Irish, so I'm used to odd stews. I can take it. Just throw a lot of carrots and onions in there and I'll call it dinner.

I was reared a Catholic but I think every day we ask ourselves, not consciously, what are we doing on this planet? What's it all about?

I have friends who have daughters and there's times I think I'm glad I have boys instead of girls.

But I was very, very lucky, and it was a wake up call as far as motorbikes are concerned. I never flirted with death on the bike, but now I'm totally convinced they're death machines.

You can't act being a boxer. It's like being on stage.

I always wanted to be a cowboy, and Jedi Knights are basically cowboys in space, right?

I love it when a plan comes together

I love working with children and this young boy, Thomas Sangster, is quite a remarkable young actor. He raises your game, you know. He certainly raised mine.

I did, although I didn't read from page 1 to page 187 but I read chunks of it. I did a little bit of science when I was in the university so I was able to understand the graphs and pie charts and stuff like that. It was extremely dry.

It's always fun to do the fight sequences and then to complete them, because some of them are quite complicated - with guns and so on - and there's always things that can go wrong. It's fun to shoot those things because we rehearse them very strenuously. It's fun to shoot them, and fun to know they're finished, that they're in the can so to speak.

A sex symbol? A symbol of sex? I don't think that I am a sex symbol, although it's very flattering. I'm 59, now, so I think I'm possibly past my sell-by date. I think I am.

I don't know if I'm a strict parent or a pushover.

Yes, I'm Catholic; I'm proud of it. But I had lots of Protestant friends.

If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, you become something else entirely.

Well, I think they're all basically the same story. Every culture in the world has them. When you strip it down and analyze it, it's the young man or girl who goes through a trial or ordeal and hits a very low ebb but manages to get guidance from a Merlin type figure.

Sitting down to eat in our house is about sharing, you know, talking about the day you've had, be it in school or work or whatever, so that's very important to us.

It is the right to bear arms which is the problem. I think if the Founding Fathers knew what was happening they would be turning in their graves with embarrassment at how that law has been interpreted.

I never thought about becoming a professional singer, but I am in touch with Bono about releasing a musical movie. It will be about an Irish band during the '70s who are looking for fortune in Las Vegas. I should play the singer of the band but I don't want to sing in front of anybody.

The population of America is roughly 300 million and there are 300 million guns in this country, which is terrifying.

I'm trying to be a comedian, you know?

When I see great boxers, it's like reading a wonderful poem.

Every time I see Anthony Hopkins I think that, to some extent, he has just been getting away with it all these years.

I'm constantly reading books on God or the absence of God and atheism.

Acting is invigorating. But I don't analyse it too much. It's like a dog smelling where it's going to do its toilet in the morning.

We're all always acting. You need to be able to sit in silence and not beat up on yourself. It's hard to say to yourself, 'You are human. Welcome to the human race.'

For all of nature's wonder and beauty, it is also hostile and unpredictable.

It's interesting, the more successful you become the more people want to give you stuff for nothing.

Acting with creatures that aren't there is kind like acting with an actor who refuses to come out of his trailer. You still have to go on and do the scene.

In real life, wolves will do anything to avoid contact with mankind.

There seems to be more opportunities for old guys like me to do a little fighting and running because the lead characters also require a bit of depth and maturity and gravitas that one is likely to acquire doing drama all those years.

It's easy enough to plan jobs, to plan a lot of work.

I get fed up with plots that are driven by someone constantly getting information on a computer.

Recovering alcoholic guys wake up in the morning, and they have to think of a reason to get up, and then, once they're up, to not have a drink. It's like all these little heroic battles they have that they fight with and against every day of their lives.

I don't think that I am a sex symbol, although it's very flattering.

I do shadow boxing and use a heavy bag, but I don't spar with anyone.

There's periods now in our New York residence when I hear the door opening, especially the first couple of years... Anytime I hear that door opening I still think I'm gonna hear her.

It's an ongoing joy being a dad.

You traveled the world... Now you must journey inwards... to what you really fear... it's inside you.

No man is an island, as they say. No. I've tried it. I've gone on retreats at various times in my life for three or four or five days. I was desperate to get out of there and talk to somebody. But I fly fish a lot, and I can only do that really by myself. I find I'm never lonesome when I'm on a river, far from it, but it's a lonely practice.

I have to make it my job to be careful with my family.

Yeah, well, I finally stopped smoking for good.

Girl Rising reminds us that educating the girls of today is an investment in everyone's tomorrow.

I was always attracted to the type of cinema hero as an adolescent growing up in Ireland. Robert Mitchum springs to mind. Later on, it was Steve McQueen to a certain extent and Charles Bronson. They're these types of grizzled characters who had one foot on the side of law and order and the other foot in the bad guy's camp.

You just get this profound feeling of instability . . . the Earth isn't stable anymore and then it passes and it becomes more infrequent, but I still get it sometimes.

I don't think I'm funny.

I think if you're the son or daughter of successful actors and actresses, it's a double pressure. More is expected of you.

Getting married and settling down isn't the most important thing in my life.

The cause of making the world a better place for children unites us all - today HIV/AIDS is the biggest threat to this one universal objective. UNICEF needs us all to help them change the world for children

Well I was on the jury duty on the Deauville Film Festival, a few years ago.

It's still a great, big, beautiful, wonderful world no matter what the headlines of the newspapers are and it's there to be explored. It's there for our children to go out and explore and explore different cultures and learn from it. I never lose hope.

In bed at night, I could be reading some book, and I'll come across a sentence that's totally unrelated to some scene I did years ago. But I'll play the scene back in my mind and think, I did that wrong - I should've opened the door more slowly.

The putting on of vestments and lighting candles, it's a wonderful ritual that never changes from one Mass to another.

I don't do my own stunts, but I do my own fighting. I don't consider fighting to be a stunt.

But, you know, sex is controversial, it just is and it always will be.

The Irish Catholic side was married to the life of an actor and I found out acting could be a form of prayer.

If someone stands in the way of true justice, you simply walk up behind them, and stab them in the heart.

I believe that UNICEF is the most important branch of the U.N.; they do exceptional work to help the neediest children around the world