Gabriel Byrne Quotes

• "A completely disrespectful photographer was asked to stop taking photographs, and then said, 'I've got what I want. What are you going to do about it?' How would you feel if somebody walked up and started taking your photograph? I don't think you'd be very happy."
• "And then, I suppose, there's also a cinematic reality on top of that. Because it was extremely difficult to keep tabs on, it was quite confusing acting that."
• "From doing A Moon for the Misbegotten, I've learned that nobody's love can save anybody else. There are people who want to die, and nothing or nobody will stop them. The only one who can save you is yourself."
• "Guilt is the most meaningless of emotions. It means nothing. As Barbra Streisand says, 'I got nothing to be guilty of... ."
• "He said, 'Fall back, and let O'Neill catch you.' I said, 'What do you mean?' And he said, 'I can't talk to you now, I've got to go see Denzel Washington in The Hurricane.' And he hung up."
• "How the hell can you compare one actor to another? It's ridiculous. You just can't."
• "I called Kevin Spacey one day about something else, but he didn't say to me 'calm down,' like The New York Times said. Because I was not deranged."
• "I don't know who Nine Inch Nails are. Billy Corgan did the music for a movie I did, Stigmata - don't write that I thought he played with Nine Inch Nails, or he'll never speak to me again."
• "I don't think we're living in great times for movies, to tell you the truth."
• "I had one of the best days of my life. I spent the afternoon with my two kids and my ex-wife at Serendipity. Then I came to the theater, and you know, I think I did the play the best I've ever done it."
• "I mean, somebody told me the other day that David Cronenberg hadn't made a film for three-and-a-half years and that he was seriously thinking of going into a different occupation. That's kind of sad when you think about it."
• "I never dreamed that on my 50th birthday I'd be standing on a Broadway stage, in a play by Eugene O'Neill, receiving a standing ovation. And then I went to my party, which was at Circus, and everywhere I turned, there were people I really liked. It was a beautiful day."
• "I think there's a bit of the devil in everybody. There's a bit of a priest in everybody, too, but I enjoyed playing the devil more. He was more fun."
• "I thought to myself, there's a man who gave up his life to serve others - to touch people in that way is probably the greatest thing you can do as a human being."
• "I'm reading The Book of Revelation. It's about a dancer in Amsterdam who's kidnapped by three women. They sexually victimize him - basically, they treat him like men treat women. Rupert Thomson is the author; he's an English guy."
• "It was either Voltaire or Charlie Sheen who said, 'We are born alone. We live alone. We die alone. And anything in between that can give us the illusion that we're not, we cling to."
• "It's actually pretty complex, because there's two levels of reality in the narrative. One is what really took place, and the other is Spider's poisoned version of what took place."
• "It's more important to shock and outrage for valid reasons than it is to, say, make a conventional film. I don't think David Cronenberg is even capable of making a safe, conventional film."
• "Presents don't really mean much to me. I don't want to sound mawkish, but - it was the realization that I have a great many people in my life who really love me, and who I really love."
• "RD Laing said madness was a sane response to an insane situation, so who's to say that Spider is bad or good? Or that my character or Miranda Richardson's character is good or bad? But I'll tell you one thing: it's a very interesting theme to be playing around with."
• "Somebody said, 'Oh, Nine Inch Nails are out there,' and I had this image of these nails sitting there. But I don't know how many Nine Inch Nails there are. Billy Corgan. Doesn't he play with them?"
• "The most exciting thing I ever found on a dig, in Dublin, was a child's shoe from the 10th century. One little tiny child's shoe. I was the first one to touch it. And the impulse to put it in my pocket and keep it forever for myself was strong. But it would be terribly unfair of me to do that."
• "The only way you can continue to make artistic films is to make an occasional one of those. They kind of keep your marketability going to the extent that people will employ you."
• "The person I was with was organizing my birthday party, and also happens to be a good friend of mine, who is a married woman. If you don't mind, drop the Post. What they indicated was a complete concoction."
• "There are very few directors like him left, and cinema needs Cronenbergs. If you look at the history of the movies that he has made, they have all been movies that have in some way challenged the received notion of a particular thing, and forced you to really look."
• "What is that song that Willie Nelson sang? 'Oh, the days dwindle down to a precious few.' I think of that. No big deal. I've reached a stage in my life where I am content. Gabriel Byrne"
• "I would like to break out of this 'dark, brooding' image, cause I'm actually not like that at all."
• "He was a tremendous observer of the idiocies of life and brought them brilliantly to the screen and the stage. [on Dave Allen]"