Quotes by Gabriel Byrne

About Gabriel Byrne:

Gabriel James Byrne is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, writer, cultural ambassador and audiobook narrator. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined London's Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's screen debut came in the Irish soap opera The Riordans and the spin-off show Bracken. He has now starred in over 35 feature films, such as The Usual Suspects, Miller's Crossing, Stigmata, Spider and End of Days, in addition to writing two. Byrne's producing credits include the Academy Award–nominated In the Name of the Father. He has received much critical acclaim for his role as Dr. Paul Weston in the HBO drama In Treatment.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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.'

Gabriel Byrne

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.

Gabriel Byrne

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.

Gabriel Byrne

Being listened to and being heard is an experience that doesn't happen terribly often. To listen compassionately or nonjudgmentally to another person - not to get too heavy about it - but I once heard somebody say that was a form of real prayer.

Gabriel Byrne

I'm not a very gregarious person. I can't bear attention being called to me in a public place, which is ridiculous in a business that pays you to be noticed.

Gabriel Byrne

Where issues used to be, say, parochial or local in Ireland or England and so forth, all politics is global now because all business is global.

Gabriel Byrne

The Catholic Church is an innately conservative rock - they call themselves the 'rock of Peter' - and its resistance to change is, ironically, what has kept it constant throughout the ages.

Gabriel Byrne

I would love to go back to any time in European history, especially in Irish history, to the second or third century, prior to the arrival of Christianity when Paganism flourished. I can always go back there in my imagination, of course. It doesn't c...

Gabriel Byrne

The difference that a drama group or a cinema club can make to a small village or a town. It opens people up to ideas, potential about themselves that really, in a way, education often fails to. It's a way of drawing a community together.

Gabriel Byrne

I don't think we're living in great times for movies, to tell you the truth.

Gabriel Byrne

Generally speaking, I don't think people know a great deal about the Viking culture, apart from the label that is usually attached to them, either pillagers or deviants who came and brought back loot to Norway. It was an incredibly sophisticated, com...

Gabriel Byrne

O'Neill presents a very complex multi-layered kind of challenge. His characters are always deeply complex and, to a great extent, inaccessible.

Gabriel Byrne

Not to oversimplify it, somebody once said a good rule of thumb in interpreting a character is to find the good in the bad people that you portray and the bad in the good.

Gabriel Byrne

No actor who's any good can say truthfully to themselves, 'Yeah, I'm good; I've got this sorted.'

Gabriel Byrne

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.

Gabriel Byrne

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

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.

Gabriel Byrne

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 b...

Gabriel Byrne

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.

Gabriel Byrne

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.

Gabriel Byrne

Author Bio

  • NameGabriel Byrne
  • DescriptionIrish actor, film director, film producer, writer, cultural ambassador and audiobook narrator
  • BornMay 12, 1950
  • CountryIreland
  • ProfessionActor; Film Director; Film Producer; Screenwriter