Ricky Gervais

“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. There's not even anything wrong with trying to get a raise. There's nothing wrong with that.”

“I don't know why other people are concerned about other people's lives that much.”

“Fame is an upshot of what I do. If you're a successful comedian or actor, then you're a famous one. But it's not the driving force. It's a by-product.”

“I think Dustin Hoffman has been in at least three of my favorite movies of all time with things like 'Tootsie,' 'Marathon Man.' Getting a bit more arthouse and darker, 'The Graduate' - incredible, barrier-breaking movie, 'The Graduate.'”

“I'd much rather eat exactly what I want, and then burn it off, than diet.”

“Look, just tell me where that lemon came from and I'll shut up and go away.”

“I find comedy easy, and I find drama exciting and tantalising.”

“I'm influenced by those '40s, '50s, and '60s films: things like 'The Apartment' - I was a big fan of Billy Wilder.”

“People confuse the subject of the joke with the target of the joke, and they're very rarely the same.”

“When I go to work, I don't want to make depressing, gritty, urban stories that are depressing to watch. I want to give people something to enjoy. When people think I'm a control freak and an ogre - which I am - it's only because I want my work to be accessible and Everyman, in a way.”

“There's no difference between fame and infamy now. There's a new school of professional famous people that don't do anything. They don't create anything.”

“If you spend your days doing what you love, it is impossible to fail. So I go about my days trying to bring something into the world that wasn't in the world before. And then everyone gets furious about it. And then I sit back and say, 'I did that!'”

“I am not a wolf in sheep's clothing, I'm a wolf in wolf's clothing.”

“Everything I do is somehow rooted in humanity. It's always about people; it's always about ego. It's always about desperation. It's quite existential. You know, 'Am I leading a good life?' That might be because I'm an atheist, and I think this is all we've got, so you better be nice. And have fun.”

“I always do a little bit of improv. I did some of 'The Office,' a tiny bit in 'Extras,' a bit more in 'Derek.'”

“I'm a fang-toothed, blob-nosed, slouchy slob.”

“What makes 'Derek' a different kind of sitcom - if it is even a sitcom - is its sincerity.”

“People now live their lives like an open wound to be famous - they do bad things because they're rewarded for it.”

“I like flying to New York from London. It's like a day off for me. No phone or e-mails. Food, wine, iPod, movies, snoozing.”

“Sometimes being old is used as an insult, which is bizarre because, if you're lucky, that's literally going to happen to you. It's a strange thing to gloat about: being born recently.”