Ricky Gervais

“I don't like it when I see a racist comedian go up and say, 'What are we gonna do about all these immigrants?' and they get a round the applause. I think, 'Well that's not a joke. That's just your biased opinion.'”

“The best advice I've ever received is, 'No one else knows what they're doing either.”

“I see my real job now as - never mind 'The Office,' 'Extras,' film career, Emmys - I want everyone in the world to know who Karl Pilkington is.”

“I think our elderly are forgotten sometimes.”

“That's the buzz for me, the creative process. An idea is never as good as when it's in your head. And then it's just how little you ruin it.”

“I was never ambitious. I was never ambitious at school.”

“I think comedies should be short. I don't want to be self-indulgent; I don't want a two-hour comedy.”

“I was David Bowie-thin up to about 28, and then I discovered food.”

“I love 'The Godfather' and 'Casablanca' - great stories, acted well, made well.”

“Cynicism, to me, is trying to make people as unhappy as you are.”

“If I've only got a career if I bring David Brent back, you can have it.”

“Why buy a book when you can join a library.”

“You can laugh at anything. It depends on the joke.”

“I love UFC, vigilante films, and any acts of merciless heroism.”

“Believe it or not, I work out regularly.”

“Making people laugh is easy for me. I'm quite proud of that. But I'm prouder of silencing an audience for a minute because they're thinking about something.”

“You won’t burn in hell. But be nice anyway.”

“It's funny because I was offered film parts the first week after 'The Office' went out. I was sent a script, and I said, 'Who's the lead?' They said, 'We want you to be.' And I said: 'Well, who's going to go and see that? You want John Cusack.'”

“Pol Pot - he rounded up anybody he thought was intellectual and had them executed. And how he told someone was intellectual or not was whether they wore glasses. If they're that clever, take them off when they see him coming!”

“When I was about to be famous, I feared it on a few levels. I feared it because I didn't want people to lump me in with those people who'd do anything to be famous. I didn't like the word 'celebrity.' I feared intrusion, you know? Make me famous, and suddenly you can go through my trash bins.”