Top 90 Steve Carell Quotes

You’re doing your kids a disservice if they do get everything they want because that’s not the way life’s going to go, and I think kids have to have some reality.

I love my wife dearly, and, therefore, I’ve never cooked a meal, romantic or otherwise, for her.

You know, what’s funny to one person is not at all to someone else.

Relationships shouldn’t be disposable. If there’s something worth saving – not always the case, some relationships are irreconcilable – but if there is something that you determine is worth saving, then try to do that.

Children are very smart, in their own stupid way. A child’s brain is like a sponge, and you know how smart sponges are.

I would like for my kids to at least have some familiarity with who I am: ‘It’s the man from TV!’

I don’t think something necessarily has to be mean or cynical to represent ‘edgy.’ I think ‘edgy’ can mean a lot of different things.

My maternal grandma was a tough, tough lady and a stern woman, who lost her husband young and raised six kids by herself. She lived in a mining community in Upstate New York and ran a boarding house for miners. She took care of an entire family and miners who lived in the house as well.

There’s such a freewheeling nature to ‘Second City,’ and the greatest thing about ‘Second City’ was having a sophisticated audience night after night who appreciated what it was. They knew it wasn’t all going to be great when you improvised, so they were very forgiving that way.

I always feel so pretentious talking about comedy and deconstructing it. It always feels somehow self-centred to talk about any sort of process.

Style advice? Always wear clothes… that are… clean, for starters. An added bonus if it is pressed as well. Unless you are wearing clothes that are supposed to look rumpled.

I think when someone who’s known for doing drama does a comedy but just tries to be funny, that’s a mistake.

Maybe the coolest people are the ones who don’t care about being cool.

Because I went from the ‘Daily Show’ where I was a fake news guy on a fake news show, to ‘Bruce Almighty’ where I played a news guy, to ‘Anchorman’ where I played a news guy, now I’m… yeah, I tend to gravitate towards suits.

You know, what’s funny to one person is not at all to someone else.

Once I moved to Chicago and started trying to get acting jobs, I just tended to book more things that were comedically based than anything else. I never had the preconceived notion, ‘I will be a comedic actor.’ I just thought, ‘I’ll go into acting and see what kind of work I can get.’

I have no idea where my pathetic nature comes from. If I thought about it too long, it would depress me.

I tend not to be someone who’s on all the time, or is always trying to make other people laugh.

In my wildest dreams I never thought – well, I never thought I’d work.

Six-year-olds are very wrapped up in their own lives, and that’s the way it should be.

Your brain, like your tongue, is a muscle. Practicing thinking by yourself really helps develop your brain, which you need throughout your day. I like to practice my thinking in a darkened room, alone.

I don’t like to get angry. It doesn’t make me feel good. It is very human, but it’s also a loss of control, and I like to have that kind of control.

Actors and magicians are both performers, and they represent things that are not necessarily who they are.

Don’t underestimate your kids. Don’t be condescending, because they’re children but they’re not stupid.

I’ve always enjoyed watching characters that aren’t aware that they’re doing anything funny. And I think that inherently makes them funnier.

You’re so in love with your children that you’d do anything for them; that’s not necessarily the best thing.

For me, at least, all of my career goals, all of my focus, everything just shifted and the importance was my children, and that’s where all the joy came from as well.

Nothing to me feels as good as laughing incredibly hard.

Whenever I’m offered something, I always read the script and meet the director. I still appreciate just being considered.

I play the baritone horn – which is like a mini tuba, and is the least sexy instrument you can choose, and I generally say I don’t play one so I don’t have to acknowledge it. I also play fife.

I’m not good with pickup lines or flirting. I don’t have that kind of self-confidence or natural charisma.

I joined an improv group in college, which was a lot of fun. After I graduated, I moved to Chicago to try to get into the Second City.

Taste in comedy, like fashion, changes all the time.

Being an action star is all I had ever hoped to be. I ultimately knew I would be an action star.

Whenever I hear someone describe something as a ‘kids movie’ or a ‘family movie,’ it immediately has a negative connotation in my mind because I think, ‘Well, as an adult, I wouldn’t go see it by myself, because it’s purely for children and it holds nothing for me and it’s simplistic and it’s kind of easy.’

I have no idea where my pathetic nature comes from. If I thought about it too long, it would depress me.

I’m not unattractive, but I’m not a matinee idol. I think I have a very non-threatening look – I’m fine, I’m right in the middle.

If I’d had a great level of success early on, who knows how I would have responded. I might have been a complete jerk.

In my wildest dreams I never thought – well, I never thought I’d work.

When you do an animated movie – at least the ones that I’ve been a part of – you never see any of the other actors. It’s all done separately with headphones in a voice booth.

I joined an improv group in college, which was a lot of fun. After I graduated, I moved to Chicago to try to get into the Second City.

Divorce is fairly common these days, and I think many times people disregard the emotional impact that divorce has on a couple and a family, because it happens so frequently.

I think in most relationships that have problems, there’s fault on both sides. And in order for it to work, there has to be some common ground that’s shared. And it’s not just one person making amends.

If we were meant to read for enjoyment, would God have created television? Read as it was intended – for exercise. The more you read, the more you expand your – what’s the word I’m looking for? – your stockpile of words. You must have a stockpile of words that you can pass along to your children for their stockpile.

I look at improvising as a prolonged game of chess. There’s an opening gambit with your pawn in a complex game I have with one character, and lots of side games with other characters, and another game with myself – and in each game you make all these tiny, tiny moves that get you to the endgame.

If we were meant to read for enjoyment, would God have created television? Read as it was intended – for exercise. The more you read, the more you expand your – what’s the word I’m looking for? – your stockpile of words. You must have a stockpile of words that you can pass along to your children for their stockpile.

It was kind of like they were just giving us a toy to play with, to do whatever we wanted with.

People say, ‘What’s the secret to a marriage?’ There’s no secret – I think you get lucky.

I love my wife dearly, and, therefore, I’ve never cooked a meal, romantic or otherwise, for her.

Nothing to me feels as good as laughing incredibly hard.

‘Anchorman’… is not grounded in anything. There is absolutely no heart to that movie, which I love.

I don’t think my kids have to worry too much about me embarrassing them because that’s not how I would want to grow up, with wacky dad showing up at school and performing for everyone.

Talking to my wife, we stare at each other, saying, ‘How is this happening? Why is this happening? Why now?’ It’s nothing I ever aspired to.

I had a friend who, after 25 years of marriage, found himself trying to date again, and it was completely different. Everything had changed, and he had to reacquaint himself. It was funny even talking to him about it. For someone who has been out of the loop, it’s a different world.

My parents had a certain resolve to them that I don’t see as so prevalent today. Through good times and bad, they were committed to one another. Their relationship wasn’t something to be constantly examined or picked apart.

Relationships shouldn’t be disposable. If there’s something worth saving – not always the case, some relationships are irreconcilable – but if there is something that you determine is worth saving, then try to do that.

Sending a handwritten letter is becoming such an anomaly. It’s disappearing. My mom is the only one who still writes me letters. And there’s something visceral about opening a letter – I see her on the page. I see her in her handwriting.

In the United States, there is a restaurant called The Outback Steakhouse, and I could survive in there for several weeks at least, sustaining myself on bloomin’ onions and, I’m sure, their legitimate and very Australian cuisine. In the real Outback? I give myself about 14 minutes.

In an enclosed space, a camel’s breath can change the atmosphere of the room. Not only just the smell, they literally seem to change the atmospheric pressure. It’s so disgusting. It’s like they have eight stomachs each more rancid then the next and it just comes out of their mouth.