Steve Carell Quotes

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

There’s plenty of room for all sorts of movies and all sorts of comedies, so I never saw that as a competitive thing. I think there’s room in the marketplace for everything.

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

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.

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.

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

If somebody takes the parking place you were waiting for, I tend to kind of let it roll off my back. Maybe I’m harboring a lot of something and it will all explode somewhere down the road, but I tend to just let it slide off my back.

Reading a book, watching a movie, going to a play, it’s transporting, and very, very exciting. And to be a part of that, creating things with your imagination, whoa.

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.

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

I know I’m not a woman’s fantasy man; I don’t have to uphold this image of male beauty, so that’s kind of a relief in a way.

What kind of person would have a real craving for gummy worms?

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

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.

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.

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 was a bad dater, and up until 8th grade I went to an all boy’s school. So, by the time I hit high school I was a bit freaked out by women in general.

A healthy body means a healthy mind. You get your heart rate up, and you get the blood flowing through your body to your brain. Look at Albert Einstein. He rode a bicycle. He was also an early student of Jazzercise. You never saw Einstein lift his shirt, but he had a six-pack under there.

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

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.

I was sort of traumatized by girls in the third grade. Because there was a girl in my third grade class I had a crush on. I bought her a box of Valentine’s Day chocolate. And I put it in her cubby with a note that said something like, ‘I am deeply in love with you, Your Secret Admirer.’ And I didn’t sign my name.

You project a version of yourself to the public to protect and insulate yourself a little bit. Actors come up with a version of themselves in order to protect the real person.

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.

Even the most self-confident people, at one point of their lives, felt like outsiders or felt like they weren’t being heard or seen or witnessed in some way.

You know what Disneyland is known for? The Big Turkey Leg. People walk around with enormous deep-fried turkey legs. Like little kids, three-year-old kids eating these five-pound turkey legs.

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.

Even the most self-confident people, at one point of their lives, felt like outsiders or felt like they weren’t being heard or seen or witnessed in some way.

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.

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

I remember my wife wanted me to go see ‘Contagion,’ and I was like, ‘Oh my God, why would I want to see that movie?’ I mean, I’ll just have nightmares and it will freak me out. It turned out that I really enjoyed it; I thought it was very well done.

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.

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

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 don’t think of myself as funny – I don’t fill up a room with my humor… I would fail miserably as a stand-up comedian.

If somebody takes the parking place you were waiting for, I tend to kind of let it roll off my back. Maybe I’m harboring a lot of something and it will all explode somewhere down the road, but I tend to just let it slide off my back.

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.

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.

I was a bad dater, and up until 8th grade I went to an all boy’s school. So, by the time I hit high school I was a bit freaked out by women in general.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

It’s interesting when you’re trying to create a character in animation. It’s really a communal effort.

You never saw Peter Sellers the actor trying to make you laugh. All he was doing was the character. What I’m saying is that I don’t think you should know you’re in a movie. I don’t like it when actors are winking at the audience and saying, ‘Right, isn’t this funny? Are you with me?’

People generally have sex fairly young, and probably younger than they should be having it.

It’s not a master plan to do every remake and every recreation of icons. It’s just what I’ve been hired to do.

I’ve waited my entire life to be busy. Whenever I hear actors complain about being busy, I think, ‘shut up.’ Because you do, you wait to be successful or to be able to work.

I had a lot of coaches growing up that were very hard on the kids in the name of building character, but it could have the opposite effect on kids.

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 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.

Everyone is flawed and everyone makes mistakes and is culpable.

When someone is good, but it doesn’t seem like their world will collapse if they don’t get the part, it’s more appealing. It’s like dating someone: You don’t want someone who’s too into you.

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

I’d love to do Broadway some day. Before I started doing television I was just a primarily a stage actor, but I haven’t done it in a while.

I’m not a crazy Vegas guy. I’m not a gambler.

Goalies almost never get credit for winning a game, but they always get blamed for losing a game.

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.

I don’t text, I don’t have a Blackberry. Literally, I just have a cell phone that I haven’t programmed and the whole Bluetooth. No. I don’t even have an earpiece for my cell phone.

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’ve waited my entire life to be busy. Whenever I hear actors complain about being busy, I think, ‘shut up.’ Because you do, you wait to be successful or to be able to work.

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.

You project a version of yourself to the public to protect and insulate yourself a little bit. Actors come up with a version of themselves in order to protect the real person.

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.

My job doesn’t define my kids in any way. When we go to places, it’s about them and it’s about us as a family. I think they’re proud of me, but I’m just Dad.

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

Whenever you see people talking about how real they are or how normal they are, it seems odd to have that self awareness that you could potentially not be normal.

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.

From cheesecake on a stick to meat skewers to deep-fried bananas on a stick – there are no plates anymore. In Los Angeles, everything has become a corn dog. Actually, corn dogs still work. But most other food should be stickless.

For the better part of my adult life, I proudly avoided nerd/nimrod/goober status. I was always just cool enough.

Everybody should be normal. Everybody should be nice. I think they go hand in hand, and that to me is the default setting.

I’ve thought a lot about success, because it’s very strange to me that I’ve been successful.

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.

Everybody wants to be a Bond villain. That is the coolest. To be able to portray a Bond villain, that is the feather in any actor’s cap.

Goalies almost never get credit for winning a game, but they always get blamed for losing a game.

I’m listening to a lot of Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and Rihanna. A lot of pop female artists. I have to say I’m pretty well-versed in the pop female category.

My father is Italian, and I never met my paternal grandparents. The family name was ‘Caroselli’ and it was changed in the mid ’50s. I think they wanted to assimilate, which was pretty common, although I love the name ‘Caroselli.’

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.

The best food is in Chicago. There are great restaurants everywhere, from fancy places to burger joints.

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

The best food is in Chicago. There are great restaurants everywhere, from fancy places to burger joints.

My father is Italian, and I never met my paternal grandparents. The family name was ‘Caroselli’ and it was changed in the mid ’50s. I think they wanted to assimilate, which was pretty common, although I love the name ‘Caroselli.’

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

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

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

Like most people, I have painful memories of trying to fit in as a child. I wore, said, and did pretty much what everyone else did.

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.

My wife is way funnier than I am. As much as I don’t really feel I share a sense of humour with my family, I definitely share one with her – we find the same things funny.

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

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

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

I know I’m not a woman’s fantasy man; I don’t have to uphold this image of male beauty, so that’s kind of a relief in a way.

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

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.

Nothing to me feels as good as laughing incredibly hard.

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 don’t feel that I have to control every aspect of things that I appear in. You learn a lot performing someone else’s writing.

I’ll do whatever I can do to remain employed. I’m just not precious about doing comedy or doing drama. I never want to do something in order to prove to other people what I can do.

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.