“I came to water late. I learned to swim at the age of 20.”
“For all of nature's wonder and beauty, it is also hostile and unpredictable.”
“Before 'Schindler's List,' I wouldn't have believed movies had a lot of power for social change.”
“It's an ongoing joy being a dad.”
“I try to be a hard boiled sometimes. My kids see right through it. I'm acting. It's always, 'When I say you'll be back at 11, that means 11, not 11.15. Do you hear me!?' Then, 'Yeah, Dad.'”
“But I was very, very lucky, and it was a wake up call as far as motorbikes are concerned. I never flirted with death on the bike, but now I'm totally convinced they're death machines.”
“To be honest, I'm scared to death of rollercoaster rides.”
“For every successful actor or actress, there are countless numbers who don't make it. The name of the game is rejection. You go to an audition and you're told you're too tall or you're too Irish or your nose is not quite right. You're rejected for your education, you're rejected for this or that and it's really tough.”
“I have to make it my job to be careful with my family.”
“I do believe at the end of the night when you're with your family, the character gets hung up on the door like a coat, and is there to be taken on the next morning.”
“I don't think I'm funny.”
“It's funny, but you get to a time in your life when you think you have all the friends you will ever have.”
“I was an OK boxer, I wasn't great, I was OK, but I loved the discipline of getting together every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, usually Saturday afternoons too, with a whole bunch of mates and training, very, very hard for about two-and-half hours.”
“I certainly notice the vitality in Belfast, which wasn't there in the Seventies. There was a war going on then. Now there are cranes everywhere. There really is a sense of renewal and hope.”
“I'm so touched that complete strangers will send me a script asking me to be in their film. That still amazes me - and sometimes for a lot of money too.”
“Acting is invigorating. But I don't analyse it too much. It's like a dog smelling where it's going to do its toilet in the morning.”
“Some mornings you wake up and think, gee I look handsome today. Other days I think, what am I doing in the movies? I wanna go back to Ireland and drive a forklift.”
“Hollywood is throwing action movies at me.”
“I had done some flimflam movies, but I didn't understand what being an actor meant anymore.”
“Every cliche about kids is true they grow up so quickly, you blink and they're gone, and you have to spend the time with them now. But that's a joy.”
“But let's just say, I'm Irish. I grew up in the 1950s. Religion had a very tight iron fist.”
“I did, although I didn't read from page 1 to page 187 but I read chunks of it. I did a little bit of science when I was in the university so I was able to understand the graphs and pie charts and stuff like that. It was extremely dry.”
“Indeed I regard the enduring support which I have received over the years from all sections of the community in Ballymena as being more than sufficient recognition for any success which I may have achieved as an actor.”
“I thought, well of course, Kinsey absolutely adored teaching. He was a wonderful teacher. So these kids really inspired me. So that was a clue I hung onto. He loved young people, he absolutely loved them. And he loved teaching them and trying to help them.”
“I gravitate toward women.”