You have to know who you are, if you don't you have nightmares.

My kids act all the time and it's exactly what I used to do.

Acting is way of making yourself exist.

Angel was the first Irish feature film. Neil's first movie and my first movie.

I've been worked over by the English press because there's an assumption that my politics are identical with my wife's, and for that matter that my wife's politics are identical with her politics of 20 years ago.

The worst thing for an actor is a director that gets on your nerves and says things that actually confuse you.

People ask me to smile for the camera, but somehow it always comes out gloomy.

I don't feel ashamed of my wife's political background, and I don't think she should either. I feel that the people who administered the North of Ireland for the last 20 years should be ashamed. There you are.

I have never been to a brothel. I don't think I could go into one.

People often refer to my career before The Crying Game as something which led up to that point. But I was very fulfilled in what I was doing.

I've never been in a bad play. There might have been bad productions and I might have been bad in them, but I've never been in a play that wasn't interesting or worthwhile doing on some level.

I believe some people in this business suffer from fame because they behave in a famous fashion.

I think great art is always ambiguous and can't be pinned down.

I am afraid of death, scared by it. I already don't know whether I exist or not. So dying really terrifies me.

At least when you're acting you can be someone. In front of the camera you have to be yourself. And who am I?

I'm enjoying it, but I still don't know why I'm hooked on acting.

That was the beginning of modern acting for me. You don't have to tell a camera everything. It gets bored if you do and wants to look elsewhere.

At this moment, when Ireland seems about to break into something new, we thought it was worth looking back at a time when people seemed to have found a way out of the sectarian division of the country.

You have to know who you are, if you don't you have nightmares.

I didn't want to be seen as just a guy on a list. I'm interested in good scripts, scripts that are about something, scripts that move your acting along.

The Butcher Boy is a very great novel indeed and a very important Irish novel. The ambiguity of that is, he's writing a book about an appalling situation and he does it in a hilarious way.

I never watch TV. I know I'm missing so much, aren't I? I'm probably not. I can't stand popular TV. I've got too much to do to watch it. I know that sounds pretentious and pompous, but there you are.

I see people with laptops as being enslaved to something they can't live without.

I'd like to own a movie camera - a proper one, with film, not a digital thing. Celluloid has more character.

I'm not in denial about technology, but my mother used to say when I was a kid, 'Son, you're handless,' because I couldn't fix anything. My ambition is to be a Luddite.

If you're playing a lead, you're shaping the movie. When you're playing a supporting role, you've got only a moment to make it count.

You do small movies because the script is good and because you believe in the director. You don't care about the money. And when they disappear, it's a pity.

On game day, if I eat fruit - I usually eat fruit in the mornings - I have to have three pieces of cantaloupe, three pieces of pineapple. Everything's in threes.

You can't imagine how hard I am on myself. Nothing pummels me like my own doubts, the feeling of how far I still have to go.

We need to distinguish between stress and stimulation. Having deadlines, setting goals, and pushing yourself to perform at capacity are stimulating. Stress is when you're anxious, upset, or frustrated, which dramatically reduce your ability to perform.

I couldn't even get an audition for network TV at home in Ireland.

Life is meant to be enjoyed, not just endured.

As our nation continues to slowly recover from the recession, it is clear some families are doing better than others.

You don't do oysters and red wine together. That's a no-no; you just don't do that. I love a nice white wine with oysters.

Without Christ not one step with Him anywhere

First of all, I'd like to say here the fact that I'm not naturally a craftsman has made me work very hard.

American men are like women.

By reading Huckleberry Finn I felt I was able to justify my act of going into the mountain forest at night and sleeping among the trees with a sense of security which I could never find indoors.

I have no wish for a second husband. I had enough of the first. I like to have my own way to lie down mistress, and get up master.

I was mainly influenced by the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard, and others like Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash.

To the proud, the applause of the world rings in their ears; to the humble, the applause of heaven warms their hearts.

On this land, Muslims, Christians and Jews can coexist together, as they have - as they had for the - for hundreds of years in the framework of a democratic state.

No economy can succeed without a high quality workforce particularly in an age of globalization and technical change.

There is a lack of talent in technology, and we need to be encouraging kids in school to learn how to code. We need to encourage computer science as a major. We need to encourage entrepreneurism.

It's people's worst fantasy to see their partner kissing someone else, even though it's a job and it's not real.

On 'Paranormal Activity,' it worked to my advantage not to have much of a crew, but on a bigger movie, where you have to work with a larger group of people who basically become your second family for a few months, it can be a great experience. Even though all of my projects are small scale compared to most Hollywood productions.

Afghanistan and Iraq were lumped together in what was called a 'global war on terrorism.'

You cant get away from yourself by moving from one place to another.

I don't like that man. I must get to know him better.