Top 70 James McAvoy Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Filmmaking is a miracle of collaboration.”

— James McAvoy

2. “I take a lot of pride in being myself. I’m comfortable with who I am.”

— James McAvoy

3. “The world seemed less scary and I started to like myself a little bit more.”

— James McAvoy

4. “Distance is a bad excuse for not having a good relationship with somebody. It’s the determination to keep it going or let it fall by the wayside; that’s the real reason that the relationships continue.”

— James McAvoy

5. “A story about my life would be utterly dull.”

— James McAvoy

6. “That singular uncompromising nature I think is always quite attractive, not just for an actor to play, we’re attracted to uncompromising people whether they’re nice or not, because they’re 3D, they’re solid, you can define them, it’s not wishy washy.”

— James McAvoy

7. “I’ve been in a few fights and I know what it’s like to get punched in the face.”

— James McAvoy

8. “I love going to art galleries. The Tate Modern is one of my favourite things to do. But I don’t invest in the history of it and I don’t read up on it. I am a guy who would buy a print rather than buy an original.”

— James McAvoy

9. “Passing my motorcycle theory test gave me a disproportionate feeling of greatness.”

— James McAvoy

10. “I’m probably more dangerous in a car than I am on a motorbike; on a bike I’m very mindful of the fact that if you make a mistake you’re dead.”

— James McAvoy

11. “If a scene is three pages long, quite often people break it up and do a page, say ‘cut’ then move on to the next bit, they do it in cuts. I don’t really like doing that; I like to go through it all in one organic run, then give notes afterward. A little bit more like theater.”

— James McAvoy

12. “I look at the Christian Bale movies, the ‘Batman’ films, and that shows you that superhero movies don’t just have to be about men in tights.”

— James McAvoy

13. “People come up to me and they’re usually nice, but as it goes on you realise that some people aren’t nice. Some people are not nice at all.”

— James McAvoy

14. “I think the most romantic thing you can do is just turn up. Turn up when its difficult for you. Travel halfway around the world or just up the road. Whatever it is, just be there.”

— James McAvoy

15. “I wanted to be a missionary and work abroad, but girls started to become a bigger part of my life around the time I lost interest in the priesthood.”

— James McAvoy

16. “The funny thing is, I’ve never really hurt myself in an action movie. I’ve done ‘Wanted,’ ‘X-Men,’ ‘Welcome To The Punch,’ even ‘Trance’ to a certain extent has little bits of action and stuff, but I’ve never really hurt myself at all – not even like a sprained ankle.”

— James McAvoy

17. “Basically, every character I’ve ever played, I’ve based entirely on internal conflict. And I love doing that, because I think it’s very human.”

— James McAvoy

18. “I judge people very quickly.”

— James McAvoy

19. “Our intellect, our awareness, and our consciousness is the most powerful form of life on this planet.”

— James McAvoy

20. “Next year, if no one gives me any work, that’s fine. I’m not going to do well anyway. I’m not an actor, I’m just exploiting this industry.”

— James McAvoy

21. “I try to keep my life low key, and I don’t like going to parties unless they’re thrown by a friend of mine, or they’re to do with a project I’m in, or it’s because I’ve been nominated for an award.”

— James McAvoy

22. “I’ve done enough for a while and people get fed up of seeing you, but apart from that, although I’m young, I need a bit of rest. You could say I have become a house husband. It’s not a new man thing, it’s just largely a boring man who doesn’t mind staying in the house thing.”

— James McAvoy

23. “I considered becoming a priest very seriously. I wanted to travel the world. By the time I turned 16, I realized I was only in it for selfish reasons. And, more importantly, I didn’t want to sacrifice the ladies!”

— James McAvoy

24. “I’m 5 foot 7, and I’ve got pasty white skin. I don’t think I’m ugly, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not your classic lead man, Brad Pitt guy.”

— James McAvoy

25. “I love Christmas. I never used to. I didn’t hate it, but I could take it or leave it. But, as I got to the age of 25 or 26, Christmas became quite a big deal, and I love it now. I love the food, and I love sharing time with people.”

— James McAvoy

26. “No movie has ever got enough time. It doesn’t matter how much money you’ve got, and it doesn’t matter how much money you’ve not got. You never finish on time. You’re always up against it and you’re always working up until the end.”

— James McAvoy

27. “Marriage is an ongoing thing, man. You continue to work at it. But it’s joyful. And joyous. I don’t care if people are living without a marriage certificate. It’s just about people, in some way, saying to each other, ‘I commit to you. I will help you in this life.’”

— James McAvoy

28. “Playing somebody who’s obsessed. Playing somebody who is transgressing, and who is really crossing moral lines and ethical lines. That’s always interesting.”

— James McAvoy

29. “I’m taking probably the biggest risk of my career in playing the part in Filth. If you stop taking risks, then you get bored, or you just keep playing the same part, over and over again. Eventually audiences get bored of that, as well.”

— James McAvoy

30. “The minute you start to strategize too much, the more you start to think you’re in control of your own fate. And you’re not, really.”

— James McAvoy

31. “I’d like to have stayed in the Scouts beyond the age of 12.”

— James McAvoy

32. “We’re in a horrible, repugnant place now where kids are told it’s their right and due to be hugely famous. Not good at their job, not good at anything, just hugely famous. This is not sane. Little girls think they’ll be famous if they have vast breast implants and might as well die if they don’t.”

— James McAvoy

33. “I think I’m losing my hair finally. And, yeah, that’s kind of all I know.”

— James McAvoy

34. “Fear is really powerful; it’s really useful to me.”

— James McAvoy

35. “I kind of embarked on a fruitless search to find information about my character, Frederick Aiken. And it was fruitless, unfortunately, because there’s so little about him.”

— James McAvoy

36. “I wanted to be a doctor at one point and I also wanted to be a pilot. I think if you grow up in a dodgy area, reality often beats down those ambitions as you get older. But with me that never really happened.”

— James McAvoy

37. “I was brought up by my grandparents. So people go, ‘Oh, what was that like? That must have been hard.’ And you go: ‘No, it wasn’t.’ It was just completely actually normal because the new norm seems to be whatever you make of it, doesn’t it?”

— James McAvoy

38. “I want to be like Matt Damon and do a hugely successful thinking-man’s action franchise like ‘Bourne.’”

— James McAvoy

39. “As I get older, I want to do more films for kids because they’re the best audience around. Just putting a smile on a kid’s face is the best thing.”

— James McAvoy

40. “I was talking to one of my aunties at Christmas and she said she didn’t think it was ever in my nature to go against the grain, that I was always a good boy. I think she was right – I did always want to be good.”

— James McAvoy

41. “I don’t know why I get cast in a lot of period pieces. Stephen Fry told me that I had a face for period, that I look like someone from 1920.”

— James McAvoy

42. “Shakespeare’s stories are still very strong. He structured fantastic stories about things that were fundamental to the human being and psyche.”

— James McAvoy

43. “I am a nerd, but I don’t dive head-first into any fiefdom of nerdiness, except for maybe ‘Star Trek.’”

— James McAvoy

44. “I always believed that I never wanted to be an actor. I only did it because I was allowed to do it and I had to do something.”

— James McAvoy

45. “I don’t think I’m ever going to get to the point where people run across a freeway to take a picture of me. I really don’t see it getting to that level of hysteria unless I have an affair with the Queen of Sweden or something like that.”

— James McAvoy

46. “I don’t know if anybody’s ever ready for another award season. It’s kind of like Christmas.”

— James McAvoy

47. “It’s weird when you’re watching yourself in a film – you can’t really detach yourself from the experiences you’ve had that day. You’re never watching the film as a proper punter.”

— James McAvoy

48. “I play football once or twice a week. I eat pretty healthy. I’m in fairly good shape most of the time.”

— James McAvoy

49. “Every time I do a movie, especially an animated movie, I just seem to scream and shout and hyperventilate for money.”

— James McAvoy

50. “As an actor sometimes you can be a bit emotional and forceful, and that’s not always the way to be.”

— James McAvoy