Top 180 Ricky Gervais Quotes (2025 Update)
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101. “I believe the greatest privilege in this world is to use your freedom of speech for those who have no voice.”

— Ricky Gervais

102. “I think the job of a comedian is to make people laugh, but also challenge them to laugh at things they didn’t know they could until now.”

— Ricky Gervais

103. “Science makes us understand how to stay alive longer – feelings give us the reason to want to.”

— Ricky Gervais

104. “Comedy and drama are different sides of the same coin. And the thing about comedy and drama is about likability. It’s about character first. It’s about story. And for me, it’s about empathy, and I think the realer someone is, the further you can go either way with them.”

— Ricky Gervais

105. “When you get back into the editing suite in the cold light of day, the written stuff is better.”

— Ricky Gervais

106. “Growing up, the two things that made my blood boil were religious intolerance and animal cruelty. I’ve never understood it. I can’t stand to have an animal in pain.”

— Ricky Gervais

107. “It will be great to play a short, fat sweaty loser for a change.”

— Ricky Gervais

108. “No one wants to see cool people doing brilliantly. I want to see the struggle. That’s the fun bit.”

— Ricky Gervais

109. “I think everyone has the ability to be loved.”

— Ricky Gervais

110. “I didn’t have toys and bikes; I’d go out and pick up rocks. I was into science and nature. It was my first love. I was going to be a vet and a marine biologist. I went to university and studied biology for two weeks and I just thought: “I’ve been conned!””

— Ricky Gervais

111. “I’m basically a ‘do unto others’ type person. I don’t have any religious feelings because I’m an atheist, but I live my life like there’s a God. And if there was he’d probably love me.”

— Ricky Gervais

112. “Life is an amazing gift, but it’s only a gift if you’re able to enjoy it.”

— Ricky Gervais

113. “It annoys me that the burden of proof is on us. It should be “You came up with the idea. Why do you believe it?” I could tell you I’ve got superpowers. But I can’t go up to people saying “Prove I can’t fly.” They’d go: “What do you mean ‘Prove you can’t fly’? Prove you can!”

— Ricky Gervais

114. “I’d rather be no where without her than somewhere without her.”

— Ricky Gervais

115. “Honor is a gift a man gives himself. You can be as good as anyone that ever lived. If you can read, you can learn everything that anyone ever learned. But you’ve got to want it.”

— Ricky Gervais

116. “Someone asked me what three things I would save if my house was on fire. I said my cat, my salamander and one of the twins.”

— Ricky Gervais

117. “Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but if you believe in god, you’re wrong.”

— Ricky Gervais

118. “People think that it’s fun to meet celebrities – but what do you mean by “celebrity”? Someone you recognise? What are they famous for? It’s people who’ve done something that are exciting.”

— Ricky Gervais

119. “Hotel bars are pretty good. No one bothers me there. Restaurants are safe. People are quite respectful when you’re eating. But what I never do now is go to a busy bar on the weekend, or after 8 o’clock at night. That’s the danger zone. Also being trapped. Never go on the Metro, or a bus.”

— Ricky Gervais

120. “Pol Pot – he rounded up anybody he thought was intellectual and had them executed. And how he told someone was intellectual or not was whether they wore glasses. If they’re that clever, take them off when they see him coming!”

— Ricky Gervais

121. “I’ve never regretted saying no to anything, or finishing something. When I’m in the middle of doing something I love, I can have a better idea, and I’ll go, “Oh God, I can’t finish this.” Maybe I’ve got some sort of disorder.”

— Ricky Gervais

122. “If I do eat meat, it’s got to be ethical. I want to know that it lived a great life before it was killed humanely.”

— Ricky Gervais

123. “I had great memories of growing up in a working class estate. I remember it being sunny all the time. So we’re putting that on screen. It’s not people wallowing in degradation.”

— Ricky Gervais

124. “I’m not a film snob at all. I much prefer a really good Hollywood blockbuster than a thought-provoking art house movie because entertainment is sort of where it’s at.”

— Ricky Gervais

125. “If David Brent is the best thing that I ever come up with, then so be it. What are you supposed to do, time the best thing you do for just before you die?”

— Ricky Gervais

126. “There’s no difference between fame and infamy now. There’s a new school of professional famous people that don’t do anything. They don’t create anything.”

— Ricky Gervais

127. “There was a nobility in poverty when I was growing up. My mom was poor but she was planting roses and she was cleaning the steps, you know what I mean. You didn’t feel sorry for yourself.”

— Ricky Gervais

128. “Your critics want you to be as unhappy, unfulfilled and unimportant as they are. Let your happiness eat them up from inside.”

— Ricky Gervais

129. “I don’t do anything for the money.”

— Ricky Gervais

130. “Do this or you’ll burn in hell.”

— Ricky Gervais

131. “It’s quite easy to make a load of people laugh, it’s often a reflex action, but I think to make them cry is harder without manipulating them.”

— Ricky Gervais

132. “I think doing something creative is the most important thing to me, and I think it’s probably just good for the soul for anyone, whatever it is. You don’t have to be a film director – you can do gardening or something – but I think everyone needs to create something.”

— Ricky Gervais

133. “I know how much embarrassment hurts, and I love it as a theme because you can keep digging a hole. It’s just an endless well, embarrassment.”

— Ricky Gervais

134. “When someone thanks God, I don’t get offended.”

— Ricky Gervais

135. “That’s what being nervous and sort of out of your comfort zone does. It’s the same in “The Office” when a black guy comes to the office and all he thinks is ‘I better show this guy I’m not a racist.’ So what does he do? Only talks about black issues.”

— Ricky Gervais

136. “I’m not a person that’s easily embarrassed, but I’m embarrassed for other people.”

— Ricky Gervais

137. “It breaks your heart when you throw something away, but it’s what left that counts. It’s like worrying about the bits of rock you have knocked off in order to make a beautiful statue. You’ve wasted half the rock, yeah, but it’s the Venus di Milo!”

— Ricky Gervais

138. “I have to be excited, I have to have an adrenaline rush about doing something, or it bores me, I feel trapped.”

— Ricky Gervais

139. “I feel sorry for people in power. I feel sorry for the Queen, in a way, that she hasn’t had a normal life. It’d difficult for me to hate anyone. Immediately someone’s unpopular, I feel sorry for them.”

— Ricky Gervais

140. “My ideal meal would probably be the cheesiest pasta or pizza, followed by something creamy and chocolaty. I mean, just the worst things, really.”

— Ricky Gervais

141. “Popularity and democracy aren’t a judge, they’re just stats.”

— Ricky Gervais

142. “Fact is stranger than fiction. You see people walking down the street that would never be allowed on television. You have to tone it down.”

— Ricky Gervais

143. “I’m quite squeamish, really. I’m philistine and unsophisticated – not because of my great discerning palate but other reasons. Some are moral grounds, some texture.”

— Ricky Gervais

144. “Growing up, the most important thing, after taking care of your family and getting a decent job of work, was having a laugh. That was the point to life.”

— Ricky Gervais

145. “My favourite shows of the year are House of Cards, the Scandinavian versions of The Killing and The Bridge, and my guilty pleasure is everything MMA. Ultimate Fighter is amazing.”

— Ricky Gervais

146. “Most people sitting at home aren’t cool, successful, witty Hollywood stars, but they all worry about what people think of them when they faux pas.”

— Ricky Gervais

147. “If you pay attention to good critics, you have to listen to the bad. So you have to ignore them all really. You can’t just cherry pick the glowing ones.”

— Ricky Gervais

148. “There are good and bad critics like good or bad artists. A good critic says why they didn’t like it. A bad critic gives it away that they don’t like you as a person. I quite like that as well, because it means that I’ve won.”

— Ricky Gervais

149. “There’s nothing as perfect as the initial idea. And the only reason I write and direct is to protect the writing, because that’s what’s most precious.”

— Ricky Gervais

150. “Our challenge with “The Office” and “Extras” was to get it completely scripted but to find a cast that could make it look like they were saying it for the first time.”

— Ricky Gervais