Eric Cantona Quotes & Sayings

Every man who has an idol or admires someone can recognise its themes. It's not only a film about the relationship between fans and idols, it's also a love story, a story of a man who is depressed, who has problems in his relationship with his teenage step-children. — Eric Cantona

Football lost its excitement for me. — Eric Cantona

A home is crucial, the foundation of a stable family. — Eric Cantona

Children go where they find sincerity and authenticity. — Eric Cantona

My father's parents were from Sardinia and my mother's from Barcelona. — Eric Cantona

Anyone who is different or is slightly out of the norm, is considered crazy. — Eric Cantona

It is enjoyable to make things visible which are invisible. — Eric Cantona

It is unacceptable that people often have to make huge sacrifices just to find a place to live, a roof over their heads. — Eric Cantona

You need a particular talent only to want to please. I don't have this talent. — Eric Cantona

I know that I have a face, a look, people aren't used to seeing. A presence. — Eric Cantona

Being French, to me, is first and foremost being a revolutionary. — Eric Cantona

I started beach football in Monte Carlo when I retired from football in 1997. I liked the game very much. — Eric Cantona

I try to find different ways of expressing myself. Without that I will die. — Eric Cantona

Messi, he's exceptional. When you watch him, you feel there's a child inside him and he is making some childhood dream come true. He's a Great Player, not only for today but also tomorrow. — Eric Cantona

I have great memories. — Eric Cantona

Whatever happens, there are always things you could have done better. You score two goals and you usually feel you could have done better. You score two goals and you usually feel you could have scored a third. That's perfectionism. That's what makes you progress in life. — Eric Cantona

With my two brothers, Jean-Marie and Joel, I wrote a two-page story and wanted to make some kind of movie. We met a French production company, called Why Not?, and the first name we put on the list was Ken Loach. It was a dream for all of us. So, we tried and we met Ken and Paul Laverty, his writer, and they read the two pages and were inspired by that to do something. Paul had the freedom to do his own story - and he wrote his own story, which is better than the one we'd written. — Eric Cantona

I like to be fascinated by the people I photograph. Sometimes I don't admire them but I'm interested in them. — Eric Cantona

I was always being creative. I could never have played a defensive role because I would have been forced to destroy the other player's creativity. — Eric Cantona

I don't think we can be entirely happy seeing such misery around us. — Eric Cantona

Ferguson, as a manager, and Ken, as a director, are very similar. One's a great manager, the other a great director, but both have a lot of humanity and a lot of humility. They always give you the energy ... with Ferguson when we played a game it was like it was his first game - he's so passionate and gives you ambition every time. And Ken works the same way - they're very similar. — Eric Cantona

I like to stay at home and make cinema in my head. — Eric Cantona

We all have common frailties but we need to treasure friends more. — Eric Cantona

The revolution is really easy to do nowadays. — Eric Cantona

I don't take life so seriously ... I can just play with life. — Eric Cantona

I don't need to be involved with a game watched by millions of people to be fulfilled. — Eric Cantona

I observe the world and the people surrounding me. — Eric Cantona

You can lose in cinema too if you don't put on a good performance. — Eric Cantona

When people are talking about you, it means that you exist. — Eric Cantona

Sometimes you get submerged by emotion. I think it's very important to express it - which doesn't necessarily mean hitting someone. — Eric Cantona

I don't play against any team in particular. I play to fight against defeat. — Eric Cantona

I think I have a sense of mischief and that I can laugh at myself. — Eric Cantona

You retire, but you're still aching to play. But in order to play, you have to resist certain temptations, and train hard. And I just didn't have the desire to do that any more. — Eric Cantona

I don't know where my medals are. — Eric Cantona

Some films I say no to and they end up working very well, but I don't care, I just want to do something exciting. — Eric Cantona

My best moment? I have a lot of good moments but the one I prefer is when I kicked the hooligan — Eric Cantona

When I think football, I think Manchester United. I still support United and always will. I will die with them in my heart. — Eric Cantona

A good goal is one that is important and beautiful. — Eric Cantona

I feel close to the rebelliousness of the youth here. Perhaps time will seperate us , but nobody can deny that here, behind the windows of Manchester, there is an insane love of football, of celebration and of music. — Eric Cantona

The ball is like a woman, she loves to be caressed. — Eric Cantona

I play with passion and fire. I have to accept that sometimes this fire does harm. — Eric Cantona

I don't want to be in Terminator. I don't want to go to Hollywood. — Eric Cantona

An artist is someone with the gift to light up a dark room. — Eric Cantona

I am searching for abstract ways of expressing reality, abstract forms that will enlighten my own mystery. — Eric Cantona

When you arrive in England for football it's a paradise. — Eric Cantona

I see the world become so uniform. Everybody has to be the same. I like people who are different. — Eric Cantona

For me, I don't like it when there is too much interference in our lives. We're not children. It is our own life in our hands. — Eric Cantona

Become a legend? But I am already. — Eric Cantona

I didn't want really to be involved in a normal soccer club. — Eric Cantona

We all seem to be about aggression and greed. It's a massive pressure that affects us all. — Eric Cantona

We can be eaten by techniques and forget what we have inside of us. — Eric Cantona

I think life is a big game we play. — Eric Cantona

We knew that you don't get to be world champions without a struggle. — Eric Cantona

Sometimes you surprise the goalkeeper and sometimes the goalkeeper surprises you. In my career, I tried to do more of the first than the second. — Eric Cantona

I always knew I had to work hard. — Eric Cantona

Sometimes in life one experiences an emotion which is so strong that it is difficult to think, or to reason. — Eric Cantona

He who has regrets cannot look at himself in the mirror. — Eric Cantona

I'm proud of what I achieved there, but a life built on memories is not much of a life. — Eric Cantona

I always wanted to play against the best. — Eric Cantona

I don't play against a particular team. I play against the idea of losing — Eric Cantona

I don't care about the past. — Eric Cantona

What is the system? It revolves around the banks, the system is built on the power of the banks, so it can be destroyed through the banks. — Eric Cantona

Domenech is the worst coach France have had since Louis XVI. — Eric Cantona

I have to wear clothes but I don't like to give an idea of what I am with clothes. — Eric Cantona

Without spontaneity in any sport, you cannot succeed. — Eric Cantona

My ancestors were fighters, something I have inherited. — Eric Cantona

When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. — Eric Cantona

Certainly take the advice of others but always, always be yourself. — Eric Cantona

When I was a child I had a dream to become a football player. I always played as I played when I was a child. I tried to improve. I never dreamt of becoming a professional football player, I dreamed just to play with the best players in the best team. I never dreamed to be paid to play. I would have paid to play an FA Cup Final in front of 80,000 people in Wembley. I just tried to play the wonderful game that football is. So, I hope young players will still have this dream. — Eric Cantona

Manchester United is stronger than anybody in the world. — Eric Cantona

You are constantly battling against your own weaknesses to make a good performence. — Eric Cantona

Often there are players who have only football as a way of expressing themselves and never develop other interests. And when they no longer play football, they no longer do anything; they no longer exist, or rather they have the sensation of no longer existing. — Eric Cantona

I don't think the world of football is so serious. It's important to have distance about things and about yourself. If we believe we are kings or gods, we become crazy. We all know it's a game and we all enjoy it together. — Eric Cantona

I try to be honest. — Eric Cantona

The real fans of football come from the working class. Now they cannot afford to come and watch the game. — Eric Cantona

Some people need to stay at the top. They are afraid to re-start from zero because they fear the critics. — Eric Cantona

You may find another Beckham or Ronaldo, but never ever will you find another Sir Alex Ferguson. — Eric Cantona

An artist in my eyes, is someone who can lighten up a dark room. I have never and will never find difference between the pass from Pele to Carlos Alberto in the final of the World Cup in 1970 and the poetry of the young Rimbaud, who stretches cords from steeple to steeple and garlands from window to window. There is in each of these human manifestations an expression of beauty which touches us and gives us a feeling of eternity. — Eric Cantona

Actually, I wanted to act even when I was still playing football. — Eric Cantona

It's my country but I don't want to know about France - I was born there but I feel English. — Eric Cantona

In England, your life is your life. — Eric Cantona

If you have only one passion in life - football - and you pursue it to the exclusion of everything else, it becomes very dangerous. When you stop doing this activity it is as though you are dying. The death of that activity is a death in itself. — Eric Cantona

I always planned to retire when I was at the top and at Manchester United I have reached the pinnacle of my career. — Eric Cantona

I prefer to play and lose rather than win, because I know in advance I'm going to win. — Eric Cantona

I live to feel myself in danger. — Eric Cantona

Those who hate or disrespect Sir Alex Ferguson , its only because he snatched away their dreams of winning. — Eric Cantona

I found leaving Manchester United very, very hard. — Eric Cantona

In football you have an adversary; in cinema that adversary is yourself. — Eric Cantona

Even as a footballer, I was always being creative. — Eric Cantona

There were moments - I would be daydreaming - I would imagine scenes, even if there wasn't a camera around. In my head, I was acting. — Eric Cantona

I'm just enjoying my life at the moment. — Eric Cantona

When you are a rich man you are proud to own a Rolls Royce and when you are a poor man you are proud to own a Renault. — Eric Cantona

You can change your wife, your politics, your religion, but never, never can you change your favourite football team. — Eric Cantona

I'm so proud the fans still sing my name, but I fear tomorrow they will stop. I fear it because I love it. And everything you love, you fear you will lose. — Eric Cantona

I have a car but it's not important. — Eric Cantona

I'm lucky to have the privilege of being able to choose what I want to do. — Eric Cantona

I am very mistrustful of people who are constantly over intellectualising things. It kills passion. You have to allow yourself to lose control from time to time. — Eric Cantona

I don't want to go to Hollywood. — Eric Cantona

Great businessmen are creators. — Eric Cantona

The pressure people put on themselves and the rivalry between the teams is much more marked. And I think that's a good thing. As long as that rivalry remains within the spirit of competition, it con only spur everyone on. — Eric Cantona