John Reilly Quotes & Sayings

There is a level of fame that is really unmanageable. But most of the people who experience that level of fame are compensated in other ways. Private villas and chauffeured boats. — John C. Reilly

The organized charity, scrimped and iced, In the name of a cautious, statistical Christ. — John Boyle O'Reilly

For a long time, it was like I was part of some special forces unit: I'd land, meet everyone, five minutes later I'd have to do some amazing work, then - boom! - I'm out again. You know, playing supporting parts takes courage. — John C. Reilly

I really enjoy my time off. If I'm going to go to work, it has to be something I really believe in, or else it's totally tedious. — John C. Reilly

I'd rather live in Bohemia than in any other land. — John Boyle O'Reilly

I'm a big fan of not letting the audience of off the hook, as they say. I like it when things feel real, and that's oftentimes not comfortable. — John C. Reilly

Who heeds not experience, trust him not. — John Boyle O'Reilly

I mean I was very shy but I was also very extroverted because I was doing plays. I'd been doing plays since I was a little kid. But, I did feel like an outsider because I went to like a 'college-prep' kind of high school that had a really big football team and was known for its program so I was like this weird boy that did plays. — John C. Reilly

An actor's life is like a series of - it's like the first day of school happening over and over again. — John C. Reilly

In Chicago it's really a case of the play's the thing - people are just so happy to be acting, you know? We were all actors - not like in New York or Los Angeles, where everyone says they are actors but they are actually waiting tables and hustling for spots in commercials. — John C. Reilly

I love that people can't place me. They don't know my name. That's 'mission accomplished' in my world. — John C. Reilly

I know I'm not some matinee idol, but I think we're sold this bill of goods by the media, which says that only the most beautiful and dashing people can become movie stars. So when someone like me sneaks in, they have to redo the calculations. — John C. Reilly

The Vulgar sham of the pompous feast Where the heaviest purse is the highest priest The organised charity, scrimped and iced In the name of a cautious, statistical Christ."1 - John Boyle O'Reilly — Tim Pat Coogan

Had that poor Reilly kook really been proud of Levy Pants? He had always said that he was. That was one good sign of his insanity. — John Kennedy Toole

I would love to do a western. I would love to play an explorer. That is always something that has really captured my imagination since I was a kid, like James Cook or Magellan or Earnest Shackleton. — John C. Reilly

The thing I tried to remember when I was younger was 'Do something that's at least as good, if not better, than the last thing you did.' So I started with Brian De Palma and Sean Penn. I had a pretty high bar to start with. — John C. Reilly

People say, 'Don't you get tired of people coming up to you all the time?' But what's wrong with strangers saying they love you? — John C. Reilly

The right word fitly spoken is a precious rarity. — John Boyle O'Reilly

Social equity is based on justice; politics change on the opinion of the time. The black man's skin will be a mark of social inferiority so long as white men are conceited, ignorant, unjust, and prejudiced. You cannot legislate these qualities out of the white - you must steal them out by teaching, illustration, and example. — John Boyle O'Reilly

From the first time I did a movie, people have said, 'Oh, it's all going to change now.' And it would change, but very incrementally. I think I prefer that to some big explosion of fame all of the sudden. — John C. Reilly

I swear and it comes off a little angry, no matter how funny I'm trying to do it. If I use certain words with a certain intensity, it's like 'Whoa whoa whoa, buddy buddy!' — John C. Reilly

Improvisation, the main thing is it teaches you to be in the moment and present in the moment and be reactive and proactive for what's going on. Someone gives you something - a lot of actors are a little shut off, so they're just doing, "This is my character, these are my lines, I'm going to just send it to you then you send whatever you're sending." Improvisation teaches you to really be listening. — John C. Reilly

I'm dating myself by saying this, but I was the test audience for 'Space Invaders.' I remember when that was the first game that wasn't a pinball game. I spent a lot of money on 'Space Invaders,' in the form of quarters, of course. — John C. Reilly

I am thirty," Ignatius said condescendingly. "You got a job?" "Ignatius hasta help me at home," Mrs. Reilly said. Her initial courage was failing a little, and she began to twist the lute string with the cord on the cake boxes. "I got terrible arthuritis." "I dust a bit," Ignatius told the policeman. "In addition, I am at the moment writing a lengthy indictment against our century. When my brain begins to reel from my literary labors, I make an occasional cheese dip." "Ignatius makes delicious cheese dips," Mrs. Reilly said. — John Kennedy Toole

And we who have toiled for freedom's law, have we sought for freedom's soul? Have we learned at last that human right is not a part but the whole? — John Boyle O'Reilly

A good boxer, in striking the round blow, instead of loosening body and arm, gathers himself into a heap of muscularity and begins his blow where all blows ought to begin, from the solidarity of the right foot. — John Boyle O'Reilly

It is heroic to prepare for war with a tyrant power. Patriots will always win the admiration of mankind for daring to meet the bloodshed of battle for their country's liberty. But the patriot who is willing to go to that sacrifice will be the first to condemn the aimless and secret shedding of blood in time of peace. — John Boyle O'Reilly

Being unprepared makes me nervous. I'm old-fashioned show folk. — John C. Reilly

I've never been someone who's been given work because of the way I look or because I have some box office appeal. I get work because people know I'm swinging as hard as I can, trying to connect, giving it my level best. I have a face for radio, but here I am doing what I do. — John C. Reilly

A lot of times, good improv is when both people, or however many people are in the scene, really have no idea what the next thing you're going to say is. — John C. Reilly

I was more like a middle child. My youngest brother was the baby, so he got all the attention that the baby gets. And my older brothers were getting into so much trouble that I was left in the middle, doing plays. I was up to no good, but my mother didn't know it! — John C. Reilly

I like people who are able to keep pushing themselves and challenging themselves even after great success. — John C. Reilly

Unless you do the same thing, it's tough for stereotypes to stick. That said, whatever you've done that's most popular at a given moment is what people think "you do." — John C. Reilly

Surprising people is the key to career longevity for someone like me. — John C. Reilly

With the advent of chivalry, the art of boxing waned. The evolution of feudal aristocracy, with other and widely different exercises, pastimes and weapons from those of the common people, made boxing unfashionable. — John Boyle O'Reilly

I should perhaps warn you that I am about to faint from anxiety and general depression, though. The film I saw last night was especially grueling, a teen-age beach musical. I almost collapsed during the singing sequence on surfboard. — John Kennedy Toole

Whatever the reasons that I turn things down, I'm always happy when there's a good result, and I can enjoy it as a movie, you know? I don't feel like, 'Oh man, that was really good. I should have done it.' You have to make the decisions you have to make, whether it has to do with your family or repeating a character or whatever it is. — John C. Reilly

I like how pure the expression is in music. You can go straight to the heart of an audience rather than through their brain. — John C. Reilly

This is real human drama, we're not creating some amusement park ride for the summer. Even though the movie is really exciting to watch, it's got a real pathos behind it. — John C. Reilly

I am one of those people who is not very patient in the makeup chair. I have been offered movies like 'Planet of the Apes' and stuff like 'The Grinch Who Stole Christmas' and I turned them down. — John C. Reilly

I always get a headache the first time I watch a movie I'm in. Because you're staring at the screen so hard, your brain is doing all this work trying to put things in context of what the day-to-day experience of making it was. And the timeline that's in your head of when it was made, and on what day, how you felt. And then you're also trying to grasp what it's been edited into. — John C. Reilly

Acting's all about the confidence you exude, especially on film. I mean, nervousness isn't attractive in anyone, but a film camera will seek it out and punish you. — John C. Reilly

A lot of people that make films say, 'We need this kind of character. Who's done it before? Get them to do it again.' That is exactly what actors are pushing against. It's kind of a cliche to talk about being stereotyped in that way, but it happens. — John C. Reilly

Movies are this thing that came into my life, and it still feels pretend in some way. I kind of do this thing, and I never really accepted this idea that I'm a film actor. That's what I do. I feel like I'm a theater actor that started doing films. Most people have never seen me in a play. They're fun, though. — John C. Reilly

I just like surprising people. I never want to get to a place where people see that I am in a movie and they go see the movie and they expect a certain performance one way or the other. That is just inherently boring to me. — John C. Reilly

I like working. I wish I could say I made a deliberate choice to comedy, but it's just what came my way. It's what the studios wanted to make. Some of my friends were doing it, like Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, and they offered me 'Talladega Nights.' It's just nice work if you can get it. It's a joyful day at work, making your friends laugh. — John C. Reilly

I would say whisky or pills. Not both because that can have disastrous consequences. — John C. Reilly

The adoption of gloves for all contests will do more to preserve the practice of boxing than any other conceivable means. It will give pugilism new life, not only as a professional boxer's art, but as a general exercise. — John Boyle O'Reilly

The world is large when its weary leagues two loving hearts divide; But the world is small when your enemy is loose on the other side. — John Boyle O'Reilly

Women ought to be fully guarded by law in all rights of property, labor, profession, etc.; but, roughly stated, the voting population ought to represent the fighting population. — John Boyle O'Reilly

One of the unique things is that whether we were out at sea or in the middle of the water tank, a lot of times you just couldn't leave. Especially when we were out at sea. — John C. Reilly

I would consider directing. I think directing myself would be tough, but I'm definitely interested in directing. I might start off directing a play before I move to a film. — John C. Reilly

If I'm committed to something really stupid, then I'm in a comedy. — John C. Reilly

When honor comes to you, be ready to take it; But reach not to seize it before it is near. — John Boyle O'Reilly

I come from a pretty working-class neighborhood in Chicago. Hard work was just expected of you. It wasn't some noble thing you did; it was a prerequisite. It's what a man did. You get up, you put on your boots, and you work hard. We've lost a lot of that, I'm afraid. — John C. Reilly

I don't mind doing scripted material. It's actually kind of a relief, because improvising is a little bit like screenwriting on your feet. — John C. Reilly

For the love that is purest and sweetest
Has a kiss of desire on the lips. — John Boyle O'Reilly

I love card games, and I've always loved board games and stuff like that as a kid, and I think it's that part of your brain that's engaged in con movies. It's like this 'Who's outsmarting whom?' — John C. Reilly

Animation is a great way to work. No early morning call times, no make-up chair. In live action, you're always fighting the clock; the sun is always going down too soon. — John C. Reilly

If you get made fun for the way you look, then maybe wearing the same thing every day is the best way to protect yourself. — John C. Reilly

When I first joined SAG, there was another John Reilly. My dad was John Reilly, too, but growing up I was John John. Nobody in life calls me John C. It's more like, 'Hey you, Step Brother!' — John C. Reilly

Whenever I work on something, I try and throw everything I have at it. Then if the director finds it useful they use it, and if not, they ignore it! — John C. Reilly

There's something about the water - that solitary kind of peaceful feeling. You're on Earth but not quite. — John C. Reilly

I was a solid C student because I was doing so many plays. I was a drama nerd, but I was also kind of a Zelig-like character; I would shift between different groups of people. But the people I spent most of my time with were either chorus or swing choir or the drama nerds. — John C. Reilly

Well blest is he who has a dear one dead; A friend he has whose face will never change- A dear communion that will not grow strange; The anchor of a love is death. — John Boyle O'Reilly

Woman suffrage is an unjust, unreasonable, unspiritual abnormality. It is a hard, undigested, tasteless, devitalized proposition. It is a half-fledged, unmusical, Promethean abomination. It is a quack bolus to reduce masculinity even by the obliteration of femininity. — John Boyle O'Reilly

Put least trust in him who is foremost to praise you, nor judge of a road till it draw to the end. — John Boyle O'Reilly

It has always been the aim of royalty and aristocracy to lower the individual liberty and independence of the common people. A baron and a minute-man could not breathe the same air. — John Boyle O'Reilly

I had [at school] my own little posse of people that all felt weird together so it wasn't so lonely. — John C. Reilly

That's one of the difficult things of being an actor that I'm still not used to. You have to go, you have to show up at these places where you know nobody, and sometimes with really impressive, high stakes people like Roman Polanski. — John C. Reilly

Actually, acting turned out to be the perfect job for me, because I had a lot of different interests. I thought about being a priest at one point. I thought about being a teacher. I thought about being a lawyer. But I think acting is probably the best job for me. — John C. Reilly

They who see the Flying Dutchman never, never reach the shore. — John Boyle O'Reilly

I did a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio, and his skill level was eons ahead of mine. It was really more like an abattoir - he just slaughtered my character over and over again. — John C. Reilly

It's thought of as an eccentric thing for an actor to really try to maintain quality control through the whole career. Most people think, 'You just work. You just keep working.' And in some ways I wish I could be a guy who's just a workhorse. — John C. Reilly

Ireland is a fruitful mother of genius, but a barren nurse. — John Boyle O'Reilly

But I am scared. Everybody's scared."
"You know what I mean, like scared scared. Like coward scared, like if you never went to begin with. But with everything you've done nobody's going to doubt you." Then she made a somewhat frantic speech about a website she found that listed how certain people had avoided Vietnam. Cheney, Four education deferments, then a hardship 3-A. Limbaugh,4-F thanks to a cyst on his ass. Pat Buchanan, 4-F. Newt Gingrich, grad school deferment. Karl Rove, did not serve. Bill O'Reilly, did not serve. John Ashcroft, did not serve. Bush, AWOL from the Air National Guard, with a check mark in the "do not volunteer" box as to service overseas.
"You see where I'm going with this?'
"Well, yeah."
"I'm just saying, those people want a war so bad, they can fight it themselves. Billy Lynn's done his part. — Ben Fountain

I'm aware of how lucky I am. Being able to make pretty good money, and get to do a lot of fun work, and at the same time I'm not besieged by photographers. — John C. Reilly

There's so much joy in doing comedy work, and that's one of the reasons I like to do it - because it's just a hilarious day at work. — John C. Reilly

I actually envy actors who have a persona: 'This is the way I am. This is the part I play.' And do it over and over and over. To me, that's a lot easier than trying to reinvent yourself every six months. — John C. Reilly

I went to an all-boys Catholic school, and not only were we not allowed to wear pajamas, we had to wear dress shirts, dress pants, a tie, dress shoes ... they stopped making us wear blazers, like, two years before I started there, so pajamas ... you wouldn't even get in the front door wearing pajamas at my school. — John C. Reilly

Mrs. Reilly called in that accent that occurs south of New Jersey only in New Orleans, that Hoboken near the Gulf of Mexico. — John Kennedy Toole

I give as much as I can, and it's up to someone else to turn it into a movie. Good luck to you! — John C. Reilly

If people want to see me in comedies, that's fine with me. — John C. Reilly

[Country Music] is the final destination for many punk rockers [ ... ] Rockabilly is the mid-point and then [they] end up at Country [ ... ] There's purity to that music and I think that appeals to a lot of punk rock people - the precision, the purity, and the directness of Country Music. — John C. Reilly

I considered a lot of different jobs as a kid. I thought about becoming a priest or a lawyer. My father had a big linen-supply business and I considered working for him. What dawned on me was: 'If I'm an actor, I get to do the fun parts of every job!' Without having to go to four years of law school. — John C. Reilly

My life is a rather grim one. One day I shall perhaps describe it to you in great detail. — John Kennedy Toole

I don't know how to be like a Bill Murray or a Will Ferrell, these guys who know how to make a line funny just by, I don't know, some extra-sense perception. I only know character and emotion and real acting; that's all I know how to do. — John C. Reilly

Putting prize-fighting altogether aside as one of the unavoidable evils attending on this manly exercise, the inestimable value of boxing as a training, discipline, and development of boys and young men remains. — John Boyle O'Reilly

I feel like a teenager myself, so I appreciate it when the kids think you're all right. — John C. Reilly

A script is like a theory of a movie. — John C. Reilly

For peace do not hope; to be just you must break it. Still work for the minute and not for the year. — John Boyle O'Reilly

I'm alienated from this world because its weird and I don't want to be a part of it. I want to be part of the people that are more imaginative and crazy. — John C. Reilly

I like working with people I know. It saves a lot of awkward conversations and getting-to-know-you kinda moments. You trust the people if you know them. — John C. Reilly

My family are all storytellers, and I think I inherited a lot more of that gene than other people in my family. I guess I was fun to have around. — John C. Reilly

Hey, I'm just trying to become the Michael Caine/Gene Hackman of my generation. — John C. Reilly

Take gifts with a sigh: most men give to be paid. — John Boyle O'Reilly

This whole celebrity racket, it's not really my bag. I don't really do that stuff, and I am not looking to get famous myself. I would love it if my characters get famous, my work was well known and appreciated. But I'm an actor, not a spokes model or a celebrity or whatever that is. I don't know how to be that. — John C. Reilly

I end up improvising in almost everything to some degree, 'cause it's often necessary on movies. The script is one thing, and it's this kind of theory of what you're going to do, and then you get there on the day and you realize, "Oh, the script is not appropriate to this room, the door's over here." — John C. Reilly

When Elton John sang a duet with the white rapper Eminem on a Grammy telecast, rap went mainstream. Massive parental headaches followed. — Bill O'Reilly

I was a founding member of the 'Dungeons and Dragons' club at my high school. I was in chorus, I was in swing choir. I was an outcast but I was an outcast among a group of outcasts. — John C. Reilly