Aidan Quinn Quotations

Really, most of us just focus on what's in front of us. We're too busy putting out the fires of everyday life.

Life is hard for everyone. That's why there's such a nice reward at the end of it.

Genetics play a huge part in who we are. But we also have free will.

I'm not particularly a career-oriented guy. I'm lucky. I can make really interesting films much of the time with interesting people yet be anonymous, have a private life. But, I'd like to have the choice of the better roles.

My thing about looking good is that it should be the character. If I'm playing a character who's concerned about his body - an athlete, say - I'll get in shape. If I'm playing a character who doesn't or wouldn't, I don't. I almost never get in shape for a movie, even though I know it would be a good career move.

Some actors actually think about what they're going to talk about during the interview - they read up and meditate and plan quotes and get all inspired. It's very smart, but it's so planned. I never think to do that.

I'd wear clogs, short pants and ladies' bracelets. I created this aura for myself.

I can't control how people are going to react. I try not to worry about what I can't control.

I mean, I've been stupid in the past, and I've learned from that.

I think my being such a nomad let me into acting. I was always having to create a new image whenever we moved.

I would love, more than anything, to do an out-and-out farce with huge physical energy. Just because you're from the minimalist school, it doesn't mean you can't go big.

You should learn to be happy with what you have. Besides, the fact that I'm not a huge star has allowed me to pick and choose the roles I want to do, not the ones some person sitting in a studio office thinks I should do.

I'm not a city kind of guy. I'm happiest when I'm tromping through the woods. That's why I don't live in Los Angeles. Being physically away from Hollywood probably loses me a few jobs, but the best ones seek me out.

I had to bring myself back down to being a normal person again.

There's certainly more work for me in TV these days.

Celebrity, to me, is not a thing to seek.

I get to do interesting roles and make a living.

I like the level of fame that I have. You get nice tables in restaurants sometimes, but fame isn't something that I find comfortable.

I loved working with Meryl Streep twice and I've gotten to work with my friend Liam Neeson on several occasions.

There will come a day when the phone doesn't ring as much as it used to.

You have to make them laugh and then make them listen.

I think there's a down-to-earthness with Midwesterners and with people from the Midlands - which is where my family is from - in Ireland.

He is caught up in the modern malady of extreme busyness and stress. But he can have moments of great lucidity and humor, and he cherishes his moments of quiet in the church, and in prayer.

Paul sometimes would be a little bit annoying to me, because I'd be behind the camera on a scene I wasn't in, looking at the clock and going, 'Come on, we've got to move on,'

Paul would be laughing with extras and saying, 'Yes, and then we could do that,' and, 'Let's try this,' and I'm like, 'OK, but we've got to go!'

It is Daniel trying to think 'WWCD' -- what would Christ do. What would Christ say?

I think that kind of hangs over the family.

It can flip on a dime from being almost farce-like to being quite serious and then back. That's what a lot of us like. I would say it's a comedy more than a drama. But then there are some episodes that are coming up that are straight drama.

I think it's a pretty down-the-middle, wholesome show.

That was a nice benefit, to have a real bit of social good come out of doing the film,

to work with the best material that is offered to me at a time when I need to work, and with the best people.

I don't care. I mean, I've been stupid in the past, and I've learned from that. Some actors actually think about what they're going to talk about during the interview--they read up and meditate and plan quotes and get all inspired. It's very smart, but it's so planned. I never think to do that.

The family is where most of our joy comes from.

Money is just something to be circulated.

Make them laugh, and then make them listen.

I'd sneak out of the house to meet girls at 3:30 a.m.

I'm not a city kind of guy. I'm happiest when I'm tromping through the woods.

I don't get any parts I don't get offered. There are lots of great things out there I would like to do that I don't get offered.

Baseball should be the only thing on an eight year old boy's mind.

To get to do something as rich as this story and this part, with my two brothers and my sister -- you know, there was nothing like it,

When I read the script, I just started pacing back and forth, laughing. I thought, 'I could see myself doing this.' And it's set in New York? That's it.

I've spent a lot of time with Steve, from Northern Ireland, to Sarajevo, to Utah, but probably most memorably, to our annual New Year's pilgrimages to our house in High Falls, where we have what we call in Ireland 'a bit of a piss-up' for three days. I know it's probably the time that I'm supposed to tell a funny story or two about Steve ... because he's such a funny man, but they're private. You're not going to get them.

I never did acting in high school, ... I walked into acting class one day because they had signs for auditions. I looked around at the people and thought, 'I don't like any of these people.' And I turned around and walked out. But then again, I was kind of a loner in high school.

I want to do a lot more roles like I did in 'This Is My Father,'

It seemed to be able to mine the craziness of everyday living in this busy world. I loved the way it flip-flopped from almost farce-like comedy to something very sweet and serious. It made me laugh.

He's very much a product of the times. I think his spiritual journey is rocky but strong. I think he allows himself to question what's going on. But I think he has a deep and abiding faith.

It's a kind of star-crossed 'Romeo and Juliet'-type love story, where these two were desperately in love with each other, but everyone around them doesn't want them to be together,

It's a family drama dealing with these people and about their lives. Talking to Jesus, it's really kind of what Daniel's imagination of what talking to Jesus really would be like, and it's fraught with all of Daniel's limitations. . . . It's literally the internal dialogue of Daniel.

I'd sneak out of the house to meet girls at 3:30 a.m.