Mel Gibson Quotations

It's a wise man who understands that every day is a new beginning, because boy, how many mistakes do you make in a day? I don't know about you, but I make plenty. You can't turn the clock back, so you have to look ahead.

You ask anybody what their number one fear is, and it's public humiliation. Multiply that on a global scale, and that's what I've been through.

I'm as vain as the next guy. I have a facade on right now. But you can't see it, because it's reality-based.

Life is life, and one has experiences that are painful and some that are very pleasant, and one has reward and sacrifice and more reward and disappointment and joy and happiness, and it's always going to be the same.

Acting feels different. I'm not sure exactly what that is, but it used to mean a lot more. Maybe that sounds like I'm throwing it away and I'm not, I'll still do the best damn job I can, but it doesn't mean the same thing. I'm going to get the answer for myself one of these days. It's the male menopause, that's what it is.

I have learned that a bitter experience can make you stronger. I now boastfully say that I have a hide like a rhinoceros... and I'm smiling. It's an interesting thing.

I like going in to different styles of acting and exploring stuff I haven't done before.

My biggest weakness is that I'm excessive. Fortunately for everyone concerned, I'm not as excessive as I used to be.

I am politically incorrect, that's true. Political correctness to me is just intellectual terrorism. I find that really scary, and I won't be intimidated into changing my mind. Everyone isn't going to love you all the time.

I think the 'Lethal Weapon' movies contain my favorite performances. It sounds really crummy, I know, but although the work doesn't look hard, it's difficult to create 'effortless' on screen.

I'll tell you what I did need to learn was tolerance, and I think I've been actually given a daily opportunity to practice that, and it's - it's - and I know that that sounds almost like a backhanded slap, and it is in a way because I haven't been successful at it every day.

I'll always continue to work. I've never much depended on anyone but myself, as far as that goes.

I have learned that a bitter experience can make you stronger.

I got the acting bug back because I felt like all of a sudden maybe after all these years, maybe I might have something to offer again. I walked away from it after 'Signs' because I just felt I was a bit stale and it wasn't ringing my bells, so I focused on directing, writing and producing.

I think any kind of hiatus one takes in an artistic journey is going to make a huge difference. The pause will inform the choices that you make.

A woman should be home with the children, building that home and making sure there's a secure family atmosphere.

The thing we're all looking for is happiness, and if we achieve just a modicum of that or even a little piece of serenity even for five minutes a day, we're very lucky.

I'm pretty fit, naturally. I do moderate exercise, and I try to eat pretty well and I think it has an effect on me. But hey, I'm putting on the insulin tire like everybody else, but that's just a function of getting older.

I just don't do anything fun anymore. But, that's dying, isn't it? I mean, you die in stages, right? You let things go in pieces.

When you get to that point where you don't want to live, and you don't want to die, it's a desperate, horrible place to be. And I just hit my knees. And I had to use 'The Passion of the Christ' to heal my wounds.

Feminists don't like me, and I don't like them.

I think digital will displace film, yes. We're talking about digital as a thing of the future, but I'm afraid that it's here.

Life's experiences, whether they be pleasant or unpleasant, torturous or excruciatingly wonderful and blissful, you know, season you somehow and you learn from them.

The very first idea I ever had about making a film... my first thought about ever being a filmmaker was when I was sixteen years old and I wanted to make a Viking movie. And I wanted to make it in old Norse, which I was studying at the time. It's odd because at that age that's a stupidly ridiculous idea 'cause how will I ever be a filmmaker.

Above all, film is a business... Independence is a really cool thing as you can be a bit more bold, and take a few more chances with what you do.

Change is always preceded by a little pain. Some people can change and they don't have to go through so many painful things. But I think that I'm of a personality that I'm a little stubborn, so it's tough for me.

We're all dying. We're all in the process of oxidizing. Everyone of us is in the process of oxidizing, so to sort of interrupt one aspect of that while everything else goes on, it's a freak show.

The Holy Ghost was working through me on this film, and I was just direction traffic.

Acting is like lying. The art of lying well. I'm paid to tell elaborate lies.

I think everything is pretty well preordained - even your mistakes.

It's all happening too fast. I've got to put the brakes on or I'll smack into something.

I don't think we're crumbling as a civilization, but this is not our finest hour, and it's good to be mindful that we're all susceptible to fall and to look at what are the earmarks of a civilization on the wane. What are they - destruction of the environment? Conspicuous consumption? Heard of those?

My whole approach to wardrobe is, throw it in a suitcase and make sure they don't press it, for Pete's sake, so I can try to display some rumpled charm. Actually, I'm just a pig. I've got coffee stains on my pants. I think they're coffee stains, anyway.

Boot Camp was great and very interesting. You got to use live rounds of ammunition and got to do a lot of crawling around with live rounds flying around you, so you really had to learn to keep your ass down - everything down for that matter.

What I need to do to heal myself and to be assuring and allay the fears of others and to heal them if they had any heart wounds from something I may have said.

Every time you go out there to do something, you wonder if you can do it. There's no assured success. There's no secret recipe for success. Every time you go out there, you go out there with the possibility of great failure.

I don't make things complicated, that's the way they get all by themselves.

I'm always writing. There is always a story brewing in my head.

If I've still got my pants on in the second scene, I think they've sent me the wrong script.

I don't care if I don't act anymore.

I've never treated anyone badly or in a discriminatory way based on their gender, race, religion or sexuality - period. I don't blame some people for thinking that though, from the garbage they heard on those leaked tapes, which have been edited. You have to put it all in the proper context of being in an irrationally, heated discussion at the height of a breakdown, trying to get out of a really unhealthy relationship. It's one awful moment in time, said to one person, in the span of one day and doesn't represent what I truly believe or how I've treated people my entire life.

There has to be some kind of order and some moral code. I don't know how people can function without a belief in a deity.

People like scary stories. There's a fascination with fear themes, and we want to face those things in a weird, subconscious way.

Hollywood is a factory. You have to realize that you are working in a factory and you're part of the mechanism. If you break down, you'll be replaced.

And, hey, I'm not under the illusion that everything's just going to be hunky-dory work wise forever. I've never been under that illusion. Things could go away tomorrow.

Well, if you look at the whole story, I mean there's only Jews and Romans in the story. I mean I just wanted to flesh that character out and make that a drama about the people around Christ when he was going through this passion.

Boy, there's nothing more thrilling than a chase. I'd often thought, over the years, that someone should do a whole film where it's nothing but a chase.

Film is built for kinetic movement and crash and burn. It's a great tool for spectacles. But if it's not rooted to something a little higher, you're just kicking your butt around the corner. You can only take so much of that. You have to have some sort of foundation to explode from.

I don't have to be working every moment. Why turn something good into a hard job? It's more special when it's not a daily occurrence. It doesn't cheapen it so much.

I don't think of myself as either American or Australian really, I'm a true hybrid. It's a good thing for me because both of them are really good countries.

I'm not under the illusion that everything's just going to be hunky-dory work wise forever. I've never been under that illusion. Things could go away tomorrow.

Religion and politics hit nerves. There's a lot of anger about a lot of things. It's not easily resolved. I guess that's what wars are about. Wars are about prejudice and fear. Hit first before you get hit. Believe me, I know.

Well, I think any time you delve into this sort of religion, politics, as you well know, you're going to, you know, touch a few nerves. I wasn't - now - and this is the honest truth.

I was spiritually bankrupt, and when that happens, it's like a spiritual cancer afflicts you.

I could easily not act again. It's not a problem.

I do moderate exercise, and I try to eat pretty well, and I think it has an effect on me.

I don't think the audience always listens to the critics. That's been proven time and time again.

It's amazing how powerful a piece of work can be and how it can influence people and change. It's pretty interesting.

Writing is a hard gig, and it's hard to convey a lot. That's why scripts tend to be a little bit overwritten.

But although Australia was also involved in the Vietnam conflict, I can remember my dad telling us that if we were in Australia, we wouldn't be drafted until we were 20.

Theatrical is fantastic. I don't think anything will ever replace the big dark room, the screen and the popcorn. You can kind of do it in your home if you have a nice screen, but it's not the same thing.

to create a lasting work of art and engender serious thought among audiences of diverse faith backgrounds (or none) who have varying familiarity with this story.

Although (the Mayan culture) is an integral part of the story, what I am doing is creating an action-adventure of mythic proportions ... and I am a megalomaniac, so I like the position

This guy has a sense of integrity, but it's very misguided.

The Passion' is a movie meant to inspire not offend. My intention in bringing it to the screen is to create a lasting work of art and engender serious thought among audiences of diverse faith backgrounds.

This film will not be as bloody; it will be a little more tasteful.

The audience will have to focus on the visuals... But they had silent films before talkies arrived, and people went to see them.

It's set before the Conquest, so there are no European faces, and we are using mostly indigenous people and actors from Mexico City,

I wanted to shake up the stale action-adventure genre. So I think we almost had to come up with something utterly different like this.

It was a cheap, nasty movie that was cranked out in three weeks on a tiny budget.

I love women. They're the best thing ever created. If they want to be like men and come down to our level, that's fine.

F**king Jews...the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.

After about 20 years of marriage, I'm finally starting to scratch the surface of what women want. And I think the answer lies somewhere between conversation and chocolate.

Pain is the precursor to change.

Zionists are the source of destructions, I wish I can fight against them.

There are certain things that I will do viscerally to affect people emotionally, with speed changes and sound, and various other things. Sure there are links; the same kind of sensibilities went into it and I worked on writing that script as well so there was an emphasis on a minimalisation of dialogue as far as possible, to focus on the visual and to put it in another language, of course.

What are you looking at sugar-tits?

With this look, who's going to think I'm gay? I don't lend myself to that type of confusion. Do I look like a homosexual? Do I talk like them? Do I move like them?

Every man dies. Not every man truly lives.

The whole notion of politics is they always present you with this or this or this. Nobody is the same. I'll get a newspaper to read between the lines. Why do you have to adhere to prescribed formulas that they have and people argue over them and they're all in a box. And you watch Fox claw CNN, and CNN claw Fox. Sometimes I catch a piece of the news and it seems insanity to me. I quietly support candidates. I'm not out there banging a drum for candidates. But I have supported a candidate and it's a whole other world.

They may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!

Old habits die hard, I guess. If you dont kick them, they kick you.

People always ask me to list my greatest accomplishments, expecting me to rattle off a bunch of movies I've made, but what I'm proudest of is my kids.

Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live…at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willing' to trade all the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take…OUR FREEDOM?!

It's said that I went into a rant, but I think it went on for about five words. I was drunk. It just turned into a big thing. I apologized profusely-not once but three times. So what's the problem? It's four years ago. Do I need to apologize again?

I did a lot of crazy things so I'm surprised to be alive.

My dad taught me my faith, and I believe what he taught me. The man never lied to me in his life.

It freshens your breath and helps prevent tartar.

My father told me very early on that it was a sin to worry too much.

That's like asking you to pick your favorite child... I do however, think Bird on a Wire was one of my finest works. Oscar caliber.

I tell you what really turns my toes up: love scenes with 68-year-old men and actresses young enough to be their granddaughter.

I like directing much better. It's more fun, that's all there is to it. It's essentially the same job, which is storytelling, but you have more control over the way you want to tell the story. It's a high. I love it.

You can't live up to what people expect. Nobody can. But I guess that's my problem, not theirs.

You know what happens when you don't take a risk? Nothing.

In India it is believed that all creatures have a purpose.

I think I've scratched the surface after twenty years of marriage. Women want chocolate and conversation.

All men die. Only a few ever live.

They think I'm crazy, and maybe I am. But maybe I'm a genius.

I'm not anti-Semitic. My Gospels are not anti-Semitic. I've shown it to many Jews and they're like, it's not anti-Semitic. It's interesting that the people who say it's anti-Semitic say that before they saw the film, and they said the same thing after they saw the film.

What I'm doing is making an action-adventure film of mythic proportions.