169 Quotes by Alan Rickman

We're dead as a species if we don't tell stories, because then we don't know who we are.

I approach every part I'm asked to do and decide to do from exactly the same angle: who is this person, what does he want, how does he attempt to get it, and what happens to him when he doesn't get it, or if he does?

Do you know that moment when you paint a landscape as a child and, when you’re maybe under seven or something, the sky is just a blue stripe across the top of the paper? And then there’s that somewhat disappointing moment when the teacher tells you that the sky actually comes down in amongst all the branches. And it’s like life changes at that moment and becomes much more complicated and a little bit more boring, as it’s rather tedious to fill in the branches…

I can only guess at the pressures of funding an independent theater company in New York, but calling this production 'postponed' does not disguise the fact that it has been canceled. This is censorship born out of fear, and the New York Theatre Workshop, the Royal Court, New York audiences--all of us are the losers.

From my experience, I think that every actor has to make sure that they're in charge of their own career somehow or other.

Calling this production 'postponed' does not disguise the fact that it has been cancelled.

Acting touches nerves you have absolutely no control over.

Mellow doesn't describe me. I'm hungry every day.

I never talk about 'Harry Potter' because I think that would rob children of something that's private to them. I think too many things get explained, so I hate talking about it.