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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Nobody makes art for an elite, not if they're a real artist. You try and reach as many people as possible with whatever it is that you make. If a chef is making an omelette, he wants everyone to think that it tastes great because he did it. And if it does, then that's a success because everyone eats it.

You can access that on many levels and the human spirit and the human mind responds to those themes because they recognise the veracity of them. That they are real things. Sometimes it even goes beyond logic, it's just a sense of something.

Go away, dig a hole, do something else, come back and it magically rejuvenates your creative impulses and stuff.

If you just read Joseph Campbell, who has written amazing books on mythology and religion, they all do come together at some point. There are some of the greatest stories that there have ever been in the Bible. All you have to do is read the book of Maccabi, it's like a film script.

If you're making a cake, you don't just make the cake and have it look nice and have nobody tastes it. But that doesn't take away from your ability to execute what you do as well as you can and to have it be something for many.

There are messages about civilisations and we are trying to be true to history as much as possible. We wanted all this to gel with some good theory about why these civilisations went down, why they weakened and crumbled. Because they did, they vanished.

All experiences, what does not kill you makes you stronger and tougher I think. Life's experiences, whether they be pleasant, unpleasant, torturous or excruciatingly wonderful and blissful, season you somehow and you learn from them.

The really good thing about using people who are really green is that you don't have to erase a bunch of bad habits and then put good ones in. You can just start feeding them good habits.

We all present a version of ourselves whether you've got a puppet on your hand or not. To actually be very real out there in a public way, why?

I do what I can to sort of just stave off the clock - walk, swim, try and smoke an electric cigarette. I mean it's all bad for you. Life is bad. 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.

A guy said to me one time, something really profound, and it's so simple. It's that depression lies. It's a liar and you have to shut it down. There is nothing that alleviates it more than going out and doing something for someone else. It's almost like instant healing. Get away from yourself. People can't even get out of bed and it gets really severe. I've never been at that stage. Everyone goes through low and high and low and high and some people are blessed to be created on an even keel all the way through - but not me.

Change is always proceeded 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 always tough for me.

The pop culture has become more frenetic. There are more forces at work that are far more invasive. However, I think it would be perfectly doable to defend ones loved ones from some of the harsher aspects of public life. You're not going to be a 100% successful. But you can see when it's on purpose. It's so blatantly easy to avoid at times and you can tell when it was unavoidable.

I walked away from acting for eight years and tried to make the choice that I should have made when I was 21. But, it doesn't make any difference. Nothing changed. You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube.

Sometimes you got to a point where it wasn't happening and you had to figure out another way to do it, particularly in terms of making the jaguar do what you wanted. That was not CG, a real guy had to run really fast and not trip. There was a form of restraint on the creature that you can't see. so it was all very safe - but it is real.

Voting is a very scary arena to be in, but I do vote. I go in there and pull the lever. It's kind of like pulling the lever and watching the trap door fall out from beneath you. Why should we trust any of these people? None of them ever deliver on anything. It's always disappointing.

If you're going to wear three hats. You'd better grow two more heads.

I'm too rich to care what the critics say.

There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of anti-Semitic remark. I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge.

It's great that after 700 years William Wallace has finally had a proper burial. He did so much for the country. You should be proud of what you have achieved through devolution.

Hey, I'm for love, not war. How about we have a beer?

My family means more to me than the artificial trappings of my career. If ever I had to choose between my career and my family, the wife and kids would definitely come out on top.

One should not worry about the future, particularly if it hasn't happened yet.

It's time to sort of get back to a basic message, the message that was given. At this time, the world has gone nuts, I think. And this film speaks -- well, Christ spoke of faith, hope, love and forgiveness. And these are things I think we need to be reminded of again. He forgave as he was tortured and killed. And we could do with a little of that behavior.

What did one shepherd say to the other shepherd? Let’s get the flock out of here.

There is no salvation for those outside the Church

I'm not a preacher and I'm not a pastor. But I really feel my career was leading me to make this. The Holy Ghost was working through me on this film, and I was just directing traffic. I hope the film has the power to evangelize.

The L.A. Times, it's an anti-Christian publication, as is the New York Times.

My hope is that this movie will affect people on a very profound level and reach them with a message of faith, hope, love and forgiveness.

A good conspiracy is unprovable. I mean, if you can prove it, it means they screwed up somewhere along the line.