Quotes from James Nesbitt

Love your parents, but don't have them as your mates.

Something about theatre perhaps scared me.

I've never felt that acting was my vocation - never had that tortured thing. I love acting, but it doesn't feed my soul.

I think teaching should be a vocation, and they should be paid more for it.

I spend an awful lot of time by myself and enjoy that.

Ever since I left Northern Ireland, I've always been pretty comfortable on my own, which contradicts a lot of people's perceptions of me.

I feel old and vulnerable. I now realise that I knew nothing and know nothing, but back when my career was beginning, I thought I was a man when, in fact, I was a dewy-eyed boy who'd not seen an avocado or eaten a tomato.

The best way of enjoying your money is to spend it on other people. I don't need much.

Although surgeons know how to deal with bits of the brain, they don't really know how it works.

While I've never 'phoned in' a performance, I think I have given some performances where I could have been a bit braver.

My best friends are still the ones I first attached myself to when I went to school because, all of a sudden, I was leaving the rather pampered and occasionally very annoying world of having three older sisters to go to a male-dominated world.

When you suddenly become successful, the change is enormous, both financially and in terms of recognition and the way people treat you. I found that hard to deal with. I got very guilty about it, and I think I put up obstacles to prevent myself enjoying it.

My agent Sue realised after 'Cold Feet' that I could have spent the rest of my life doing similar roles. So she was instrumental in moving me away from that.

The whole process of making 'Bloody Sunday' was difficult but extraordinary.

Before I read the 'Bloody Sunday' script, I have to admit I hadn't thought about it that much. There was probably even part of me which assumed there was no smoke without fire. That the Catholics who were shot must have done something to provoke such a response from the army. I was extremely ignorant of the whole situation.

No one wanted to own Bloody Sunday.

I'm no pin-up.

It's easy to get carried away with yourself.

Kids at a certain age don't necessarily want to be dragged to the other side of the world.

Because I grew up with women, I have a certain amount of charm, and I'm all right to get on with, kind enough, funny enough, blah blah blah.

My mother certainly doesn't think I'm charming!

I thought I was God's gift to mankind and the greatest Irishman since George Best.

If I get to the end of my life, and people say, 'He was in 'Cold Feet,' well, I was, and it was great. I thought the fourth series wasn't great. I thought there were weak episodes throughout. Overall, I thought it was a good show, it had an impact, it dealt with a lot of issues, and it was a great part.

I don't think I'll be doing a lot more commercials.