Quotes from Ricky Gervais

I never had a plan. I just sort of ambled along, doing exactly what I wanted every day of my life.

I see my real job now as - never mind 'The Office,' 'Extras,' film career, Emmys - I want everyone in the world to know who Karl Pilkington is.

The great thing about being an artist is, we want our work to be seen.

I always chose all my friends on whether they were funny. What's a better way to pass the time than laughing or smiling?

If David Brent is the best thing that I ever come up with, then so be it. What are you supposed to do, time the best thing you do for just before you die?

When I see a headline 'Guess who's going out with who?' I don't guess, and I don't click.

My dad was a laborer. And he used to get up at 5:30 every morning. He worked for 50 years of his life, in all weathers for, by showbiz standards, petty cash. I remind myself of that when I feel a little bit spoiled or hard done by.

I always do a little bit of improv. I did some of 'The Office,' a tiny bit in 'Extras,' a bit more in 'Derek.'

My career, I look at it in a Darwinian framework. I'm going to do exactly what I want, and I'm going to survive, or I'm not. I'm not going to pander. I'm not going to change things. I'm not going to do focus groups. I'll live and die by the sword. I don't care. Because I couldn't live with myself.

Our challenge with "The Office" and "Extras" was to get it completely scripted but to find a cast that could make it look like they were saying it for the first time.

There's a difference between a job and a career - if you're the boss you don't stop at six o'clock, you have to worry about everything all the time.

I had great memories of growing up in a working class estate. I remember it being sunny all the time. So we're putting that on screen. It's not people wallowing in degradation.

Hollywood is responsible for some of the greatest and worst movies of all time!

Believe it or not, I work out regularly.

Comedy is easy for me, but with drama, I don't know... it's still the Holy Grail.

I don't care whether people say, ''The Office' is rubbish, 'Extras' is worse, 'Flanimals' is a waste of time. He's not funny; he never has been. I hate him.' I don't mind that at all. In fact, not only do I expect it, I celebrate it, because I think the haters are really important.

Let's be honest here: Twitter, for me, is 90 per cent a marketing tool.

Telling someone with depression to pull themselves together is about as useful as telling someone with cancer to just stop having cancer

You want to see the people you've sort of come to know and love, or love to hate, you want to see them develop in some way. And I hope people get sort of caught up in that arc.

People now live their lives like an open wound to be famous - they do bad things because they're rewarded for it.

I've got re-addicted to normal people, which is the loveliest thing to write about.

Look, just tell me where that lemon came from and I'll shut up and go away.

The grass isn't always greener on the other side!

Making people laugh is easy for me. I'm quite proud of that. But I'm prouder of silencing an audience for a minute because they're thinking about something.