Top 100 Quotes & Sayings by Michael Ball
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an English actor Michael Ball.
Last updated on April 20, 2025.
I'm not a big fan of Christmas, and I think there are a lot of people who feel a bit melancholy at the holiday.
I particularly like Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman. Both writers have wit and imagination and the breadth of stories they tell coupled with extraordinary artwork make for fascinating reading.
All you have to offer as a performer is yourself.
I think shows like 'Dancing on Ice,' 'X Factor' and 'Britain's Got Talent' make great telly, but I'd never want to be contestant. I'm far too insecure and competitive. Also, working in theatre, you're being judged all the time - and I'd rather not be told I'm awful in front of millions of people!
Songs from the theatre can be taken and put on record in a commercial and contemporary way, be reinvented and become standout tracks on their own.
Ah, 'Kismet,' or Carry On Camel, as we called it. I thought the show was shocking. It was the worst designed production ever but it's got a fantastic score. It's not an awfully good book though. You really have to work hard to eke out any laughs from that script.
Anyone who's suffered from panic attacks knows how frightening they are.
I play roles, but when I'm off stage, I always try to be myself.
The bravery and pioneering of early Hollywood was absolutely incredible.
Having grown up in musical theatre, I know what works and what doesn't.
That's the only show where, if anyone says to me, 'Is there a role you want to play?', I say, yeah, I want to play Sweeney Todd. Stephen Sondheim's so clever; it's a profoundly brilliant piece of work.
Working is learning.
Musicals allow a depth of emotion that you don't get in another form of acting, the chord changes, the lyrics really affect people, so that in two hours, you've forgotten about things.
The one I really get on with is Princess Anne. Talk about calls a spade a shovel! And she's so clued-up. She's a patron of a number of charities. I've been involved in a couple and she's not just a name. She knows the research programmes that are going on. She really does her homework.
That's what distinguishes the pros from people involved in amateur theatre. You just go out and do it again and again.
Try to leave people feeling better for having met you.
It is as polar opposite as it comes for the man who was Edna Turnblad in 'Hairspray' to come back as Sweeney Todd.
I love the genre of early Hollywood. It gives you everything.
Well, I try not to let people down in the work that I do or in how I conduct myself.
I don't have hobbies. Other than watching telly and walking my dogs, what I do is work. That's who I am.
I have far ascended beyond every ambition my 16-year-old self ever had.
It's a mantra I've lived by for as long as I can remember. Nothing lasts for ever.
I tap my fingers and cheekbones before going on stage to calm down. But nerves are necessary; if you ever lose them, it's a bad sign.
To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are.
I can't properly explain it, but I don't mind admitting I suffered a breakdown.
Legally we have integration, social acceptance and diversity... but that doesn't mean... everybody is down with it.
Music is music and there are only two types: good and bad.
I absolutely love 'Big Brother' and 'Celebrity Big Brother' and have never missed a series - but I would never appear on them.
I do all the cooking at home and love it.
There's something about the security and warmth of knowing that one person who, whatever happens, will always be on your side.
I send a text every day to my partner Cath, saying 'I love you.'
Wilbur Smith's novels make terrific holiday reading.
I've recorded a few Bacharach songs over the years and performed some in concert and always felt they suited me.
You must never ask or expect anyone to do anything that you would not be prepared to do yourself.
I spent my 40th birthday on the stage of the Palladium in 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.'
I had Steven Spielberg on my radio show.
We've all sort of been there: It's coming on Christmas, all that preparation is going on, and you just want to escape. You don't want to buy into it. It's a time of year that brings up a lot of memories for people, and if you're missing somebody, it's hardest at this time of year.
What does annoy me is when critics use me to ridicule my audience. All the stuff about 'Tesco housewives' and 'the blue-rinse brigade.'
Les Mis' was an amazing experience, to be in the original cast of 'Les Miserables,' and 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' God bless it that was fantastic, at the London Palladium the biggest theatre in London the most successful show that has ever been at the London Palladium, that was fantastic.
I saw 'Hairspray' in New York and had one of the best nights I've ever had in the theatre.
I love a drink. But I've never, ever in my life been on a stage and done a performance with an alcoholic drink inside me. Never have, never would. I've seen people who do and invariably they're never as good as they think they are.
I used to bottle things up.
You have to be on your game with a live audience because anything can change.
You will never, ever catch me at the gym.
I made a conscious decision to stop watching 'Big Brother.' I was an avid fan, but I felt it was time to move on.
I've heard everyone do 'Bring Him Home' from 'Les Miserables.' When Colm Wilkinson did it, I truly never thought I would hear anyone as good, never mind better.
You can't make a star - they just have it.
Bacharach has such a brilliant ear for melody and his music has a completely timeless feel to it; I thought it would be great to do a whole album of his music and to record with a full orchestra and big band which is something I hadn't done before.
I got involved in the Surrey Country youth theatre which led me to go to drama school where I realised that this was going to have to be my career, and I was really lucky to get big breaks early on.
I've never been fashionable, so I'll never be out of fashion.
I'd love to explore South America, but the security issues worry me.
This was a seminal moment in my life - my dad took me to see the original production of 'Jesus Christ Superstar' at the Palace Theatre in 1973. I thought it was just amazing, so powerful. The idea of using rock music to tell the story of Jesus was incredible.
There are certain fans who come to everything I do.
When I was starting, I was working with actors who came up through the rep system, and they understood the discipline required: you were never late for rehearsal, you were never not ready to go on, you were always prepared; it was about showing respect to the rest of the company.
For the millennium, we flew to Kuala Lumpur and then on to Pangkor Laut, a nearby island.
I've got soft features, curly hair with blonde bits and dimples. People think of me as a singer, an entertainer, someone who's always there with a ready smile.
Working every day isn't hard if you love what you're doing.
When I was 19 and at drama school, a couple of friends and I decided to drive from Guildford through France, down to the heel of Italy and then take a ferry to Greece - in an MG Midget. On our second day, in France, we were in a very bad accident and wrote off the car so we had to go home. But we then flew out instead and went island hopping.
No-one has ever sung quite so beautifully as Karen Carpenter.
I will always tour, it's hard work it really is hard work, but the feedback and the buzz you get back from it is worth it.
Related Authors
Arnold Schwarzenegger Quotes
Austrian
Actor
Benedict Cumberbatch Quotes
English
Actor
Bruce Lee Quotes
American
Actor
Clint Eastwood Quotes
American
Actor
Daniel Radcliffe Quotes
British
Actor
Dwayne Johnson Quotes
American
Actor
Jeff Bridges Quotes
American
Actor
Johnny Depp Quotes
American
Actor
Kevin Hart Quotes
American
Actor
Kevin Spacey Quotes
American
Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio Quotes
American
Actor
Rob Lowe Quotes
American
Actor
Robert Pattinson Quotes
English
Actor
Sylvester Stallone Quotes
American
Actor
Will Rogers Quotes
American
Actor
Zach Braff Quotes
American
Actor