Top 174 Quotes & Sayings by Steve Carell

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American actor Steve Carell.
Last updated on November 21, 2024.
Steve Carell

Steven John Carell is an American actor and comedian. He played Michael Scott in The Office, NBC’s adaptation of the British series created by Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais, where Carell also worked as an occasional producer, writer and director. Carell has received numerous accolades for his performances in both film and television, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy for his work on The Office. He was recognized as "America's Funniest Man" by Life magazine.

Once I moved to Chicago and started trying to get acting jobs, I just tended to book more things that were comedically based than anything else. I never had the preconceived notion, 'I will be a comedic actor.' I just thought, 'I'll go into acting and see what kind of work I can get.'
In my wildest dreams I never thought - well, I never thought I'd work.
In an enclosed space, a camel's breath can change the atmosphere of the room. Not only just the smell, they literally seem to change the atmospheric pressure. It's so disgusting. It's like they have eight stomachs each more rancid then the next and it just comes out of their mouth.
Everybody should be normal. Everybody should be nice. I think they go hand in hand, and that to me is the default setting. — © Steve Carell
Everybody should be normal. Everybody should be nice. I think they go hand in hand, and that to me is the default setting.
It was kind of like they were just giving us a toy to play with, to do whatever we wanted with.
Sending a handwritten letter is becoming such an anomaly. It's disappearing. My mom is the only one who still writes me letters. And there's something visceral about opening a letter - I see her on the page. I see her in her handwriting.
Goalies almost never get credit for winning a game, but they always get blamed for losing a game.
Nothing to me feels as good as laughing incredibly hard.
For me, at least, all of my career goals, all of my focus, everything just shifted and the importance was my children, and that's where all the joy came from as well.
It's interesting when you're trying to create a character in animation. It's really a communal effort.
When you do an animated movie - at least the ones that I've been a part of - you never see any of the other actors. It's all done separately with headphones in a voice booth.
I joined an improv group in college, which was a lot of fun. After I graduated, I moved to Chicago to try to get into the Second City.
Divorce is fairly common these days, and I think many times people disregard the emotional impact that divorce has on a couple and a family, because it happens so frequently.
Being a leading man... that's like saying, 'I want to be astronaut.' That's not going to happen. — © Steve Carell
Being a leading man... that's like saying, 'I want to be astronaut.' That's not going to happen.
If somebody takes the parking place you were waiting for, I tend to kind of let it roll off my back. Maybe I'm harboring a lot of something and it will all explode somewhere down the road, but I tend to just let it slide off my back.
What kind of person would have a real craving for gummy worms?
I had a friend who, after 25 years of marriage, found himself trying to date again, and it was completely different. Everything had changed, and he had to reacquaint himself. It was funny even talking to him about it. For someone who has been out of the loop, it's a different world.
You know, what's funny to one person is not at all to someone else.
I'll do whatever I can do to remain employed. I'm just not precious about doing comedy or doing drama. I never want to do something in order to prove to other people what I can do.
I'm not good with pickup lines or flirting. I don't have that kind of self-confidence or natural charisma.
I tend not to be someone who's on all the time, or is always trying to make other people laugh.
I think anyone loves to play a character that is either evil to a certain extent or has a real definable character flaw. Those are always really fun, and, I think, funny.
You project a version of yourself to the public to protect and insulate yourself a little bit. Actors come up with a version of themselves in order to protect the real person.
I was sort of traumatized by girls in the third grade. Because there was a girl in my third grade class I had a crush on. I bought her a box of Valentine's Day chocolate. And I put it in her cubby with a note that said something like, 'I am deeply in love with you, Your Secret Admirer.' And I didn't sign my name.
If I'd had a great level of success early on, who knows how I would have responded. I might have been a complete jerk.
I play the baritone horn - which is like a mini tuba, and is the least sexy instrument you can choose, and I generally say I don't play one so I don't have to acknowledge it. I also play fife.
There's very little you could do to prepare to be a correspondent on 'The Daily Show,' because it's not being a journalist, it's not being an actor. It involves elements of both of those things, but they're not required necessarily as job experience. It's helpful if you know how to improvise, but again, not a requirement.
From cheesecake on a stick to meat skewers to deep-fried bananas on a stick - there are no plates anymore. In Los Angeles, everything has become a corn dog. Actually, corn dogs still work. But most other food should be stickless.
I have no idea where my pathetic nature comes from. If I thought about it too long, it would depress me.
When someone is good, but it doesn't seem like their world will collapse if they don't get the part, it's more appealing. It's like dating someone: You don't want someone who's too into you.
I don't text, I don't have a Blackberry. Literally, I just have a cell phone that I haven't programmed and the whole Bluetooth. No. I don't even have an earpiece for my cell phone.
People generally have sex fairly young, and probably younger than they should be having it.
Relationships shouldn't be disposable. If there's something worth saving - not always the case, some relationships are irreconcilable - but if there is something that you determine is worth saving, then try to do that.
Taste in comedy, like fashion, changes all the time.
Talking to my wife, we stare at each other, saying, 'How is this happening? Why is this happening? Why now?' It's nothing I ever aspired to.
Oh, I so don't care about the podium at the Oscars. I've stood at the podium at the Oscars and that's close enough. To be a presenter is as close as I need to be.
I've always enjoyed watching characters that aren't aware that they're doing anything funny. And I think that inherently makes them funnier.
Style advice? Always wear clothes... that are... clean, for starters. An added bonus if it is pressed as well. Unless you are wearing clothes that are supposed to look rumpled.
I don't think something necessarily has to be mean or cynical to represent 'edgy.' I think 'edgy' can mean a lot of different things. — © Steve Carell
I don't think something necessarily has to be mean or cynical to represent 'edgy.' I think 'edgy' can mean a lot of different things.
I love my wife dearly, and, therefore, I've never cooked a meal, romantic or otherwise, for her.
I always feel so pretentious talking about comedy and deconstructing it. It always feels somehow self-centred to talk about any sort of process.
I'm not a crazy Vegas guy. I'm not a gambler.
There's plenty of room for all sorts of movies and all sorts of comedies, so I never saw that as a competitive thing. I think there's room in the marketplace for everything.
Even the most self-confident people, at one point of their lives, felt like outsiders or felt like they weren't being heard or seen or witnessed in some way.
A healthy body means a healthy mind. You get your heart rate up, and you get the blood flowing through your body to your brain. Look at Albert Einstein. He rode a bicycle. He was also an early student of Jazzercise. You never saw Einstein lift his shirt, but he had a six-pack under there.
I remember my wife wanted me to go see 'Contagion,' and I was like, 'Oh my God, why would I want to see that movie?' I mean, I'll just have nightmares and it will freak me out. It turned out that I really enjoyed it; I thought it was very well done.
I was a bad dater, and up until 8th grade I went to an all boy's school. So, by the time I hit high school I was a bit freaked out by women in general.
Everyone is flawed and everyone makes mistakes and is culpable.
I think in most relationships that have problems, there's fault on both sides. And in order for it to work, there has to be some common ground that's shared. And it's not just one person making amends.
Because I went from the 'Daily Show' where I was a fake news guy on a fake news show, to 'Bruce Almighty' where I played a news guy, to 'Anchorman' where I played a news guy, now I'm... yeah, I tend to gravitate towards suits.
I'm a fun dad, but I don't know if I'm the fun, crazy dad. — © Steve Carell
I'm a fun dad, but I don't know if I'm the fun, crazy dad.
The best food is in Chicago. There are great restaurants everywhere, from fancy places to burger joints.
Whenever you see people talking about how real they are or how normal they are, it seems odd to have that self awareness that you could potentially not be normal.
I don't like to get angry. It doesn't make me feel good. It is very human, but it's also a loss of control, and I like to have that kind of control.
I don't think my kids have to worry too much about me embarrassing them because that's not how I would want to grow up, with wacky dad showing up at school and performing for everyone.
My father is Italian, and I never met my paternal grandparents. The family name was 'Caroselli' and it was changed in the mid '50s. I think they wanted to assimilate, which was pretty common, although I love the name 'Caroselli.'
Don't underestimate your kids. Don't be condescending, because they're children but they're not stupid.
I don't know how other people perceive the lives of actors, but my life is fairly ordinary. I go to work, I come home, I put my kids to bed. If I'm home in time for dinner, I have dinner, and then it's bedtime.
It's not a master plan to do every remake and every recreation of icons. It's just what I've been hired to do.
They love 3-D. It's fun to watch a movie in 3-D with your children or with a group of children because you see the kids in front of you from time to time reaching up. You see little hands reaching up to grab things that they think are right there. I think it's remarkable and it does obviously, literally, add another dimension to the movie.
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