Top 125 Quotes & Sayings by Tim Minchin

I was a late bloomer, but I realised that people really liked it when I played blues scales and, with the piano, I had that insatiable need to prove myself.

These days, I'm a hypocritical, philosophical vegetarian. Vegetarianism would be the right choice, but I really, really love meat.

For whatever reason, luck and word of mouth - my comedy career couldn't have started better. I went to Edinburgh, selling out this 300-seater just because I got the right place, right time, right venue, right buzz, right reviews early on.

I think it's great that these little various skills I have seem to add up to something, because I'm not the greatest pianist or the greatest vocalist or the greatest actor.

I have written a lot of musical theatre over my life - two Olivier Award-winning musicals - and I still don't think I'm ready to be the boss in the room.

At its essence, 'Groundhog Day' is an existential journey of an unhappy, judgmental, slightly narcissistic, misogynistic, dissatisfied, aspirational, entitled, privileged male who has to learn to be the opposite of all those things to find happiness - to learn that learning is important and that you don't get to control everything.

I've always been aware that probably writing songs - stupid songs or, at least, theatrical songs - is, I dunno, I certainly don't think about that, about my persona on stage. In fact, I work really hard not to address it too much in my head.

I was naive. Before 'Larrikins,' I thought passion, hard work, and a skill set will mean that anything you want to do will get done. I don't think that anymore.

You've got to teach yourself you can do your job no matter what happens.

Generally, there's a correlation between good work and good reviews. In the very odd, very rare case that they say it's terrible, but actually you're a genius who is ahead of your time, you are going to just have to suffer.

If you don't have anything different to say, don't say it at all. That's my rule.

In a global world, nationalism is a fantasy, and it's poison. It used to be appropriate, but it's not anymore, and we haven't learned that lesson yet.

I've stopped asking for criticism, even from friends, because I don't think anyone knows my little world of mega-thorough critical thinking/musical comic rambling better than I do.

I'm the son of a surgeon and the grandson of a surgeon.

I can wax boringly about the role of comedy in mitigating pain. For so many comedians, comedy comes out of personal despair. I'm not a very despairing person myself, but I do fear despair and the death of loved ones.

I want to be here for my family. I want to make stuff in Australia. I want to take what I've learned and contribute it to the industry. I think there's a moral imperative to do so for people like me.

I am not a redhead. I have never been and am still not. Well, just a little... but I was blond as a kid and then mousy brown. As I got older... it came up. I've got a lot of red in my hair, but I'm not a ginge.

If you make a good show, you tend to get good reviews. I don't believe it is as arbitrary as some people tend to think, which artists do to protect themselves against bad reviews.

That's the incredible thing about 'Matilda': it keeps manifesting itself in different ways.

If there was Twitter when I wrote some of my early stuff, there'd be no 'Matilda.'

My granddad had a 1,500-acre hobby farm that he had built up from scratch in Western Australia, so my siblings and I spent our childhoods going there a lot.

In particular, Stewart Lee and Tony Law, people who could have been really critical, were really supportive of me, and I'll never forget that, and I want to be that person, so you have to work really hard to repress your natural jealousies and be one of those people.

Given that everyone's got a voice, it's the age of the democratisation of information through digital technology. That means women can rise up, and people of colour can rise up, and these stories are much more present to us. And that's great.

I spent thousands of thousands of hours playing the piano, and by thousands of hours, I mean playing in cover bands or wedding bands or disco bands or original bands or playing cabaret for Todd McKenney.

I've been atheist since I became aware of the term, but my material is not all about religion - not by a long shot - and when I do address the topic, it is to point out where religiosity meets discrimination.

Mum and Dad had high expectations of us as human beings - it wasn't just about education. It's a fantastic way to go about parenting, and I aspire to that.

I'm as strict as my parents - I have high expectations, too. I'd never ask the kids to do something outside their capabilities, but I'll encourage them not to be lazy and to try hard.

London's my favourite place. I lived in Crouch End for years and come back as much as I possibly can.

I have these rhyme-based ideas because I love Julia Donaldson. 'The Snail and the Whale' is one of the most beautiful poems, and I feel like I could do that.

I'm not a good philanthropist yet; I'm not as good as I'd like to be... I believe very hard in luck. It's all chance; therefore, any privilege you have is chaos.

There's a lot of great, talented, passionate musical theatre practitioners and directors here. But it's very hard to suddenly start building great musicals in a town like Sydney where there hasn't been any great musicals built.

Dad was known for his barbecues at weekends and bubble and squeak on Sundays. We'd all have to set the table and clear the table. We had our own seats, totally structured.

I am a very ginger-coloured person, but I don't have orange hair.

I just see myself as someone who has a bit of a way with words, basically.

My most visceral childhood memory is getting home from hockey. Much of our family time revolved around hockey, and it rains a lot in Perth, and we'd get home tired and wet in our tracksuits, and the smell I'd hold in my nose is of mother's vegetable soup.

Trouble is, I'm not a real ginger. I'm just a ginger-bearded, pale-skinned, strawberry blond.

I like stories, and I really like words. So I like stories that rely on dialogue.

I want to write musicals for my whole life. I always did.

My brother and I played music together, and we all liked to show off. But I wasn't a particularly musical kid. I did piano lessons and quit. I got kicked out of the choir.

What I've created comedically owes a lot to my ignorance of comedy and love of making theatre stuff.

I had written six scores by the time I was 20, and I'd never been paid a dollar.

I do feel infuriated by the things I perceive to be unfair.

Most of the best songwriters that ever lived couldn't read music.

When I was 17, I rewrote the songs for a musicalized version of 'Love's Labour's Lost.'

London represents the idea that someone pulled away the set from my life and replaced it with another. 'Here is your new baby. Here is your new life. And now you do comedy.' Without being smug, it's the best fun.

I had terrible ear problems and asthma and allergies. I spent quite a bit of time in hospital up to the age of eight so was not - am still not - extraordinarily intelligent.

I can make rhymes. My style of writing is kind of childlike anyway.

I was incredibly jealous of friends who had bit parts in 'Home and Away.' I just hoped I'd somehow be allowed into this game.

My daughter was two weeks old when I wrote 'White Wine in the Sun.' I can remember just sobbing and having to leave the room.

I often get references to 'slight' or whatever, and my weight's been a thing for me my whole life. I have to really, really work. I train six times a week to just be normal and not be fat.

I started writing songs for youth theater and stuff, and so it's really writing music for the stage that started me out, but then I eventually went to music college and did a two-year course in contemporary music and then just played in endless bands, cover bands, jazz bands.

I'm not a total chump. I write stuff that's reasonably musically complex.

Acting's just always been one of those things I've enjoyed.

I lived at home while attending the University of Western Australia in Perth, while doing a gap year and - partly - while attending the Academy of Performing Arts on the other side of town.

I played piano for cabaret stars and stuff and then eventually moved from my hometown of Perth in Western Australia to Melbourne, and somewhere in there, I decided to book myself a room and do a cabaret show of my own material.

Christopher Hitchens's autobiography, 'Hitch 22', is a poignant read and very interesting because I have a very poor knowledge of recent political history - or, for that matter, distant political history.

If we talk about 'Groundhog Day' as a humanistic text - we only have one life, and there's no punishment or reward afterwards - then the wisdom is, just be kind because that will make you happy and the people around you happy.

It was - I'm very didactic in my lyrics, but I've always been drawn to mock my own emotions, and so I write this very lyric-heavy stuff, which suits theater and comedy much more than it suits pop.

The thing I love about my career is the variety and that people can't predict what I'm going to do next.

I don't think you should bring up your kids with no wallowing. Somewhere in there is an area where you make sure your kids are all right, but they can also cry. Just maybe not every morning.