Colin Farrell is one of the most famous actors to have come from Ireland. He has always been happy to speak his mind and has been no stranger to controversy in the past.
He has spoken openly about his drug use and how the pressures of fame can weigh on big Hollywood stars. Since becoming a father, Farrell has calmed, and he has often spoken about how his outlook on life changed when his son was born.
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Farrell remains a popular figure in Ireland due to his open and honest nature. Here is a selection of some of his best quotes.
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Maybe finding love is an impossibility. I’ve been lucky enough in my life to have been in love a few times. I’ve felt how wonderful it is and how hard it can be to be in love.
Family is the most important aspect in my life. Without the love and support I receive from them, I don’t know where I’d be. I’m in no hurry to get anywhere. I don’t have any plans. I don’t have a map. If you did in this business, you’d destroy yourself.
I got kicked out of school, drank way too much and really I’ve done every bad thing you could imagine. I do hope my kids will do it better one day.
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Valentine’s Day – I don’t even know what that’s about. I mean, it’s an excuse, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with flowers or chocolate-covered cherries, but it would be nice if it didn’t take a commercially-promoted holiday for people to extend themselves in gestures of love.
Colin Farrell quote on physical training for film roles
I find it the most tedious waste of life. It’s so boring. I’d prefer to be sitting in a pub with a few strangers talking’ than looking at myself in the mirror running’ on the treadmill.
Colin Farrell quote on the girl that will interest him
The obvious; sense of humour, a bit of danger, good fun. A good heart is a really sexy thing. All women have the potential to be sexy and it’s nothing to do with the dress someone wears or the make-up they put on their face, it’s the aged-old cliché saying: ‘What comes from inside’.
Having money is lovely. Jesus, I’m really lucky, because it allows me to pay for the physician and speech therapists Jimmy needs. I can pay for really good ones, the best. I’m afraid a lot of people whose children have conditions really struggle.
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Colin Farrell quote on leaving Ireland
I miss the people, the pubs, the canal, fish and chips – curry sauce on the side – cheese and nachos with jalapeno peppers in the UGC theatres in Tallaght. And I miss the seasons.
I have found a love that I never though I’d find through my son. It’s a bizarre feeling to know that nothing can come between us.
Colin Farrell quote on Hollywood
I’m not seduced by it all. I swear to God. I’m easily pleased, yeah. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll indulge in it. I’ll be in Los Angeles for two weeks and I’ll have a laugh, get battered and have a buzz, but at the end of the day, I’ll go home. It’s just me earning a few more stories to tell everyone at home and all.
It’s the most gorgeous, gorgeous thing. He’s just my friend. He’s a little human who can’t quite speak and say what he wants yet and it’s wonderful. I adore him. For me, fatherhood is the ultimate success.
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I’m just a true Irish boy at heart. I’m just myself, I stick by my guns and I treat people the way I think they should be treated, regardless of their status. And I just have a laugh.
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I do have the ability to explore life and to be over the moon at the smallest thing – a few pints and a craic in the pub and I’m in heaven.
The ins and outs of what I’ve been through, even when it comes to rehab, is not a sad story. None of it is a sad story. I had a great time and some amazing memories and lots of good stuff that I’ve forgotten. I went from being in “Ballykissangel” to starring opposite Bruce Willis in “Hart’s War” in the space of two years.
Fame was something that seemed incredibly exotic. It represented the ultimate kind of status. But it eventually became one of those ‘be careful what you wish for’ things.
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Anything I am and anything I hope to be, I have my mom to thank.
Colin Farrell quote on quitting drinking
When I knocked the jar on the head seven years ago, it was a BIG life change. You know, you don’t just not drink and then act the same way and live the same way. For me, the drink was a huge part of my identity and it was a huge part of who I felt I was as a man. I’d been drinking since I was 14. So when that’s gone, your life changes a little bit.
Colin Farrell quote on his football aspirations as a youth
It kind of went downhill, I was smoking a bit of reef. You know, you roll your first joint, drink your first beer and discover the girls and, well, that was it. I loved football, but I couldn’t make the training any more.
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The scent of a flower! I used to hit the bottle whenever I felt overwhelmed, now I sniff on flowers.
Colin Farrell quote on getting into yoga
I was suspicious for a bit. I remember thinking about six months into not drinking: “I bet you I’m going to start doing yoga at some stage. Next thing I’ll be a vegan.”
I remember feeling embarrassed about this new health buzz that I was getting into bit by bit. I was at home in the garden with a cup of tea and I had nothing to do. Will I go and see a film? No, I’ll go and do yoga. For me, walking into a yoga studio was mortifying. It was like walking into a guitar shop or a motor bike shop – instant inferiority complex, when you’re not part of the gang. But I took a class and haven’t looked back since. You spend so much time in your head in life. And what yoga does is, it asks you to allow your head to be quiet, to allow it to be still, just for an hour and a half. Just deal with your body and your breath. And it’s a great workout. I love it.
I get no kicks from going to the gym. It doesn’t do it for me. Never has. Some people enjoy working out. But that’s never done it for me. In the past, I’d breathe in heavily between takes. I sucked it in and did a take. That way it doesn’t hurt the beer consumption at all.
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There are things I may have done before my son was born that I won’t do anymore.
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I work my a**e off. I’m never late, ask anyone. I’m only 27. I don’t feel like a big star. I feel neither the pressure nor the grandeur of my situation, you know. I think I’m still trying to find my feet as an actor. And I know it ain’t brain surgery, but it confuses me and it comes between me and my sleep a lot.
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When I went to the Oscars for the first time I was gobsmacked and I mean I’ve been three times. It’s huge, it’s ridiculous and it’s pompous and equally it’s exciting and awe-inspiring. It means nothing and it means loads.
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