Patrick Stewart quotes

Patrick Stewart is an English actor, widely recognized for his work in television, film, and theatre. International audiences know him best for his roles as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and Professor Charles Xavier in the "X-Men" film series. He continues to be celebrated for his powerful performances and commanding stage presence. Here are 46 of his quotes:

It is what you do from now on that will either move our civilization forward a few tiny steps, or else... begin to march us steadily backward.

Patrick Stewart

I wouldn't know a space-time continuum or warp core breach if they got into bed with me.

Patrick Stewart

Last Wednesday, I stupidly dropped my iPhone in the bath, and my life has sort of spiraled almost out of control.

Patrick Stewart

For seven years I did very little theatre, and I have to make up some time.

Patrick Stewart

Tom Hanks knows the name of all the episodes.

Patrick Stewart

I am told that there have been over the years a number of experiments taking place in places like Massachusetts Institute of Technology that have been entirely based on concepts raised by Star Trek.

Patrick Stewart

I was brought up in a very poor and very violent household. I spent much of my childhood being afraid.

Patrick Stewart

As time went on, I did campaign to lighten the character a little bit, to introduce some romance into the episodes, outside activities, horse riding and fencing and mountaineering.

Patrick Stewart

The only still center of my life is Macbeth. To go back to doing this bloody, crazed, insane mass-murderer is a huge relief after trying to get my cell phone replaced.

Patrick Stewart

Roddenberry had created quite a complex and at times mysterious character. Guarded, cautious, careful in showing his feelings in expressing his ideas about many things - I found that very interesting.

Patrick Stewart

During my time we had two chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, at different times of course, on the bridge, both of whom asked my permission to sit on the captain's chair.

Patrick Stewart

You get all of your neuroses worked out on stage. I haven't actually played very many nice characters, certainly not on stage. It's not a quality that attracts me.

Patrick Stewart

We've heard from many teachers that they used episodes of Star Trek and concepts of Star Trek in their science classrooms in order to engage the students.

Patrick Stewart

I came to feel very, very sentimental about those sets, which is ludicrous, because they represent everything which is transitory and insubstantial. It's absurd that one should feel sentimental about timber and canvas.

Patrick Stewart

I had come to the point when I realized it was unlikely that my film career was going to move beyond a certain level of role. And I was - because I had graphic instances of it - handicapped by the success of Star Trek. A director would say, 'I don't want Jean-Luc Picard in my movie' - and this was compounded by X-Men as well.

Patrick Stewart

Having spent so much of my life with Shakespeare's world, passions and ideas in my head and in my mouth, he feels like a friend - someone who just went out of the room to get another bottle of wine.

Patrick Stewart

It still frightens me a little bit to think that so much of my life was totally devoted to Star Trek and almost nothing else.

Patrick Stewart

Having played many roles of scientific intellect I do have an empathy for that world. It's been hard on me because flying the Enterprise for seven years in Star Trek and sitting in Cerebro in X-men has led people to believe that I know what I'm talking about. But I'm still trying to work out how to operate the air conditioning unit on my car.

Patrick Stewart

Creating a believable world on the ship was very important, and technically they got better and better and better at showing the ship too.

Patrick Stewart

I certainly wanted to maintain some sense of mystery about Picard and that's why we never allowed certain situations to fully evolve, like the relationship between Picard and Beverly Crusher.

Patrick Stewart

Encouraging people to believe in it was the most important thing of all. It's one of the reasons I was always uncomfortable whenever film crews came on the set to shoot things. I didn't want our make-believe to be exposed.

Patrick Stewart

I began directing episodes, which was a great light every couple of months. We never short-changed our audience, but it became something that you had to work at rather than something that was a pleasure.

Patrick Stewart