David Hyde Pierce Quotes

I don't remember any sibling rivalry growing up, because by the time I was really conscious, Tom was going away to college. My relationship with him, which is a very close one, really developed in more recent years.

Maybe it's because I'm getting older, I'm finding enjoyment in things that stop time. Just the simple act of tasting a glass of wine is its own event. You're not downing a glass of wine in the midst of doing something else.

My dad had been an actor... not only had my dad been an actor, but his dad had been an actor, and my great-grandfather had been an actor. And who knows before then?

I always think extremism is basically a reaction out of fear. What we seem to be experiencing is polar extremism that keeps people from coming together.

We can't control what the ratings will be. It's like, if you're going to go skiing, do you hope you'll have a good day of skiing? Yes. Do you hope you won't break your leg? Yes.

From Kelsey, I have learned among many other things the value of turning on a dime and how you can have an extremely funny and extremely poignant moment with absolutely no separation in between... and sometimes in the same moment.

Alzheimer's is a devastating disease. It was painful for me and my family to watch my grandfather deteriorate. We must find a cure for this horrible disease.

I don't have the time to tell you all the things I've learned from this cast. It's an extraordinary ensemble because we all support each other so well.

Nothing ever guarantees you anything-that's my rule. My other rule is never believe anything that anyone tells you, and then you'll never be fooled. It's not as cynical as it sounds; it's just that people always say something for a reason-maybe a nice reason, maybe a devious reason-so on that level, you can't take things at face value.

The first year I was on the show, it took an interviewer about 45 minutes to get it out of me that I even had a dog, and even then I wouldn't tell him the dog's name.

People can be a hoot on the set, but if they're not good to work with, that tires very quickly.

So much of life is paradox. So much of life is neither one thing nor the other... it's both things at the same time.

Don't you always feel bad when they take away one of the spoons? It's like you ordered wrong.

I was chased through a chateau in the Loire Valley by a bunch of American school girls.

I would always fall down the big main staircase in our house. My favorite thing in the world was to pretend to be horribly killed at the top of it, and to fall dramatically down to the bottom of it.

Most of us aren't crazy psychotics, but most of us are a whole bunch of different people. I think when you are in a position of authority, that doesn't remove that from you.

I found every single laugh as Laertes that you can find and only realized later that you really shouldn't find any at all.

There's nothing more powerful than someone who has the disease who can be articulate and go in front of Congress or go to local government and say man, this is what's happening, and it's going to be you.

On some level in acting, what you're trying to find is truth, because when it's true is when it's also funny.

I think being an actor in general is acknowledging that we are constantly playing different roles, that we have all these different parts of ourselves and instead of pretending that you are just one thing, as an actor you get to admit that you've got all this stuff going on.

There's nothing worse than putting two similar shows back-to-back. Viewers don't want to watch one show and then sit through another half-hour of almost the same thing.

I went and took golf lessons so Dad would let me play with him. I was just terrible... but I was able to have a wonderful time just walking around with Dad. I can see the real pleasure of that game.

Her lips said 'no', but her eyes said 'read my lips'.

You only have a week to do a show. I mean, there's only so deep you can dig in that week.

We all went to Kelsey's wedding, and yeah, we go to parties. We also go to each other's house. A group of us got together over at Kelsey's and just read through some plays just for the fun of it. That may not be everyone's idea of a good time, but we had a good time.

I probably was as bad as a security guard as I was as a tie salesman.

I was as happy doing theater in New York for little or no money as I am now doing television for more money. The happiness, I guess, comes out of it being a good job. The success has to do with the fact that it's a good job that will continue.

Sometimes in the most tragic situation, something just profoundly funny happens.

I was going to be a concert pianist, and when I was in high school, my parents were scared to death that I would focus too much on that too soon. And that I'd end up in some sort of dead end, and not fulfilling whatever potential they thought I had.