50 Inspiring Tom Hardy Quotes on Acting, Fame, and Finding Happiness

For the past 10 years, Tom Hardy has quickly become one of Hollywood’s most notable actors.

We’ve collected this list of Tom Hardy quotes that prove how important it is to stick to your passion and follow your dreams.

Tom Hardy is a British actor who has been steadily working both on stage and in film since 1998.

However, his career didn’t start to take off until he took the role of Eames in Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi thriller, Inception in 2010.

Since then, Hardy has become an Academy Award nominee, BAFTA recipient, and has starred in many blockbuster hits including The Dark Knight Rises and Mad Max: Fury Road.

Hardy’s commitment to his craft is inspiring and we hope that these Tom Hardy quotes will inspire you to be committed as well.

Don’t forget to also check out these Chuck Norris quotes so tough only he could say them.

Check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily inspiration. 

Explore our complete collection of motivational quotes here.

Tom Hardy quotes on acting

1. “I had a huge imagination. My granddad says I was a bit of a Walter Mitty character.” — Tom Hardy

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2. “My job is to show and tell. If I get better at showing and telling then presumably I get hired more.” — Tom Hardy

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3. “Me, I don’t know how I got here! I feel like I just came from delivering pizza and I got lucky.” — Tom Hardy

4. “Within the creative arts, you can create things and destroy things. Passion creates and destroys.” — Tom Hardy

5. “Vanity is normal in performers. Does it bother other people? All the time. But nine times out of ten, that says more about them than you.” — Tom Hardy

6. “People who are scary, they terrify me, but I can imitate them. I’m not a fighter. I’m a petite little bourgeois boy from London. I don’t fight, I mimic.” — Tom Hardy

7. “I think it’s important that you always transform if you can. That’s what I was trained to do. You try and hide yourself as much as you can – that’s the key to longevity.“ — Tom Hardy

8. “I wanted my dad to be proud of me, and I fell into acting because there wasn’t anything else I could do, and in it I found a discipline that I wanted to keep coming back to, that I love and I learn about every day.” — Tom Hardy

9. “No matter how much you can prepare for [auditions], there’s nothing worse than the anticipation. It’s always the killer of everything. The actuality of doing something is normally a lot easier than the waiting for it.” — Tom Hardy

10. “I’m going to fail to hit the mark I’ve put up before me because it’s not possible to hit it. I want to be the best at what I do so I’ve got to get over myself already because that’s never going to happen. I ain’t ever going to be God.” — Tom Hardy

11. “I’m never lost in a character, ever. Everything is absolutely articulated and worked out and there’s no room for error. The only thing there is room for is inspiration in the moment because you’ve done your homework up to that point….” — Tom Hardy

12. “There’s two types of acting: convincing and not convincing. People describe me as intense. It’s because I care. I am a pain in the ass because I care. Do I know what I’m doing? No. Do I have the best of intentions? Yes. Does that lead to hell? Sometimes.” — Tom Hardy

13. “As actors, we have the opportunity to work with many directors. Directors only work with themselves and other actors. They never know what it is like to work with another director. So that relationship that one has with a director is entirely always the king.” — Tom Hardy

14. “It’s funny in that because it is acting, and playing pretend, but I didn’t see myself being synonymous with these tough-guy roles. That’s not really me. I love acting. There was Bane, Warrior, Bronson, and now the Krays. I’m just surprised to be working, mate. Whatever gets me through the door.” — Tom Hardy

15. “I’d learned how to lie and manipulate from an early age so a combination of that, desperation, having to have my own fridge and my umbilical cord back…I had to go out into the world. Then some angel somewhere said: “Have you considered going to drama school?” And this sounded like the solution to all of my problems.” — Tom Hardy

16. “I think I had only been working nine months when I got ‘Star Trek,’ and it was huge. It was very overwhelming. So that opened my eyes a bit at an early age, kind of how not be frightened when walking into a responsibility of something like that.” — Tom Hardy

If you’re enjoying these quotes, you’ll love our collection of Star Trek quotes that will help you go where no man has before.

Tom Hardy quotes about fame

17. “I hate publicists and publicity. But I love people.” — Tom Hardy

18. “I get hired more then I get seen more. I get seen more then maybe celebrity and fame happens but at the end of the day there’s no difference between my five-dollar performance and my fifty million dollar performance.” — Tom Hardy

19. “Fame and stuff like that is all very cool, but at the end of the day, we’re all human beings. Although what I do is incredibly surreal and fun and amazing and I’m really grateful for it, I don’t believe my own press release, do you know what I mean?” — Tom Hardy

20. “I want to dispel that it’s all about celebrity-ism, I’m fucking bored of people looking at whose shoes are interesting and what hat is interesting. Storytelling is very important to people, it comforts them, unite us, cheers us up, we can affect change with these arts. We need to be entertained to connect.” — Tom Hardy

21. “I don’t like it when people say, “Well, you should have expected that when you accepted the jb as an actor. When you go to drama school, no one gives you a class on fame. Just treat people how you wish to be treated. Whether I’m married or not married, people will find out. But it’s also not something I’m going to offer.” — Tom Hardy

Tom Hardy quotes about finding happiness

22. “I guess if I had fifty million dollars I could spend more time at home…” — Tom Hardy

23. “I didn’t understand how you could do something which is so much fun and be so miserable doing it.” — Tom Hardy

24. “I had no immediate knowledge of the world or Batman at all. I’m quite incubated. I just keep myself to myself and my dog.” — Tom Hardy

25. “When I was nine, I ran in a school race, and I suddenly realized I was in the lead. I looked at the finish line, and just freaked out, then ran to the side as if I’d hurt myself. It was everything to do with the fear of success.” — Tom Hardy

26. “So, somewhere between that acceptance and doing my homework and being competitive and having ambition and loving my job and observing and reflecting my society, that’s where I find the purpose. Because man needs purpose.” — Tom Hardy

27. “I went entirely off the rails and I’m lucky I didn’t have some terrible accident or end up in prison or dead, because that’s where I was going. Now I know my beast and I know how to manage it. It’s like living with a 400-pound orangutan that wants to kill me. It’s much more powerful than me, doesn’t speak the same language and it runs around the darkness of my soul.” — Tom Hardy

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to check out our collection of Batman quotes from the iconic trilogy.

Motivational Tom Hardy quotes

28. “You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.” — Tom Hardy

29. “It doesn’t matter who you are. What matters is your plan.” — Tom Hardy

30. “There’s always a certain pride in getting a job done properly.” — Tom Hardy

31. “Spirituality seems to me to be for those who’ve been through hell.” — Tom Hardy

32. “Responsibility has a cost, and there’s no such thing as a perfection.” — Tom Hardy

33. “There’s a long way to go on that, but I do believe that the time is now.” — Tom Hardy

34. “It is not the violence that sets a man apart, it is the distance he is prepared to go.” — Tom Hardy

35. “The only thing I can do is wipe my arse, brush my teeth, turn up and do the best work I can.” — Tom Hardy

36. “We are survivors. We control the fear. And without the fear, we are all as good as dead.” — Tom Hardy

37. “I don’t fight really. I try not to fight, actually. I try not to react. I’m a Buddha floating on a lily pad.” — Tom Hardy

38. “And I like people. I like to know what you’re really up to. I’m a bit of a nosey busybody. Why do they do the things they do? Why are they prepared to do the things they do to get what they want? When? Where? Who?” — Tom Hardy

39. “A lot of people say I seem masculine, but I don’t feel it. I feel intrinsically feminine. I’d love to be one of the boys but I always felt a bit on the outside. Maybe my masculine qualities come from overcompensating because I’m not one of the boys.” — Tom Hardy

40. “I’m not interested in walks in the parks. Anything difficult that people think I couldn’t play, I’m straight at it. If they say ‘Tom, don’t put your hand in the fire’, you know I’ll be coming out of casualty an hour later with third-degree burns and bandages up my arms.” — Tom Hardy

More inspiring Tom Hardy quotes

41. “I have a very busy head. I have inside voices that I have learned to contain.” — Tom Hardy

42. “I’m from a nice, suburban, idle-class family, but my tattoos remind me where I’ve been.” — Tom Hardy

43. “We’re all flawed human beings and we all have a cauldron of psychosis which we have to unravel as we grow older and find the way we fit in to live our lives as best as possible.” — Tom Hardy

44. “I don’t feel very manly. I don’t feel rugged and strong and capable in real life, not how I imagine a man ought to be. So I seek it, to mimic it and maybe understand it, or maybe to draw it into my own reality.” — Tom Hardy

45. “I’m very sensitive. Because my mum was my primary emotional caregiver growing up, I found myself being pinned into dresses, darting her dresses, choosing her high heels for the evening or what to wear. I’m very much a mommy’s boy” — Tom Hardy

46. “My father came from an intellectual and studious avenue as opposed to a brawler’s avenue. So I had to go further afield and I brought all kinds of unscrupulous oiks back home – earless, toothless vagabonds – to teach me the arts of the old bagarre.” — Tom Hardy

47. “I find crying difficult. It takes a long time for me to go. And I won’t know what will send me. I’m quite sentimental. If my son tells me he loves me that will make me cry. Mr. Holland’s Opus, unbelievably, broke me. A random anomaly. Bambi would probably do me.” — Tom Hardy

48. “I identify with having strong, powerful female influences in my life. Do you think that women are fairly represented in screenplays, film, TV, and theatre today? Or do you think there should be better parts for women than just girlfriend and wife or lover? Because I’m bored with that.” — Tom Hardy

49. “In the end there was nothing else I could do. I had a busy head and I didn’t really want to do things that I found boring. The only thing that kept my attention was to play and have fun and manipulate. I’ve always been a liar, always been able to manipulate. I pretty much get whatever I want.” — Tom Hardy

50. “I’m from East Sheen, I went to public school where I learned Latin at the age of nine, and certain expectations were made of me to go to St. Paul’s, Oxbridge maybe, and all that kind of thing. And I failed systematically to meet the mark – who I am and what I should have been are two very different things.” — Tom Hardy

Did you enjoy these Tom Hardy quotes?

Tom Hardy is a successful actor, but that success didn’t come easily to him overnight.

Hardy has opened up about his troubled youth and his struggle to fit into Hollywood.

He spent many years struggling with drug addiction and success didn’t truly happen for him until he was able to confront his inner demons when he went to rehab for crack cocaine.

We all have goals we want to achieve and we face challenges and obstacles that seem as though they are blocking us from success.

What we have to remember is, if we are truly passionate about our goals, then nothing can stop us from achieving our dreams.

Which of these Tom Hardy quotes and sayings is your favorite?

Let us know in the comments below.