We first met Ricky Gervais as David Brent back in 2001, in one of the most popular mockumentaries ever made: the original, UK-made The Office. Ever since, Gervais has built himself a massive fan base by making everyone laugh while tearing apart taboo topics.

Gervais grew up in a poor neighborhood. His dad was a laborer and his mother a housewife. But even though he didn’t have much as a child, Ricky didn’t really need more. He always believed that a man is successful when he is able to do exactly what he wants to, when he wants to, and money making wasn’t part of that success.

Gervais worked initially in the music industry, but eventually turned to comedy. After all, he couldn’t let all the wit and humor go to waste.

While his comments and remarks on life and everything in between might be perceived as harsh, he is trying to make the world a better place. A good sense of humor can be your salvation when the going gets tough.

Gervais’ latest black comedy series, After Life, was released on Netflix in March 2019, with another season on the way.

Here are 20 Ricky Gervais quotes for laughing your way through life.

What’s the point in having humor? Humor is to get us over terrible things.

That’s the other thing I learned that day, that the truth, however shocking or uncomfortable, in the end leads to liberation and dignity.

You won’t burn in hell. But be nice anyway.

The best advice I’ve ever received is, ‘No one else knows what they’re doing either.’

If you can laugh in the face of adversity, you’re bullet-proof.

Life is just a series of peaks and troughs. And you don’t know whether you’re in a trough until you’re climbing out, or on a peak until you’re coming down.

“If you try to please everyone you’ll please no one.” 

Never confuse your right to say what you believe with a right to never be disagreed with and ridiculed for saying what you believe.

Be happy. It really annoys negative people.

Beliefs do not change facts. Facts, if one is rational, should change beliefs.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth… Then he said, “Let there be light.” Which means he made the entire universe in the dark!

Just because you’re offended, doesn’t mean you’re right.

When I see a headline ‘Guess who’s going out with who?’ I don’t guess, and I don’t click.

Some of you are really smart. You know who you are. Some of you are really thick. Unfortunately, you don’t know who you are.

If your boss is getting you down, look at him through the prongs of a fork and imagine him in jail.

You have options. You can either continue to be miserable or you can just stop being angry at everyone and accept the way things are. Allow yourself to live.

People confuse the subject of the joke with the target of the joke, and they’re very rarely the same.

Being on the edge isn’t as safe, but the view is better.

People who criticize you have usually never achieved anywhere near what you have. Most of them would be too scared to even try. Keep going.

Remember, when someone says ‘you’ve changed,’ it usually just means you’ve stopped living your life their way.