Quote Of The Day By Gary Oldman: 'There's No Handbook For Parenting, You Walk A Very Fine Line As A Parent Because You Are Civilizing These Raw Things...'

Gary Oldman is one of the U.K.'s best acting exports, winning the Oscar for Best Actor in 2017 for playing wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill in "The Darkest Hour." Though his career has largely remained on the big screen, he's also dabbled in television.

"Friends" fans will remember Oldman's memorable cameo in Season 7 when he played renowned actor Richard Crosby opposite Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc) while shooting a World War I movie. The guest role even earned the star an Emmy nomination.

More recently, Oldman has been leading "Slow Horses," one of the best British spy shows. He plays the slobbish MI5 officer Jackson Lamb, the man in charge of Slough House, the agency's dumping ground for disgraced officers. Despite their boring work, his officers find themselves embroiled in a number of conspiracies and chaos, which is why the show has also become one of the best shows streaming on Apple TV. In honor of the show's sixth season, which premieres Wednesday, September 16, Oldman is the source of today's quote of the day.

"You're tired? Have a baby, then come back and tell me how tired tired is. There's no handbook for parenting. So you walk a very fine line as a parent because you are civilizing these raw things. They will tip the coffee over and finger-paint on the table. At some point, you have to say, 'We're gonna have to clean that up because you don't paint with coffee on a table.'"

Gary Oldman's above quote comes from a 2011 interview with Esquire where the actor discussed things he'd learned over the course of his life and career. He offered up some advice about the reality of being a parent, avoiding any sugar-coated clichés. 

Having three sons himself, Oldman has some authority when it comes to parenting. His eldest is Alfie Oldman, who was born in 1988 while Oldman was married to Lesley Manville. Oldman's third wife, Donya Fiorentino, later gave birth to two more children: Gulliver in 1997 and Charlie in 1999. 

Gary Oldman's quote is a lesson about rolling with life's punches. While Oldman's words were intended for parents, people without children can still benefit from his advice. The actor was simply urging people to adapt to unpredictability, using a child making a mess as just one example. Per Oldman, when you're faced with a challenging situation, you have to find a way to deal with it. That applies to any of life's unexpected hurdles, whether it's spilled coffee, work woes, or financial stress. 

Oldman himself has adjusted to plenty of new situations over the course of his career. While he's traditionally known as a movie star, he's been more open to working with streaming services like Netflix and Apple TV in recent years. In 2020, he worked with David Fincher on Netflix's biographical comedy-drama "Mank." Oldman has also called  "Slow Horses" a career highlight, which may be surprising considering he's so achieved much success on the film side of Hollywood.

• "You can make a performance better in the editing, but you can sure tear passion to tatters with the scissors. What would you do if you were a painter, and you gave your painting over to someone, and then you saw it in an exhibition and they'd cut seven inches off the top of it? And the corner was painted red. We thought it would be better red. But that wouldn't happen." — from a 2011 interview with Esquire

• "A lazy man works twice as hard. My mother told that to me, and now I say it to my kids. If you're writing an essay, keep it in the lines and in the margins so you don't have to do it over." — from a 2011 interview with Esquire

• "The 68-year-old Gary probably still thinks 'Me? Little old me?' You still get insecure, you still worry about stuff, you still think 'Am I any good?'" — from a 2026 interview with Sky News