William Atherton Quotes

Most of my shows have shown the transition of a character from a small town to the big city.

My life has been that of someone who has moved from the countryside to the society. To make that transition, I have had to learn a lot.

At first, I didn't like coming down to Los Angeles at all. It's like, everything's black and white compared to where I live out in the middle of nowhere. There's, like, 400 people in my town!

I grew up twelve miles outside of Montego Bay. In my early teens, I went to Kingston. It was like a different planet for me. In the country, people are kind. In the city, people are hard an' cold, like the concrete and steel.

I was the last person that any of my friends would have pictured moving to the boonies.

I live in the middle of nowhere. I'm a country bumpkin in Ireland, in Donegal, and to go from that to Toronto, huge city, massive buildings just stretching so tall.

When I came to Mumbai, it was very difficult. I enjoyed every bit of it, but it was so new, and life was very different - new people and new home.

Things are so busy and so quick, and there’s so much going on, you have to realise the time when you have to take a step back, take a breath and really think back to where you come from. I’m from a very, very rural place. There’s really nobody out there, just roads and farms. I had a long transition to get to where I am now. I moved away when I was young, when I was about 19. I’d literally come from an area with dirt roads and stuff like that, right to the centre of a city of about five million people. It’s been great. I’m based in New York and every day it's amazing.

I prefer the country life. I live in Kingston, but there is lots of trees.

I am a village boy, and Amsterdam for me was always the big town.

Two things revolutionised life: moving to the countryside and falling in love.

I was raised on a little farm about 12 miles out of Portsmouth, Ohio.

I grew up in this little farm town, and I've always dreamt of Hollywood and pop culture, and then I suddenly found myself plopped in the middle of it.

I didn't know a soul when I got to New York, and I felt really displaced. The first week I was euphoric, and then I realized how isolating the city can be.

Lincolnshire is the Idaho of England. You were either going to drive a tractor for the rest of your life or head for the city to work in a factory.

I live way out in the country, in truck-country.

Tribal life comes automatically to an end when a primitive people begins to live in a town or a city, for sooner or later a tribal organization is found to be incompatible with life in a city.

People do not realise that many of my works are done in urban places. I was brought up on the edge of Leeds, five miles from the city centre-on one side were fields and on the other, the city.

When I was 9, we moved to Osseo, Wis., where we owned a couple of hundred acres. My father was well respected in town.

I grew up in a small farming town called Concord, outside Charlotte in North Carolina.

I moved away when I was young, when I was about 19. I'd literally come from an area with dirt roads and stuff like that, right to the centre of a city of about five million people. It's been great. I'm based in New York, and every day, it's amazing.

My life changed incredibly when I moved from Holland to England.

Boarding school in Tring was a bit of a bubble that burst when I went to Hackney to go to drama school.

I was raised in Oklahoma. I was actually born in Tulsa, but I grew up in a small town on the west side of Oklahoma called Elk City on a farm, where my dad grew up, actually.

I came from the country, and when I came to the city, I was ridin' high, you know. I was seeing more lights than I ever dreamed to shine in the world. 'Cos where I came from, there wasn't too many lights. Bugs made a lot of light, but after that there wasn't no lights.