"I'm an anorak. I've always been an obsessive collector of things. Richard Briers collects stamps. I collect cars and guns, which are much more expensive, and much more difficult to store"
About this Quote
The name-check of Richard Briers is doing quiet cultural work. Briers reads as cozy, respectable, safely middle-class. Stamps are the hobby you give to kids and retirees; they suggest patience, tidiness, innocence. Gambon sets up that baseline, then swerves: his collecting is “much more expensive” and “much more difficult to store.” The punchline is logistical, not moral. He doesn’t defend guns; he treats them like bulky souvenirs. That’s the subtext: privilege allows danger to be reframed as mere inconvenience.
There’s also an actor’s instinct for timing. The sentence stacks escalating admissions, then lands on the banal practicalities of storage, turning potential controversy into a domestic problem. It’s a neat bit of persona management: rebellious enough to be interesting, jokey enough to stay likable. In context, it fits an older, clubby British celebrity culture where eccentric appetites get recast as “collections,” and the public is invited to grin at the excess rather than interrogate it.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Gambon, Michael. (2026, January 16). I'm an anorak. I've always been an obsessive collector of things. Richard Briers collects stamps. I collect cars and guns, which are much more expensive, and much more difficult to store. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-an-anorak-ive-always-been-an-obsessive-82269/
Chicago Style
Gambon, Michael. "I'm an anorak. I've always been an obsessive collector of things. Richard Briers collects stamps. I collect cars and guns, which are much more expensive, and much more difficult to store." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-an-anorak-ive-always-been-an-obsessive-82269/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I'm an anorak. I've always been an obsessive collector of things. Richard Briers collects stamps. I collect cars and guns, which are much more expensive, and much more difficult to store." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-an-anorak-ive-always-been-an-obsessive-82269/. Accessed 19 Feb. 2026.






