Make your own unique messes

Advice from Alan Rickman

Alan Rickman, 2006. Michael Birt/Getty.

It’s six years to the day since the death of Alan Rickman, a man known to most¹ as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films but whose finest, most iconic role was also his first: as the villain Hans Gruber in Die Hard, 34 long years ago. In 2011, he wrote the following letter of advice to his 16-year-old self. It featured in the book, Dear Me: More Letters to my Sixteen Year Old Self, edited by Joseph Galliano.

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Dear Me,

If, in future years, anyone asks you to give advice to your sixteen year old self… don’t.

Make your own unique messes, and then work your own way out of them.

See you,

Alan Rickman

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Extracted from Dear Me: More Letters to my Sixteen Year Old Self. Edited by Joseph Galliano. Simon & Schuster UK.

1. I’m guessing here, and my guess is based on the sheer volume of people (we’re probably talking thousands?) who have seen the Harry Potter films.