Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I have never felt bereft of anything.
Hamlet is an astonishing intelligence.
There's so much crap talked about acting.
In cinema, the leading player is the director.
The biggest surprise in a man's life is old age.
I don't honestly think people know what acting is.
I have a rather naive approach, I think, to my job.
It's Sir Ben. I've not been a Mister for two years.
But comedy I'd love to do as much as humanly possible.
They're a very strange lot actors, very strange people.
Movie magic is movie magic and acting magic is acting magic.
Well, it's wonderful to be identified strongly with my work.
I think that most actors attempt to keep in touch with the child.
Millions of children are disempowered and we need to empower them.
All the great writers root their characters in true human behaviour.
I always try to find something I admire about every character I play.
I think if I were to go back on stage I might be in great danger of acting.
If your best friend has stolen your girlfriend, it does become life and death.
Sometimes it's right to do the wrong things and right now is one of those times.
I try and reduce myself to an almost blank slate and hope to God that I am creative.
As a singer, I might have fallen among thieves. I wonder if I'd still be alive by now.
With narration, you have to be very accurate with your voice. It's a good exercise to do.
I'm very in love with the fact that the camera is revolted by acting and loves behaviour.
As an actor there's no autonomy, unless you're prepared to risk the possibility of starving.
There have not been any troughs as regards my work. There's never been a trough of my assurance.
My line-learning is very special. I like to learn the dialogue of the whole film before I arrive.
The hierarchy of class in London was rigid. It was like a religion. It still is to a certain extent.
When you drop your guard in films, the acting process compensates. You get lazy and you start acting.
There is always something about the villains that I'm able to play, quote unquote, that isn't villainous.
I think the cinema you like has more to do with silence, and the theater you like has more to do with language.
It is better for me to serve a charity as an actor or a voice, rather than at a luncheon being just a celebrity.
The trick is to try and justify every word on the page and make sure my character is the man who would say that.
But filming is good for you, because the crew isn't allowed to laugh. You can't get addicted to getting the laugh.
John Lennon and Ringo Starr liked my songs. I used to write songs and they heard me sing songs on stage in London.
The many many imponderables come together when a film opens and for all sorts of reasons it may or may not succeed.
We are adjusters. We empathize, we change rhythm and above all we listen to our fellow actors-if they're good actors.
You want to know what I want? I'll tell you what I want. I want back what Bobby Fischer took with him when he disappeared.
I honestly have no strategy whatsoever. I'm waiting for that script to pop through the letterbox and completely surprise me.
I've never had to turn my hand to anything for monetary gain, other than pretending to be somebody else. I'm deeply fortunate.
I'm convinced that had I not changed my name, I don't think I would have had quite the same career curve that I eventually had.
I think I'm more bonded, emotionally and in a craft sense, to films that tell extraordinary stories about extraordinary destinies.
Fifteen years before I became a screen actor, I was in the theatre. A lot of my work was comedy, which I loved doing. It's harder.
In England, it's now Sir Ben. Mister has just disappeared. It's not even on my passport anymore. They've taken Mister away from me.
I just loved playing a man who was unafraid of making an idiot of himself in the process of falling in love. I found that admirable.
There is so much to do on a film set. It is an extraordinarily invigorating and wonderful place to be, when things are running well.
You cannot learn a lesson of profound forgiveness unless you understand what it is to be wounded and forgive that which has wounded you.
Filming is so much to do with rhythm, as is music, and if it isn't there then you know in the end nobody can save it really, they can't.
I do believe female directors, as well as our female writer, can bring out male vulnerability that some men can't because they can't face it.
I was fortunate as a young actor, to go straight to the RSC, where I learned that being an actor can bring with it wonderful responsibilities.
I would like to make it known, on this program, loud and clear, that I would absolutely embrace with all five of my arms being a Bond villain.