“There was a certain moment. I was about 61 – two, three or four, and I got a script. And I sent it back to the producer saying – “I don’t wanna do it. The part’s too small.” And he sent it back to me, he said, “You shouldn’t read the lover. You should read the father.”

A man should dress in a way that you don’t notice. He looks good and you don’t know why. But it’s the tailoring, the materials, and the clothes.

I have never seen it but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built and it is terrific.

Anyone can write. But comedy, you’ve got to do some writing. You get one comedy script to every 20 dramas.

Save your money. You’re going to need twice as much money in your old age as you think.

The best research for playing a drunk is being a British actor for 20 years.

You’ve got to be flexible. Directors do a massive amount of planning and homework, and if after all that your director decides to throw it all out of the window and shoot spontaneously, then you must follow his lead.

Some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.

I never bring a role home with me. The moment they say, ‘It’s a wrap,’ it’s gone completely. I’m a totally ruthless professional, and life is my family, not my work.

In film, other actors’ performances really are not your concern. If the other actor isn’t giving you what you want, act as though he were.

I never regret anything. I always said that when I’m old, I want to be sitting there regretting the things that I did and not the things that I didn’t do; and now I’m old, and I don’t regret anything! I had fun. I had fun, and I’m still having it.

Hollywood is a cross between a health farm, a recreation center and an insane asylum. It’s a company town, and I happen to like the company!

A lot of people said, Who do you think you are? I told them I know exactly who I am and I’ll tell you exactly where I’m going.

I have been rich and I have been poor. I know which one I prefer.

Books were my window on the world. Growing up at the Elephant and Castle, which was very rough, my paradise was the library.

Great acting is about listening to what they are saying not waiting to deliver your lines.

That to me is what my idea of film acting should be. There shouldn’t be any acting. You should just be watching a real person.

The fundamental event of the modern age is the conquest of the world as a picture.

Old age and treachery can always overcome youth and skill.

Staying young means being willing to learn, evolve, and be open to life.

We are entering the age of infinite examination and of compulsory objectification.

We stand at the end of the Age of Reason. A new era of the magical explanation of the world is rising.

Will you stay up late with me tonight? sit quietly while I write you into a piece of art that will be a marvel for the ages?

Life is a lonely journey. We expect and even believe that someone will always be there for us, but that illusion fades away with age and time.

Nostalgia seems to haunt me these days I wonder if it’s old age or just a phase.