“I don’t live beyond my means. I enjoy luxury and I enjoy the privilege of it, when I can afford it, and I’m in the situation where it’s been given to me, but I’m very conscious of what is wasteful.”

[Scott Derrickson] is terrific, really sharp on the details, and he’s not afraid to go to dark places.

[Sherlock Holmes] has moved from being someone who was sociopathic, work-obsessed and slightly amoral, into being someone who has a certain degree of a private life, which is very, very private, with The Woman, or Irene Adler.

I’m sort of focused on my long-term goal of carving out a career that’s for life, rather than being a flash in the pan.

It’s great for the people who supported me early on to see the success I’m enjoying.

Those are more universal things than some of the characters I play, who are slightly sociopathic. I keep reminding people I can do ordinary.

Even in cerebral roles that are seemingly intelligent and nothing else, I think it’s so important to wrap your characterization in a physical form as well.

I’m quite sensitive to people noticing me. There are times when I’m relaxed, then others when it does make me self-conscious.

I realised quite early on that, although I wasn’t trying to make a career speciality of it, I was playing slightly asexual, sociopathic intellectuals.

I had to kiss it [ playing Hamlet] goodbye because Marvel have to plot things for the next three, four years.

Doctors and nurses do crazy hours and keep an ideal afloat through the love and care that they have for their craft and their patients and the institution of the NHS. We should be very proud of it.

The biggest lesson Stephen Strange learns in this film is it’s not all about him.

There’s so much in the 21st century that is stymied by bureaucracy and mediocrity and committee.

There are other people who don’t mind shouting from the pulpit and being judged for it, and they do a hell of a lot of good – real, on-the-ground, life-changing good. So I think it can sometimes be a balancing act.

Do I like being thought of as attractive? I don’t know anyone on Earth who doesn’t, but I do find it funny.

If I’d had fame early on, I’d have been able to abuse it in the way that a young man should.

I wanted to take the audience on a journey where that transition was funny and awkward. It’s the same cynicism that [Strange] has.

The word courage comes from the same stem as the French word Coeur, meaning “heart.” Thus just as one’s heart, by pumping blood to one’s arms, legs, and brain enables all the other physical organs to function.

I always find it more difficult to say the things I mean than the things I don’t.

The truth is we’re all searching. We’re all looking for guidance, for mentors, and I’m by no means someone to follow.

He means to succeed, and a man who has centuries before him can afford to wait and to go slow.

The voice of God must mean to him more than what he sees, feels, or what people say.

It’s all about knowing the balance, because I like to remain somewhat of a mystery. You need to have that, you know what I mean?

But the nature of the universe is such that ends can never justify means. On the contrary, the means always determine the end.

Time by itself means nothing, no matter how fast it moves, unless we give it something to carry for us; something we value. Because it is such a precious vehicle, is time.