“I wish that the arts were better supported, and you can’t say that enough times, but I also believe that whatever happens, artists will keep going.”

I reckon domesticated cats have a pretty good life.

My favorite Bond films are the really early ones, the first ones in fact, like ‘Dr. No’ and ‘From Russia with Love.’

I always feel I am in the dark. You are never finished… it is not as if you can look back and think: ah… I know what I am talking about. You are only as good as your last job and are always struggling and striving and you never quite get to where you want to be.

As an actor you have total rights to privacy and mystery, whatever your sexuality, whatever you do. I don’t see why that has to be something you discuss openly because you do something in the public eye. I have no understanding of why we turn actors into celebrities.

It’s fun to pretend you’re good at something you know you wouldn’t be good at in real life.

I was quite a shy child – not chronically, but I tended to blend into the background.

The thing I love about acting is that you can bring something very personal into the open and at the same time remain hidden because you’re always playing a character in a story that someone else has imagined. You’re always protected.

I love films. I love music. I love poetry and stories. All of that I feel… I sort of get very excited and fed by.

I can be shy, but I’m not really. I try to be better at overcoming these things people have said.

I used to collect knick-knacks, like wizards, trolls and little buddhas, and arrange them like precious things on a shelf.

I don’t think I am especially interested in celebrities, but I love talking about what is going on with people and why they do what they do.

The most amazing thing is when you find yourself watching someone in the café or something doing something weird. It’s amazing what people do, isn’t it, when you just look at them, when you take the time to look.

Dustin Hoffman also never does the same thing twice which is totally stimulating because you’re always getting something new from him. You never really know what he’s going to do next, so you have to be on your toes.

In film, I find it very useful always to do some preparation before you start rehearsals or start shooting, because there’s so much that’s against you on a film set.

I think being very thin has had a lot to do with how I’ve been cast.

The thing about acting is that it’s fairly random. At the end of the day you take what drifts past you or what’s given to you.

I wish I didn’t have any flaws! I think everybody is flawed.

Don’t think your dreams don’t come true, because they do. You’d better be careful what you wish for. And I truly and honestly – one day I am doing the ‘Beaver’ show and I said, ‘This is the show I have always wanted to do.’

If you wish for peace, understand war.

Wishing is good for us. Daydreams, fantasies, castles in the air, and aspirations All drive us forward, Impel us to make things happen. They also tell us a lot about ourselves.

I hate tooting my own horn, but after Steven Spielberg saw Yentl, he said: “I wish I could tell you how to fix your picture, but I can’t. It’s the best film I’ve seen since Citizen Kane”.

One can be tired of Rome after three weeks and feel one has exhausted it; after three months one feels that one has not even scratched the surface of Rome; and after six months one wishes never to leave it.

I found myself in a maze where I’d taken the wrong turn. In my wish to do well for that congregation I wasn’t doing particularly well for myself or my friends or my family, and I even found that the work for God was taking me away from God.

Do you wish to see clearly and be free?