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

Acting is not a competition; everything must be done for the good of the film or else everybody loses.

I don’t see myself as anything. I just wander around getting on with my life.

First of all, I choose the great roles, and if none of these come, I choose the mediocre ones, and if they don’t come, I choose the ones that pay the rent.

Be patient.Of course it will come. It took me years to get an Oscar.

Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath.

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.

I prefer to remake flops. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was a remake of a flop, and The Quiet American is a remake of a flop.

I never look back at all. All of my sentiment and emotion goes into my family. I’m an extremely family oriented person and I have a very, very happy family life. That doesn’t just include blood relations. I have friends who are close to me.

I think life has got to develop as you get older, and I don’t want to be wandering along doing the same old thing. I want more out of life.

I am a great admirer of other actors, but I never compete with other actors. I always compete with what I did last, and I’m my own most vicious critic. So I’m always trying to do it better.

It’s a lesson in life – don’t look back, you’ll trip over.

My father was a fish market porter. So I grew up on fish, because he used to steal one a day, I grew up on the very best fish that money could buy, ’cause he only stole the good stuff.

I felt a tremendous sadness for men who can’t deal with a woman of their own age.

It’s much harder to act in a bad film than in a good one. A terrible script makes for very difficult acting. You can win an Academy Award for some of the easiest acting in your career, made possible by a brilliant script.

Use the difficulties – if you can’t avoid them

I read books like mad, but I am careful to to let anything I read influence me.

The only reason I got into stand-up was because my brother told me to. I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. I was 17 and my brother went to a comedy club and he said – you can do that.

I enjoy doing all different types of movies even though I am the most comfortable with comedy.

I do feel good doing them [family-friendly movies], but it’s not going to be my way of life. I’m a comedian.

I grew up in a house that liked to be funny. Everybody liked to be funny. My family’s been…we’ve been enjoying each other’s comedy for years.

Life is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel. Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy.

I love comedy. I’m not known for comedy, but I love it. I’ve done a lot of it, in my lifetime. But most people are surprised to hear that I made a funny movie.

I’m a huge romantic comedy fan and have been in this business for 17 years and I think for all 17 I’d hoped and dreamed and wished to some day be in a romantic comedy myself.

If you’re going to make a comedy and if your sole interest is in making people laugh and feel good and entertaining them, then you check your ego at the door.