“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 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.

People say to me, why did you do those films, and I say, for money. It wasn’t for diamond rings or kidney shaped swimming pools in Beverly Hills, it was in order to improve the lot of everyone around me.

You can’t get blase about something you haven’t done yet.

When it comes to politics, I believe you have to cut the cake so that everybody gets a piece, but at the same time, you have to keep in mind that somebody has to make the cake.

English is clipped in speech. Texas is exactly the opposite.

This is your life, Larry. Learn to enjoy what you’ve got.

You don’t sacrifice your individuality; you sacrifice a lot of freedom.

Theater acting is an operation with a scalpel, movie acting is an operation with a laser.

The difference between a movie star and a movie actor is this – a movie star will say, ‘How can I change the script to suit me?’ and a movie actor will say. ‘How can I change me to suit the script?’

I’m not in the Lifetime Achievement area yet-I’m still battling it out in the trenches.

My most useful acting tip came from my pal John Wayne. Talk low, talk slow, and don’t say too much.

There’s only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people’s cultures and the Dutch.

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.

I had my first kiss when I was 11, but I think I’ve blocked it out of my mind because it was so bad. I’m not even sure it counts as a kiss.

A performer learns with experience and with age. I did not know the future when I left home and started out to begin my career: I started qawaali; then I met Peter Gabriel and was exposed to a lot of new ideas.

I got a toy keyboard when I was around like five or six.

I wrestled with anger from the age of sixteen. It’s still one of my nemeses. I have to remember that the word of God says, ‘Be slow to anger.’

One of the regrettable things in my life is that my dad was not around to see my stardom, to see me wrestle or to see what I achieved by the dream I had at an early age, influenced by where he would like to go.

I’m sad for adults who want to be children. And children who want to be adults.