Benedict Cumberbatch Quotes

I remember very clearly someone saying, 'Don't shake hands with the cactus,' and I thought, 'Well, why not? What could possibly go wrong?' Shaking hands is a friendly gesture.

Pull the hair on my head the wrong way, and I would be on my knees begging for mercy. I have very sensitive follicles.

I'm a high-functioning sociopath, do your research.

Looking for happiness is a sure way to sadness, I think. You have to take each moment as it comes.

Enjoy the journey of life and not just the endgame. I'm also a great believer in treating others as you would like to be treated.

Being a posh actor in England you cannot escape the class-typing from whatever side you look at it.

The further you get away from yourself, the more challenging it is. Not to be in your comfort zone is great fun.

You come into this world as you leave it, on your own. It's made me want to live a life slightly less ordinary.

I keep myself amused and others confused

Cumberbatch - it sounds like a fart in a bath, doesn't it? What a fluffy old name. I can never say it on a Monday morning. When I became an actor, Mum wasn't keen on me keeping it.

If you have an over-preoccupation with perception and trying to please people's expectations, then you can go mad.

Mystique is rare now, isn't it? There aren't that many enigmas in this modern world.

People always want to knock you when you're up.

I can feel infinitely alive curled up on the sofa reading a book.

I think with any characterization there's a point where you empathize, no matter how much of a deviance his or her actions may be from your understanding of humanity.

I suppose my bodily proportions are quite flattering. I'm ripped, doing something I wouldn't normally do with my body, or having done to it, involving Watson.

One of the best things about being an actor is that it's a meritocracy.

Our daily lives are so mundane, we get taken over by what is immediately in front of us and we don't see beyond that.

Any irrational fears?no, i'm quite a rationalist. i'm not superstitious, i think life is too full of natural wonders and logical complexities to worry about illogical things.

I'm not very geeky. I'm quite homespun. I would say I'm more modern rustic than gadget-orientated. I like woollen things and log fires and whiskey

Mum did a lot of commercial theatre and farces in the 1980s and '90s to make sure the school bills were paid.

Metaphorically speaking, it's easy to bump into one another on the journey from A to B and not even notice. People should take time to notice, enjoy and help each other.

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.

We have a lot more unlikely heroes now. It’s not just the guy with guns—it’s the guy with brains.

Because reading is one of the joys of life, and once you begin, you can't stop, and you've got so many stories to look forward to.

If you can't fail, you can never get better.

I thought, well, why am I giving up on my primary dream to work doubly hard, to do something as an alternative to what it really still want to?

We all want to escape our circumstances, don't we? Especially if you are an actor.

One of the fears of having too much work is not having time to observe. And once you get recognised, there is nowhere for you to look any more. You can't sit on a night bus and watch it all happen.

I drive a motorbike, so there is the whiff of the grim reaper round every corner, especially in London.

That's something I have to work on: to separate what really matters, to conserve energy by not worrying about what other people think.

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

There are things that are a given, that you've already established, and obviously, visually, certain iconic things that can't be completely removed, like a certain hat or a certain coat in my case.

Sometimes being away, on location, I feel like I'm away for much of my own life. I want to be better at staying connected.

[ Stephen Strange] is less strange than other characters I've played. He's lost the power to love, which doesn't make him a nasty person. I just think he's closed-off.

Not that i had a big arse but even that was toned.

My mum and dad had worked incredibly hard to afford me an education.

I am a PR disaster because I talk too much.

I'm always playing characters with intellects profoundly superior to mine. That's great fun, even though it's as much a fantasy for me as for the people watching me.

All the backstories are there but not talked about.

I tend to have a cup of tea, try to stop worrying about what I did wrong, cool down and will the audience back in as soon as possible.

Enjoy the journey of life and not just the endgame.

You have to sometimes just run with the problem rather than trying to solve it with hi-tech wizardry and lots of planning.

Fame is a weird one. You need to distance yourself from it. People see a value in you that you don't see yourself.

I think I've had very knee-jerk emotional reactions to things, and sometimes I've said things without thinking. Being overly emotional clouded my judgment.

There's no shame in stealing - any actor who says he doesn't is lying. You steal from everything.

When you freefall for 7,000 feet it doesn't feel like you're falling: it feels like you're floating, a bit like scuba diving.

It's always important to have the blessing.

I have an appetite for the normal in my life, as well as the abnormal.

Every job is incredibly different, and I love it because you're picking up skill sets and experiences. It's the university of life.