Judi Dench Quotes

Most things don't work out as expected, but what happens instead often turns out to be the good stuff.

I don't think anybody can be told how to act. I think you can give advice. But you have to find your own way through it.

I think you should take your job seriously, but not yourself - that is the best combination.

My husband was actually very keen that I would become a Bond girl.

I just feel incredibly lucky to be employed when there are so many actors and actresses who are not employed. That's why, you know, I sometimes feel desperate, in case I'm not going to be cast again.

We get up in the morning. We do our best. Nothing else matters.

The only real failure is the failure to try.

The more I do, the more frightened I get. But that is essential. Otherwise why would I go on doing it?

There's nothing good about being my age.

I get sillier as I get older, so I don't know what wisdom means. I can only pass on something that I've been acquainted with and let whomever it is pick the bones out of it

Everything, every part that you approach has to be somehow rooted in yourself. You have to somehow root everything so that it's not just words coming out of you.

It is not good to cross the bridge before you get to it.

Never fall out of love with life

I like to push myself beyond the limit every now and again.

In the theatre you can change things ever so slightly; it's an organic thing. Whereas in film you only have that chance on the day, and you have no control over it at all.

Don't think I am going to let Bob Hoskins take all his clothes off and me not take a look? I just had a quick look up and down, like you would.

I was in Yorkshire. We were a family of five and I used to be sent sometimes to get the rations for the week and was easily able to carry them back. It was like one egg and a tiny bit of tea.

The need for a global structure of control in the form of a world environment court is now more urgent than ever before.

The theater is the thing I love doing most.

It takes courage to recognize the real as opposed to the convenient.

I'm always fearful. … Fear generates in you a huge energy. You can use it. When I feel that mounting fear, I think, 'Oh, yes, there it is!' It's like petrol.

Anything that we can do to improve the lives of elderly people is welcome so far as I am concerned.

There is no past that we can bring back by longing for it.

There are very few things that surprise me.

I've always loved painting, although I never show anyone what I've done. Mainly because I don't do it well. But it's like a form of visual diary for me. A way of fixing things in my mind.

I need to learn every day.

People seem to have this idea that I've always been very ambitious. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Some things you know about, you know what the ingredients are - maybe not all of them. But it's up to you to put in the amount. It's up to the director to nag you until you get it right.

I felt quite a responsibility when I played Elizabeth I but nobody here remembers her! And then I felt a responsibility when I played Queen Victoria but not many people remember her.

I have a completely new knee. It's brilliant. I am not feeling my age at all. I feel about 43, a willowy blonde 43 years old with long legs.

I have no control over a film. I don't know what will be left on the cutting floor.

I'd rather do a part because I want to, not because great things are expected of me.

And then it was working with Bob Hoskins, who I had never worked with before - except radio. It was like being given a wonderful meal - full of the things you love most.

I would hate people to think bossy is all I can do.

Every experience that you experience yourself you use, because that's our craft.

I trained as a designer, so I'm always terribly keen about what I'm going to look like.

I can't read scripts any more because of the trouble with my eyes.

Actually, what I miss are people corpsing on stage.

People think you know beforehand when you win an Oscar - I can assure you you don't.

Seriously, though, I think I never ceased to be grateful of the fact that I am able to do a job that I really love - I never got over that.

I am so thrilled to be nominated for something I loved working on every single day.

The difficulty with any sort of esteem is that more is expected of you.

I don't really want to retire. I intend to go on working as long as I can because I still have a huge amount of energy.

It was good to learn so early. They're not going to be kind to you. You have to do it and get on, and then gulp down and get better.

I played Iris Murdoch, who had not long died, and I felt the responsibility very heavy on my shoulders.

Work certainly does help fill a void.

I don't like reading scripts very much. I like it better for someone to just explain to me what it is about this story.

I've got what my ma had, macular degeneration, which you get when you get old.

In contrast, the control you have in a theatre is very attractive to me.

Filming is completely - was totally new to me ... I had a movie career which wasn't supposed to be, so I couldn't be more thrilled. For those who work, parts seem to get more interesting.