A lot of critics are lazy. They don't want to look closely and analyze something for what it is. They take a quick first impression and then rush to compare it to something they've seen before.

I was born William. My father was William. I came from a big family, I hated being called Billy. Willem's a nickname; it's a Dutch name, very common in the Netherlands.

The worst thing is to get involved with people who aren't passionate about what they're doing.

The English Patient' is about the coming together of a French-Canadian nurse, an English patient, a Sikh in a turban and me, Caravaggio, and each of us is seeking a resolution to our own problems.

Great theatre is about challenging how we think and encouraging us to fantasize about a world we aspire to.

I never act. I simply bring out the real animal that's in me.

Sometimes I think women are lucky because they can develop in ways men can't. The old-boy network may be oppressive to women, but it actually stunts men in terms of personal growth.

The mask can be a limitation, but you just deal with it. You do get superhuman strength and pumpkin bombs and all this other stuff to express yourself with.'

You have to lose yourself to find yourself.

Action breeds inspiration more than inspiration breeds action.

I guess they often cast me as the bad guy, because I'm not, er, conventional looking. I look sort of violent. I'm the odd one out, the outsider.

Only one who loves can remember so well.

We were a different kind of Christian, the quiet, reasonable kind, a breed embarrassed by the mention of miracles.

It is always possible to improve.

Maybe when we die, the first thing we'll say is 'I know this feeling. I was here before'.

So when you make an impression in a certain kind of role, that tends to be the type of role that you get offered.

Record labels today are much less patient: Artists have a bad record, and they're gone.

I just don't see ABC letting go of soaps completely.

This is life weve been given, made to be lived out, so... live out loud.

Perhaps I am not as wise as I like to think I am.

Only necessity understood, and bondage to the highest is identical with true freedom.