Ancient Rome was a violent place.

When you're dealing with killing people and things that are upsetting, that can be a delicate place to occupy yourself for a day.

We start off wearing frilly shirts and britches and being good guys and the heroes. And then as time goes on, every English actor ends up playing bad guys. That's what we do.

I think the James Bond thing has sailed. But of course I would want to be a Bond villain. They are great parts. I think it's highly unlikely, but one can always dream.

Somebody doing something effortlessly is a lovely thing to watch.

Im not a big fan of patterns. I like the unexpected.

One of the great things about being an actor is that you have a completely different challenge every few months.

Actors are their own worst enemies. They quite often will get in their own way, and I have to be encouraged, endlessly, not to get in my own way.

Ring tones are just irritating, aren't they?

I think the older I get, the less I should be doing.

I don't have much time for real violence at all. I think there are infinitely better ways of changing the world than using violence. Sitting round a table talking is a pretty good start.

The worst to ever happen to a person who aims at the sky is to fall on the tallest mountain

Fate is for the weak--those people who don't have enough power or will to shape life into what they need it to be.

When you're in the States and you're a writer and you've got money and you walk into a bank, you're a bum with money.

Whatever we have done in the past, be it good or evil, great or small, is irrelevant to our stance before God today. It is only NOW that we are in the presence of God.

I believe in dreams. People should have faith in the songs poets sing.

As the interned American citizens of Japanese descent learned, the Bill of Rights provided them with little protection when it was needed.

You must put the essence of what you want to say into a painting. The rest is arbitrary. Chosen with discernment, but chosen, and choice involves elimination.

This very moment I may, if I desire, become the friend of God.

A good friend is like a four-leaf clover; hard to find and lucky to have.

I don't love the word "quirky." I think it's a word that's a catchall. It's a word that doesn't stand in empathy with the person, it stands in judgment of them. It's a very externalized word.