As a teenager I was clinically depressed. Although I had lots of friends, I found those years very difficult.

There's nothing more exciting for an actor than a chance to lose, to be someone who has lost - especially if it's someone who starts off with a veneer of control. To be broken is wonderful.

I am very much a seat-of-the-pants actor. I will prepare when I have to. But I like being unprepared.

There's a perceived inverse relation between looks and talent. Look at Charlize Theron - she made herself ugly for 'Monster' and suddenly everyone said 'she's a genius.' It shouldn't be like that.

People do seem to think that I'm going to be some wicked witch, and then they're always surprised to find out I'm just a little clumsy nerd.

I don't think you should feel guilty about pleasure. Defeats the purpose.

I worked in Tesco's staff canteen because I fancied a boy on the tills. I served him his lunch in a hairnet and tan tights. Not just that, of course - I had a lovely white onesie.

I love being physical, but I am extreme either way. I can be superfit. And then I can be really lazy and ignore everything.

I do what I do; I cant control who thinks what.

I hate being looked at. Can't stand it. I know, I know - I picked the wrong career.

I'm sort of like a T. rex in the world of female actresses. Every time a job is finished, I look at my car and think, 'Could I live in it?

Hold a book in your hand and you're a pilgrim at the gates of a new city.

With profound love, kindness, and harmony trees are endlessly extending their blessings. That is why we are still living.

My family is my strength and my weakness.

Everyone hasn't got the power to free oneself and go away to another place or country... No one is capable of freeing oneself from society.

Cats, even when robust, have scant liking for the boisterous society of children, and are apt to exert their utmost ingenuity to escape it. Nor are they without adult sympathy in their prejudice.

All the miseries of mankind come from one thing, not knowing how to remain alone.

Out of the chill and the shadow, into the thrill and the shine. Out of the dearth and the famine, into the fulness divine.

Balance in life is the key, as Aristotle taught us. Nobody likes a naive Pollyanna, but neither do we like to be around people who are constantly complaining and finding fault.

One cannot lead a life that is truly excellent without feeling that one belongs to something greater and more permanent than oneself.