Being in the same scenes as Maggie Smith and Shirley MacLaine is something I will never forget.

If Shakespeare was around today I would ask him out to dinner. The only thing I don't like about him is the way he did his hair.

I think some period drama can be quite alienating, but 'Downton' isn't. This is going to sound quite, um, pretentious, but someone said that it's like a soap written by a poet.

Cooking can cure almost anything.

I come from a very working-class background, so my family would have been downstairs in the past, as opposed to upstairs. People are often quite surprised to hear that, that I'm not actually posh.

I think the first time I realised Downton Abbey was a hit was when I was sitting in a tea shop in New York and the couple next to me were talking about Downton Abbey, and then they recognised me.

I had dance training from a very young age, 3 or 4... It taught me how to present myself, about preparation and working in an ensemble, and its something that carries with me to this day.

I don't get recognized all the time, but it tends to happen more in America, and people are so lovely when they do.

I love discovering tiny streets.

I don't mind wearing a corset; it informs your posture, changes the way you move, you can't slouch.

I love cycling, but if I could find a way of building something above the streets for cyclists, that would be amazing. We need even more space.

I always have a fear of loosing Love ones. Even if I don't want to see this happen, I will have to face the bitter truth sooner or later.

Love is the light that brightens every heart's darkness.

Universally, not only in Israel, people want to feel good about themselves. We all want to feel good to some extent.

My policy is I am always more than happy to say, "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings." What I am not willing to do is take back what I said. Unless I am wrong.

Busted is not the ideal band I'd like to be in by any stretch of the imagination.

South Carolina is in the spring a paradise, in the summer a hell, and in the autumn a hospital.

The discrepancy between equity earnings yields and Treasury yields is at an all time high

I dropped out of Oxford, and now I only speak Russian with the woman who gives me a bikini wax. See what Hollywood does to you?

I think there's just too much greed in the world today [and] that's why we have problems.

Rock music pays off. Rock music takes me on a joyride. Rock music keeps me off the hell city bus. Rock music will always look out for me. But I will not let my torture profanity demon shoot it down.