I actually wanted to be a writer long before I wanted to be an actor.

To enter a theatre for a performance is to be inducted into a magical space, to be ushered into the sacred arena of the imagination.

The elderly are all someone's flesh and blood and we cannot just shut them in a cupboard and hand over the responsibility for taking care of them to the state.

To live another person's life is quite a weird thing.

When the BBC decided to bring Doctor Who back as a feature film a few years ago, one national newspaper ran a poll to ask its readers who should be the new Doctor, and I topped it.

Childhood didn't have a big influence on me, really - in fact I spent most of it plotting how to escape.

I've come to this conclusion: What makes a great actor is great need. A huge need of acting.

My mother wanted me to be a teacher. She had this vision of me walking across the quadrangle in an Oxford college wearing my academic gown.

I am never bored, never short of anything to do and I don't even ever feel lonely. I am quite gregarious and I get out and about a lot, but sometimes it is just wonderful to be on your own.

Having caught a glimpse of what I might be able to do with my talent, I feel a tremendous obligation to try to fulfill it.

Everything that we have gone through, are going through, and will go through is there in Shakespeare. It is all of human life.

The deeds and motive of man define his personality.

Fornication is a snare that a person sets for himself.

All movies in China are censored. Out of 600 movies produced in China, only 60 are allowed to show in theatres.

Why is the 'average man' so far below average?

Ever since I was a little child, I refused to see movies of books that I loved. Because you already know what Heidi looks like and she doesn't look like Shirley Temple.

If she is afraid of mirrors she is afraid of herself.

While it is tempting to play it safe, the more we're willing to risk, the more alive we are. In the end, what we regret most are the chances we never took.

Only a fool is never afraid, Frank. Heroes are the people who carry on despite their fear, because they know the job’s got to get done

A parade is the worst form of transportation known to man.

I begin to find an idle and fond bondage in the oppression of aged tyranny, who sways, not as it hath power, but as it is suffered.