I perceive and relate to the world through where I grew up; that's part of me. It's what I judge everything else against.

Getting older is a struggle. I always feel that just under the surface of acceptance and enjoyment of the ageing process is a terrible hysteria just waiting to burst out.

I don't do the whole L.A. nightlife thing.

When you look at all the miracles attributed to Jesus, they're all about change.

Acting itself is quite scary. Some people say that actors are show-offs, very egotistical and all that kind of stuff, but it is quite scary.

I suppose I'm something of an eccentric dresser.

I'm not a Tony Blair impersonator.

No matter how difficult things are, and no matter how much grief and loss there is, you can turn it into something positive.

I love being able to play as many different characters, in as many different worlds as I possibly can. That's what I really enjoy.

I'm a huge fan of science fiction and fantasy - not so much horror because I get a bit scared.

I am prone to get carried away thinking about creative projects.

Thankfully, persistence is a great substitute for talent.

Not how the world is, but that it is, is the mystery.

Prayer is not our using of God

Sleep is an under-ocean dipped into each night.

In 1966, I bought my parents a carriage clock for their silver wedding anniversary. It was last wound 30 years later, in December 1996, the month my father died.

To live a life half dead, a living death.

No one is so brave that he is not disturbed by something unexpected.

I think I don't invest so much time in thinking about people's sexuality. I just take people as individuals.

Thirty years ago I was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, and given two and a half years to live. I have always wondered how they could be so precise about the half.

We will all laugh at gilded butterflies.