I set myself challenges every time I work. Ideally I approach everything as though it's the first time - with a beginner's mind and an amateur's love.

I was born William. My father was William. I came from a big family, I hated being called Billy. Willem's a nickname; it's a Dutch name, very common in the Netherlands.

The worst thing is to get involved with people who aren't passionate about what they're doing.

The English Patient' is about the coming together of a French-Canadian nurse, an English patient, a Sikh in a turban and me, Caravaggio, and each of us is seeking a resolution to our own problems.

Great theatre is about challenging how we think and encouraging us to fantasize about a world we aspire to.

I never act. I simply bring out the real animal that's in me.

Sometimes I think women are lucky because they can develop in ways men can't. The old-boy network may be oppressive to women, but it actually stunts men in terms of personal growth.

The mask can be a limitation, but you just deal with it. You do get superhuman strength and pumpkin bombs and all this other stuff to express yourself with.'

You have to lose yourself to find yourself.

Action breeds inspiration more than inspiration breeds action.

I guess they often cast me as the bad guy, because I'm not, er, conventional looking. I look sort of violent. I'm the odd one out, the outsider.

Love is beyond reason. Love is not measurable in words. Love cannot be partial it cannot have owners. Love is essentially beyond definition or concept.

Life is a stage: perform your masterpiece.

Fill the pages of your life with the exciting story of triumph and tragedy, failure and victory, desire and discovery.

No matter how much you hate or how much you suffer, you can't bring the dead back to life

Who needs drugs when you have Takeshi's Castle?

I like to get paid for doing basic research, so it's pleasant to write some nonfiction about it.

My friends tell me I have an intimacy problem. But they don't really know me.

It was sad and fierce all at once, alive with a lonely purity.

Communities and countries and ultimately the world are only as strong as the health of their women.