I think I should be a nightclub singer. I love to sing!

People have preconceptions about women of a certain age.

Coming eyeball to eyeball with a hummingbird on my terrace is as exciting to me as any celebrity Ive met as a result of Downton Abbey.

I can do basics, but I'm not a proper cook. I can do a roast. I can stick a chicken in the oven with vegetables.

The first meal my husband ever made me was a chicken curry. I have never tasted anything so delicious in my life.

I get invited to a lot more glamorous parties since Ive been in Downton Abbey, which has made me much more fashion conscious.

I did an O-level in domestic science when I was at school, but on the day of the practical exam, it was a cookery nightmare.

Ive been to the White House and had Hilary Clinton push through the crowd to come and meet me. Chelsea Clinton, too.

I believe anything can happen.

I always admire people who have passion.

As an actor, you never know where the works going to come, so you have to be flexible about it.

Sadly, the words "reliable" and "accurate" can rarely be applied to the workings of the brain, particularly for memory.

my 6 foot goddessmakes me laughthe laughter of the mutilatedwho still needlove...she has saved mefrom everything that isnot here

I write four or five a books a year. That means that I usually have one on the go. I am fortunate in being able to write quickly - 1000 words an hour.

It is funny you know, you spend 12 years of your life learning about things and about life, but they never really tell you how hard life really is.

I always told my team two things: Never expect them to give you anything and always expect them to make the next shot.

A world state which which embraces the entire globe and all of humanity cannot exist. The political world is a pluriverse, not a universe.

Do not trust your memory; it is a net full of holes; the most beautiful prizes slip through it.

The way of the world is to make laws, but follow custom.

Others follow patterns; we alone are unpredictable.

I wanted to show that Martin Luther King was simply a human being, not a god, not a saint.