It must be odd, being recognisable. I would hate to lose that anonymity. It happened for a while with 'Spooks.' No one notices me now.

There's always a concern as an actor that you'll be boring unless your character is swinging from a chandelier.

As much as I long for a sort of security and consistency sometimes, I do enjoy sort of being busted around. I really don't know what's happening sometimes next week, let alone this year.

I love TV and I love making films and I love doing plays. I feel very lucky to be able to do all three.

I think people ought to do what they feel useful at the time. If I do things because I ought to do them, I switch off.

I wouldn't want to leave it so long before doing a play again, I get very stolid and sluggish if I do too much telly.

I don't feel like a romantic lead; I guess I feel more like a character actor.

The actor in me would always like to be more dashing, or slimmer, or have nicer hair.

Apart from earning an awful lot of money, why would you go to Hollywood?

You never know how films are going to do and it is daunting if I think about it.

I was quite a shy child. I would get terribly nervous and throw up before my birthday party. And then I would be fine. I feel the same now. I get nervous, then it's fine.

​Oh God, it is amazing that men can talk so much about man's creaturely power and goodness, when, if thou didst not hold us back every moment, we should be devils incar​​nate.

I have never seen battles quite as terrifyingly beautiful as the ones I fight when my mind splinters and races, to swallow me into my own madness, again.

What is the point of having free will if one cannot occasionally spit in the eye of destiny?

I have been received more warmly by Everton than I have by Liverpool. It is scandalous that I should have to write these things about the club that I helped build into what it is today.

Our work for peace must begin within the private world of each of us. To build for man a world without fear, we must be without fear. To build a world of justice, we must be just.

The talent of historians lies in their creating a true ensemble out of facts which are but half true.

Rather than strive to 'lose weight,' most people would be better off striving to lose only fat and to build or maintain muscle.

The world is a nest of crows; some caw in praise; some caw in derision. But men should be above the reach of praise and blame.

Things are always worse in the steady watches of the night.

A lie may fool someone else, but it tells you the truth: you're weak.