Look at Judi Dench, who's brilliant in whatever bloody job she does.

If you're at an award ceremony, you're against your mates.

Chaotic people often have chaotic lives, and I think they create that. But if you try and have an inner peace and a positive attitude, I think you attract that.

You can only do your best. That's all you can do. And if it isn't good enough, it isn't good enough.

I've always liked new writing.

Agents and producers have to get you into a box to accommodate their limited imaginations.

I worked in rep for six years, then I came to London and to the National Theatre. What's better than that

You could say I'm a character actress. Or maybe a character actress who does peculiar, interesting lead roles. Does that make sense?

I was brought up a Catholic, so I take no pleasure in guilt.

The one good thing is that I get a lot more good scripts coming through my letterbox. 'Vera Drake' raised my profile in one way, and then 'Harry Potter' in another.

Fortunately my career has never been about how I look, it's about how I can be.

Wikipedia is the first place I go when I'm looking for knowledge... or when I want to create some.

God can take you where you want to go.

Simplicity is the mean between ostentation and rusticity.

Examples would indeed be excellent things were not people so modest that none will set, and so vain that none will follow them.

I've gone through the village of my songwriting and my artistry, and I've gone through lots of different phases, including one where it has been very quiet and abandoned me for a few years.

One thing and only one thing a Masonic Lodge can give its members which they can get nowhere else in the world. That one thing is Masonry.

I made the decision long ago that to be afraid would be to diminish my life.

My favourite food at the moment is Pasta, “with tons of shaved Parmesan on the side. Not crumbly but like the hunks, you know what I meanwhen you get the thin slices.

If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.

Don't be cocky, 'Pride cometh before the fall