There are two main jobs in acting - the first one is to be a good actor, and the second one is to convince everyone that you're a good actor.

I'm a very good packer, but I probably take too much in the way of toiletries. You only really need a toothbrush, as most places you go to have a bar of soap and some shampoo.

I could do Daniel Day-Lewis's job as well as him.

Acting can be a great job, but you do have to make up things to do when you're not working.

There is a guilty pleasure in being rude and knowing that it's acting rather than you. But you get the same release as if you were being rude in life.

You're an actor - people judge you and criticize you, and praise you and say you're great in equal measure.

It suits me to be in a series that takes ages to film.

I write and play music. I'd like to be a musician at some point.

I once blurted out that I found it impossible to bond with my son Winston because I was too tired. I mean how bloody awful does that sound? What a tosser!

I'm useless scrabbling around at home. I get on everyone's nerves, including my own. I'm not very good at amusing myself.

I'll say my dad couldn't act to save his life and nor can my uncle and they'll say I'm the worst actor in the world.

Answer me immediately or I'll start cutting away everything that's pretty on you...and then put it back.

He doesn't have anything like wisdom of age or hindsight. He's a biased historian of self, an emotional revisionist. We all are, for the most part.

Anyone who supports terrorism, anyone who sees terrorism as a legitimate means, anyone who uses terrorism to cause the death of innocent people is a terrorist in my eyes.

He nodded and curled over his paper, writing quickly. As his words took form on the white page, she got to watch him...and realized she never wanted him to go. She wanted him here beside her forever.

When an older writer tries to tell a younger writer through a review what kind of career she should be pursuing, it tends to speak to the reviewer's anxieties rather than the book itself.

All art comes from other art, and all immigrants come from other places.

I tend to spiral out of control if I'm not working. I get panicked and don't know what to do with myself.

My life is just a series of embarrassing incidents strung together by telling people about those embarrassing incidents.

I've never written about my husband, Steve, or any of my children because I know them all too well. I see them in all their complexities which makes them impossible to render on the printed page.

It doesn't cost anything to say hi when you pass someone else in the hallway, whereas, most corporations if you pass you avoid eye contact.