Phrases

1. Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath.

2. The best research for playing a drunk is being a British actor for 20 years.

3. I think the most important thing is to be in a good mood and enjoy life, wherever you are.

4. You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off.

5. I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.

6. I’ll always be there because I’m a skilled professional actor. Whether or not I’ve any talent is beside the point.

7. Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.

8. The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family.

9. Save your money. You’re going to need twice as much money in your old age as you think.

10. I started with the firm conviction that when I came to the end of my life I wanted to feel I had done more than just made movies and earned money.

11. In England, I’m a horror movie director. In Germany, I’m a filmmaker. In the US, I’m a bum.

12. My career has been like a fairy tale.

13. There are only two things you can do when someone says you’re not good enough: you can prove them wrong, or you can believe them.

14. I’ve made an awful lot of films. Inevitably, some of them haven’t turned out as I’d hoped, but I don’t ever regret having done them.

15. I’d rather get a good script and do it properly than rush something out.

16. Your worst enemy is your ego.

17. I don’t want to be a star, I want to be a character actor.

18. If you think you’re going to be up there forever, that’s when you’re in trouble.

19. You’ve got to be lucky to have a long career as an actor, but I’ve also worked very hard. And I’ve taken a lot of risks.

20. Use the difficulty. When something is difficult, it’s an opportunity to bring out the best in you.

21. If you’re a movie actor, you’re on your own – you cannot control the stage. The director controls it.

22. Comedy is underrepresented in every actor’s life, because it’s so bloody difficult to write.

23. I’ve always been very ambitious and done whatever I needed to do to get where I wanted to be.

24. Never be afraid to laugh at yourself. After all, you could be missing out on the joke of the century.

25. I made a monumental mistake by not understanding the importance of education.

26. The great thing about getting older is that you get a chance to tell the people in your life who matter what they mean to you.

27. I’ve always believed that if you don’t stay moving, they will throw dirt on you.

28. Talent is God-given; be humble. Fame is man-given; be grateful. Conceit is self-given; be careful.

29. I think it’s very important that whatever you’re trying to make or sell, or teach, has to be basically fun. And it has to be adaptable to kids’ interests.

30. Growing old is unavoidable, but never growing up is possible. I believe you’re only as old as you feel.

31. I don’t get angry. It’s a waste of energy. You can get much more done with diplomacy and tact.

32. You can only perceive real beauty in a person as they get older.

33. I’m a sort of boy next door. If that boy has a good scriptwriter.

34. I’ve been very lucky in my life. But the luckiest thing that ever happened to me was that I was born with a gift for music.

35. I’ve never lost my love of acting. I feel really privileged to do what I do.

36. It’s not the size of the role, it’s what you do with it.

37. The thing about being famous is, it’s weird. The only people who get how weird it is are other famous people.

38. I’m every bourgeois nightmare – a Cockney with intelligence and a million dollars.

39. I think life is all about having a laugh, and a lot of it is down to you – you decide to be happy.

40. I’ve always tried to avoid politics because most politicians that I know are quite dirty in terms of human dignity, ethics and morals.

41. I’m a sort of boy next door. If that boy has a very good interior decorator.

42. You have to be very careful with what you say on screen because film is forever.

43. I’ve made a lot of mistakes and I don’t regret any of them. Sometimes that’s the only way you learn.

44. I think the most important thing a woman can have – next to talent, of course – is her hairdresser.

45. Success is not just about making money. Money is a byproduct of success; success is about fulfilling your passions and dreams.

46. I am a man who believes that tomorrow is another day, and I believe in miracles.

47. My most useful acting tip came from my pal John Wayne. Talk low, talk slow, and don’t say too much.

48. Movies are like an expensive form of therapy for me.

49. You’re not a star until they can spell your name in Karachi.

50. I refuse to be a doormat to any man. I will never allow anyone to push me around. I am my own man.

51. The secret to a happy marriage is separate bathrooms.

52. I’m a frustrated musician. In another life, I would have loved to be a professional musician.

53. I’ve never been out with a married woman, never. I respect other men’s property.

54. I started with nothing and I still have most of it left.

55. My father said, “You must always be the leading man in your own life,” and I’ve tried to do that.

56. You don’t retire from movies, movies retire you.

57. When you reach the top, that’s when the climb begins.

58. I’m not a movie star, I’m an actor.

59. Doing a movie is like having a romance. You meet the person, and it’s marvelous for the first two weeks.

60. Remember, the next best thing to solving a problem is finding some humor in it.

61. If you want to do something really well, it’s got to be a passion, something you really love.

62. I’ve been in so many movies that when I see them I don’t really watch them.

63. It’s lovely to get paid for what you love to do.

64. The minute you’re not learning I believe you’re dead.

65. The first rule of business is: Do other men for they would do you.

66. I love acting. It’s so much more real than life.

67. I don’t worry about being a great actor. Acting is a tool that I have to express a life, not mine, but the character’s life.

68. I’m a working class person, working with class.

69. To be successful, you have to be lucky, or a little mad, or very talented. I’m a little mad.

70. I have no regrets because I’ve done everything I could to the best of my ability.

71. Preparation is everything. Noah did not start building the Ark when it was raining.

72. You can’t retire in this business, it retires you.

73. If you think and achieve as a team, the individual accolades will take care of themselves.

74. An actor should never be larger than the film he’s in.

75. A lot of my best parts I’ve been the second choice for, so you never get too egotistical about anything.

76. I’m a skilled professional actor. Whether or not I’ve any talent is beside the point.

77. When you’re a young man, Macbeth is a character part. When you’re older, it’s a straight part.

78. There are certain things that no one can ever take away from you no matter what. The way you walk, the way you talk, and the way you think.

79. Don’t just aspire to make a living, aspire to make a difference.

80. There’s no such thing as a natural star.

81. You’ve got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.

82. The cinema has no boundary; it is a ribbon of dream.

83. I’m a sort of boy next door. If that boy has a good scriptwriter and a great director.

84. Life is like a toilet roll. The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes.

85. There’s a lot of snobbery in acting because of the way I speak. I’m supposed to be either stupid or a villain.

86. You have to laugh, especially at yourself.

87. The best way to guarantee a loss is to quit.

88. I’ve always said, “You don’t retire until the phone stops ringing.”

89. I always tell young actors to take charge. It’s not that hard. Sign your own cheques, be responsible.

90. If you’re going to be a star, you’ve got to become an object of desire. You must be wanted by the men and envied by the women.

91. The secret of longevity is to keep breathing.

92. What a lot of people don’t understand about acting is that it’s a craft. You really have to learn the skills.

93. I always wanted to be an actor. It’s something I always secretly yearned for but never told anyone.

94. Acting on stage is like an explosion each night. And what comes in at you all the time as you are trying to .create something which is a tremendous act of organization and concentration.

95. The problem with doing nothing is not knowing when you’re finished.

96. I came from the poverty and was part of those circumstances.

97. Success comes in cans, failure in can’ts.

98. Every movie I make teaches me something. That’s why I keep making them.

99. The only alternative to playing real people is to play gods, and I don’t think I’m suitable for that.

100. It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up again