I started my career without fans.

It's got to do with putting yourself in other people's shoes and seeing how far you can come to truly understand them. I like the empathy that comes from acting.

I like the idea of movies having a magic element. How many times have you seen an actor in a movie who you know only as the character? It's wonderful, isn't it?

Nuclear apocalypse - who do you need? Actors are probably not top of the list. What can I do for you? I can pretend to be somebody who can grow you some nice crops.

The only thing I would unequivocally say is that I have never had any interest in romantic comedy I just couldn't do it. I think I'd be terrible.

Certainly I have no attraction to misery. I don't intentionally go for dark.

My dad was the biggest influence on my life because he was never boring.

I don't have acknowledged preferences of characters.

All I've ever ended up with in terms of achievements is the movie, some really stupid anecdotes, a bunch of crosswords that I didn't finish and maybe some old bicycle that I found lying around on set.

I start from scratch with each movie; I wipe the slate and I certainly don't rely on some bag of acting tricks I've amassed over the years.

Planning a career, I always find that such a tricky thing, because I don't have much of a plan, really.

I think mostly it's the adventure that I will have in making the movie. That's what I look for.

And I not only inherited an aversion to the nine-to-five routine, but the sense from my parents that being bored and boring is the worst thing that you can be.

One of the places where we lived when I was growing up had this big wood out the back. And starting when I was about 8, I used to enjoy just walking alone through the wood late. Eleven p.m. Midnight. Later.

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”

“Smart people learn from everything and everyone, average people from their experiences, stupid people already have all the answers.”

“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.”

“The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world, is to be in reality what we would appear to be; and if we observe, we shall find, that all human virtues increase and strengthen themselves by the practice of them.”

“No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.”

“I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.”

“Silence is a profound melody, for those who can hear it above all the noise.”

“If you don’t get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don’t want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can’t hold on to it forever. Your mind is your predicament. It wants to be free of change. Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death. But change is law and no amount of pretending will alter that reality.”

“There are two kinds of disease of the soul, vice and ignorance.”

“Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.”

“The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less.”

“When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.”

“Having the fewest wants, I am nearest to the gods.”

“The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.”

“Falling down is not a failure. Failure comes when you stay where you have fallen.”

“Prefer knowledge to wealth, for the one is transitory, the other perpetual.”

“Get not your friends by bare compliments, but by giving them sensible tokens of your love.”

“Be nicer than necessary to everyone you meet. Everyone is fighting some kind of battle.” -Socrates

“All wars are fought for the acquisition of wealth.”

“Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat.”

“If you want to be a good saddler, saddle the worst horse; for if you can tame one, you can tame all.”

“One should never do wrong in return, nor mistreat any man, no matter how one has been mistreated by him.”

“Be the kind of person that you want people to think you are.”

“Understanding a question is half the answer.”

“The greatest way to live with honour in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”

“If all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be content to take their own and depart.”

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”

“Children nowadays are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannise their teachers.”

“The greatest blessing granted to mankind come by way of madness, which is a divine gift.”

“There is no possession more valuable than a good and faithful friend.” -Socrates

“The years wrinkle our skin, but lack of enthusiasm wrinkles our soul.”

“The highest realms of thought are impossible to reach without first attaining an understanding of compassion.”

“The easiest and noblest way is not to be crushing others, but to be improving yourselves.”

“When you want wisdom and insight as badly as you want to breathe, it is then you shall have it.”

“To move the world we must move ourselves.”

“Through your rags I see your vanity.”