Basically, when I hear the words 'family drama' I run in the opposite direction.

I was born William. My father was William. I came from a big family, I hated being called Billy. Willem's a nickname; it's a Dutch name, very common in the Netherlands.

The worst thing is to get involved with people who aren't passionate about what they're doing.

The English Patient' is about the coming together of a French-Canadian nurse, an English patient, a Sikh in a turban and me, Caravaggio, and each of us is seeking a resolution to our own problems.

Great theatre is about challenging how we think and encouraging us to fantasize about a world we aspire to.

I never act. I simply bring out the real animal that's in me.

Sometimes I think women are lucky because they can develop in ways men can't. The old-boy network may be oppressive to women, but it actually stunts men in terms of personal growth.

The mask can be a limitation, but you just deal with it. You do get superhuman strength and pumpkin bombs and all this other stuff to express yourself with.'

You have to lose yourself to find yourself.

Action breeds inspiration more than inspiration breeds action.

I guess they often cast me as the bad guy, because I'm not, er, conventional looking. I look sort of violent. I'm the odd one out, the outsider.

The hard part about writing a novel is finishing it.

Imagination is the greatest solitude

Crime is naught but misdirected energy.

Stop. Talking."Her whisper was muffled against his lips, and his answering chuckle was muffled by hers."What would you have me do instead?""For starters? Put your mouth to better use.

College isn't half as much fun as they told us it was going to be.""It's not one-hundredth as much fun.

It makes no sense to invest in [fossil fuel] companies that undermine our future

Prayer TV looks like pay TV to me.

I always prefer to work intensively on something and then move on to something else. I prefer not to get stuck in something that takes five or six years of my life.

I think that you have to do everything you can do to empower girls when they are young, from their education, to their successful independence, to their sexual self-knowledge.

The key to life when it gets tough is to keep moving. Just keep moving.