I'm 64 years old, and I've been acting now for 42 years. Only recently have I thought to myself, 'Hmmm, it may be interesting to start directing.'

I'm never bored, never ever bored. If I've got a day off I'll sit in a cafe and watch and observe. I'm a great observer.

A successful swindler has to be a great salesman even more than a great actor.

When I was 16, I made some little 35mm documentaries about the poor in London. I went round Notting Hill, which was a real slum in the 1950s, shooting film.

Deep inside, I am desperate to do comedy.

I don't really want people to see me. I'm not into stardom.

I love music, especially classical like Verdi; it's a great way to relax.

I am very traditional as a man. I am not modern and never have been. I think I was born 50 years of age and out of my time.

Although I'm a very emotional man, I just can't have blind faith, I have to find out for myself.

I was a typical teen growing up in the 1960s, when everybody was into gurus and meditation.

I became fascinated by the fact that people write to give away rather than write to be read. It's the difference between playwrights and novelists.

No one plows the field just by thinking about it.

Prayer wasn't a familiar practice in my life. --Titus Ray, Chapter 2

Not knowing stuff - like how your story ends before you start writing - is the seed of a lot of writer’s block.

You may have the universe if I may have Italy.

A modern school where football is taught.

No amount of thought can ever reveal what comes unexpectedly.

When all else fails, take a vacation.

I think when I was younger I was not very good at writing love songs that didn't have a twist.

Once a man would spend a week patiently waiting if he missed a stage coach, but now he rages if he misses the first section of a revolving door.

There is no way that I could have survived if I had not changed my style of play.