I think if my eight-year-old self could see me at the Royal Albert Hall winning a prize for playing the Doctor on telly, he would need a stiff shot of Irn-Bru.

I still am a geek, I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I see no shame in having an unhealthy obsession with something.

Some people live more in 20 years than others do in 80. It's not the time that matters, it's the person.

I'm a good person, I hope. But I'm never as good as I want to be, never as nice as I want to be, never as generous as I want to be.

I've always been a geek and slightly awkward… slightly umm… I was never the cool kid at school.

If you speak in a different accent, you begin to move in a slightly different way. You think in a slightly different way. It's part of trying to find what makes a character.

To have someone who's got a strong individual voice that is allowed to be heard is quite increasingly rare. These people need to be cherished.

Moths are the ones that freak me out. It's something to do with the way that, if they get squashed, they turn to dust. There's something very wrong about that. It all feels a bit Gothic.

It's very hard to be objective about something you're in, especially when you set it up against things that you experienced as a child.

How galling to watch someone who looks like you, who basically is you, do all the shagging you didn't get to do.

I mean, you know, while I'm acting on stage I'm ranking quite high, but in a room with Barack Obama I'm probably into negative digits. I never feel very famous.

Always polish the dirt for a refreshing start and seek out to build new mental structures that can help you to become rejuvenated.

I believe we were created for ecstasy. And redeemed for it, at considerable cost. Certain vagrant moments are, moreover, clues to the narrative structure and texture of things.

Essentially, there's no scientific evidence whatsoever that could ever be presented to me that would wipe out my fundamental spiritual beliefs.

Taking photographs and writing is my way of saying I was here, I saw this, I felt this, I heard this.

Art should be something like a good armchair in which to rest from physical fatigue.

If your ancestors cut down all the trees, it’s not your fault, but you still don’t live in a forest.

Desiring is a part of dreaming.

We are to Plunder Hell to Populate Heaven for Calvary's sake

I once heard of a murderer who propped his two victims up against a chess board in sporting attitudes and was able to get as far as Seattle before his crime was discovered.

If we have Senators and Congressmen there that can't protect themselves against the evil temptations of lobbyists, we don't need to change our lobbies, we need to change our representatives.