The director's very important to me, particularly when the director has a recognizable style.

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.

We cannot change anything in our past

Not everything that's small is insignificant.

How much time is wasted in what is called thought, but is merely care--an anxious idling over the fancied probabilities of result

I do not stand on protocol. If you just call me Excellency it will be okay.

I founded a launch company called International Microspace when I graduated medical school in 1989. We were trying to build a microsatellite launcher.

My mind reels with sarcastic replies.

Always begin anew with the day, just as nature does. It is one of the sensible things that nature does.

From the self-confidence with which he spoke no one could tell whether what he said was very clever or very stupid.

Fire is the reuniting of matter with oxygen. If one bears that in mind, every blaze may be seen as a reunion, an occasion of chemical joy.

After I write, I have nothing to say. The commentary afterwards is superfluous. I write. And that's enough.