When I was offered the part in Shakespeare In Love a voice in my head said 'not another tights role!

I've got a vendetta to destroy the Net, to make everyone go to the library. I love the organic thing of pen and paper, ink on canvas. I love going down to the library, the feel and smell of books.

Whether you're a believer or not, I think there's a huge value in understanding the quality of redemption.

From the age of about five to twelve I was very bad, a hideous little terror who beat people up. I was a member of a Rough Gang - we went around and terrorised all the pupils in school.

I love new writing, new blood, modern works by unknown writers.

I love life. I'm fascinated by human behavior because that feeds back into my work.

It takes years to establish yourself, and then you have one big film and everyone calls you an overnight success. You think, 'Christ, I've been sweating and crying for seven years.'.

I don't know what my limitations are until I reach them. I look for the challenge.

Youth is a predominant factor. We are seeing a young King Arthur, and thereby a young-ish - as I'm into my 40s - Merlin. It was about how to tackle it, from that point view.

I've always believed that you shouldn't want to mend a broken heart, because that's someone you don't want to forget. Scars can be good.

I think religion might throw up a kind of resistance, but I think if one talks about conditioning we can all kind of understand that.

The effects of loss are acute, and unique to each individual. Not everyone mourns in the same way, but everyone mourns.

One's silence can be deafening indeed, but it's also quite satisfying once in a while to actually hear one's thoughts just to reassure a presence.

Mark Twain put it best when he said, 'Reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated.

It was magic, I felt the bond between us. She was a jelly to my peanuts, Mars to Venus, The Earth to my sun, moon and stars, We added up mathematically... It's like I had a bad habit, B!

When one culture has the big guns and the other has none, there is a certain predictablity about the outcome.

Ironing is a great diversion from the reality you dont want to face.

Always remember: In the end, the surviver gets to tell the story.

There is no way that the heart-lung machine could have been devised and developed other than through studies on living creatures

A good bachelor drinks his dessert (and sometimes the rest of his meals). A sweet tooth is a danger signal that you're getting too much exercise and not enough cocktails.

We've heard from many teachers that they used episodes of Star Trek and concepts of Star Trek in their science classrooms in order to engage the students.