Judi Dench Quotes

I don't think that care homes are all rotten old places that ought to be shut down.

I think you should take your job seriously, but not yourself - that is the best combination.

I trained as a designer, so I'm always terribly keen about what I'm going to look like.

I feel with this film that as long as we tell Philomena's story and as long as we're true to her, which Jeff and Steve have already done by writing the story... we must not sell her short;. She's a most remarkable woman and all my concern was that we must be absolutely true to her story.

I need to learn every day.

The secret of my success is my mother, who was from Dublin. All my relations are in Dublin or in the west, or as I found out, we went to Rostrevor in Northern Ireland to film and I got out, while they changed cars around, and this man said to me: "You know you have cousins in this town? And they're coming down to see you..." And so they did. I'm sorry we didn't go to a lot more places, so that I could find a lot more cousins. So, that was good. It's entirely because my father was also brought up in Dublin. So, that's my link.

I once said to someone when I was playing Lady Macbeth and they said: "That's tricky, emotionally, what do you do about murdering your husband's cousin?" And there are, of course, things that aren't in your personal repertoire that you have to somehow understand by reading or watching other things and listening to other people talk about them.

In contrast, the control you have in a theatre is very attractive to me.

It takes courage to recognize the real as opposed to the convenient.

It was good to learn so early. They're not going to be kind to you. You have to do it and get on, and then gulp down and get better.

Never fall out of love with life

The Lord Chamberlin was censoring scripts when I first came into the theater.

It is true that there are few plays of Shakespeare that I haven't done.

I'm always fearful. … Fear generates in you a huge energy. You can use it. When I feel that mounting fear, I think, 'Oh, yes, there it is!' It's like petrol.

In the theatre you can change things ever so slightly; it's an organic thing. Whereas in film you only have that chance on the day, and you have no control over it at all.

I was in Yorkshire. We were a family of five and I used to be sent sometimes to get the rations for the week and was easily able to carry them back. It was like one egg and a tiny bit of tea.

The only real failure is the failure to try.

It is not good to cross the bridge before you get to it.

I have a completely new knee. It's brilliant. I am not feeling my age at all. I feel about 43, a willowy blonde 43 years old with long legs.

I felt quite a responsibility when I played Elizabeth I but nobody here remembers her! And then I felt a responsibility when I played Queen Victoria but not many people remember her.

There are very few things that surprise me.

I couldn't be a one-woman show, since I wouldn't have anybody to bounce off from. Once you're out there, dribbling on, you have nobody to interrupt you. I love being part of a company, and telling a story.

Children have become disengaged from nature and we need to reintroduce them to the pleasure that it brings. If we do that they will care for it. Through the simple act of planting a tree we can open their eyes to nature's beauty.

Seriously, though, I think I never ceased to be grateful of the fact that I am able to do a job that I really love - I never got over that.

I would hate people to think bossy is all I can do.

We know about the issue of children being sold and adopted and taken away but what is so extraordinary is how these two people come through something like - how both of them do, in actual fact. I think that she's one of the most considerable people I've ever met, Philomena.

I work out the other bits, too, but I need to know what I look like, very early on. And then it's like a template; I'll fill that person out. If I get that out of the way, then I'm all right.

I wanted to be a set designer when I was young.

The theater is the thing I love doing most.

I played Iris Murdoch, who had not long died, and I felt the responsibility very heavy on my shoulders.

Actually, what I miss are people corpsing on stage.

I started off as a theatre designer, and by some extraordinary circumstance I saw something in Stratford-upon-Avon, and realized that that's the kind of design I want, but also that that's the kind of designer I'll never be.

I just feel incredibly lucky to be employed when there are so many actors and actresses who are not employed. That's why, you know, I sometimes feel desperate, in case I'm not going to be cast again.

Most things don't work out as expected, but what happens instead often turns out to be the good stuff.

I don't really want to retire. I intend to go on working as long as I can because I still have a huge amount of energy.

This is just the loveliest news. I'm so happy for everybody involved, and so proud to have been part of the wonderful experience that Philomena has been.

We get up in the morning. We do our best. Nothing else matters.

The more I do, the more frightened I get. But that is essential. Otherwise why would I go on doing it?

I would like to work with Jack Nicholson, before it's too late.

Every experience that you experience yourself you use, because that's our craft.

There is no past that we can bring back by longing for it.

I've always loved painting, although I never show anyone what I've done. Mainly because I don't do it well. But it's like a form of visual diary for me. A way of fixing things in my mind.

The difficulty with any sort of esteem is that more is expected of you.

I like to push myself beyond the limit every now and again.

The need for a global structure of control in the form of a world environment court is now more urgent than ever before.

People think you know beforehand when you win an Oscar - I can assure you you don't.

People seem to have this idea that I've always been very ambitious. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Some things you know about, you know what the ingredients are - maybe not all of them. But it's up to you to put in the amount. It's up to the director to nag you until you get it right.