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

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.

Anything that we can do to improve the lives of elderly people is welcome so far as I am concerned.

I think you can teach people a technique - you can teach them how to use their voices, how to breathe properly, how to move their limbs a certain way. But to actually explain how one performs comedy or drama or tragedy isn't the same as the movements one makes.

The only real failure is the failure to try.

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

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