We ape, we mimic, we mock. We act.

If he was lost for a moment, he would dive straight back into its honey.

You must have - besides intuition and sensitivity - a cutting edge that allows you to reach what you need. Also, you have to know life - bastards included - and it takes a bit of one to know one, don't you think?

[May 1958, on playing Macbeth at age 30 and age 48] When you're a young man, Macbeth is a character part. When you're older, it's a straight part.

I often think that could we creep behind the actor's eyes, we would find an attic of forgotten toys and a copy of the Domesday Book.

If you're an artist, you've got to prove it.

Acting is illusion, as much illusion as magic is - and not so much a matter of being real.