I'm not a walking extra in a Chekhov play; I'm no Slavic gloom or Irish gloom. I mark only the happy hours, like the sundial, because otherwise I would have gone nuts.

Crooks aren't the worst people, just the stupidest. The fleas of the world.

I don't take art as seriously as politics.

I have the terrible feeling that, because I am wearing a white beard and am sitting in the back of the theatre, you expect me to tell you the truth about something. These are the cheap seats, not Mount Sinai.

On my tombstone, I want written: 'He never did 'Love Boat!''

I must be sincere towards what I am. ... Experimenting is the only thing that fills me with enthusiasm. ... It is the only sphere where I feel really honest and sincere.

Husbands should revolt from time to time. Even the best circus-number becomes boring if the beast is too tame.