It is a cliche that most cliches are true, but then like most cliches, that cliche is untrue.

I went to Cambridge and thought I would stay there. I thought I would quietly grow tweed in a corner somewhere and become a Don or something.

My general view is that best actor best suited to role should get the job. Obviously when it comes to colour and issues of ethnicity the choice is clear. But I do not believe you have to be transgender or have undergone sex reassignment surgery to be able play a character who has.Acting is acting after all.

If you have been, I'm glad you've stopped.

All we have to do is listen. The Good Lord gave us two ears and only one mouth, my dear white-headed mother used to say.

No adolescent ever wants to be understood, which is why they complain about being misunderstood all the time.

I've always believed that everything that is said from authority is either the authority of one's own heart, one's own brain, one's own reading, one's own trust, but not the authority of someone who claims it because they're speaking for God and they know the truth because it's written in a book. That, essentially, is where I come from. In a sense, tolerance is my religion. Reason is my religion.