The part of [Oscar] Wilde was exceptionally important to me; the man, his achievements, his wisdom, but his downfall, his disgrace and the tragic and bitter end to it have always fascinated, appalled and attracted me since childhood. It was he who first in some measure vindicated my sexuality.

It's rather splendid to think of all those great men and women who appear to have presented symptoms that allow us to describe them as bipolar. Whether it's Hemingway, Van Gogh... Robert Schumann has been mentioned... Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath... some of them with rather grim ends.

Because, let's face it, I do not get offered the parts that Brad Pitt has just turned down.

You can never hope to recapture the first fine careless rapture as the poet put it, but it stays with you like a good acid trip.

As children everyone thinks their family is weird and they're upset by the weirdness of their own family.

Seriousness is no more a guarantee of truth, insight, authenticity or probity, than humour is a guarantee of superficiality and stupidity.

How can I tell you what I think until I've heard what I'm going to say?