I think there should be laughs in everything. Sometimes, it's a slammed door, a pie in the face or just a recognition of our frailties..

We're dead as a species if we don't tell stories, because then we don't know who we are..

There's a voice inside you that tells you what you should do..

It would be wonderful to think that the future is unknown and sort of surprising..

All I want to see from an actor is the intensity and accuracy of their listening..

I've never been able to plan my life. I just lurch from indecision to indecision..

Any actor who judges his character is a fool - for every role you play you've got to absorb that character's motives and justifications..

Do you know that moment when you paint a landscape as a child and, when you're maybe under seven or something, the sky is just a blue stripe across t….

If only life could be a little more tender and art a little more robust..

I mean, language fascinates me anyway, and different words have different energies and you can change the whole drive of a sentence..

Three children have become adults since a phone call with Jo Rowling, containing one small clue, persuaded me that there was more to Snape than an un….

If you could build a house on a trampoline, that would suit me fine..

I suppose with any good writing and interesting characters, you can have that awfully overused word [...] - a jouuuuuurney..

And it's a human need to be told stories. The more we're governed by idiots and have no control over our destinies, the more we need to tell stories ….

I do take my work seriously and the way to do that is not to take yourself too seriously..

I'm a lot less serious than people think, it's probably because the way my face is put together..

I don't play villains, I play very interesting people.

Talent is an accident of genes - and a responsibility..

I like it when stories are left open..

Acting is mostly about listening. If you just focus in on what the other person is saying, acting takes care of itself to quite a large extent..

Give me a window and I'll stare out it..