Judi Dench

I don't think anybody can be told how to act. I think you can give advice. But you have to find your own way through it.

I'd rather do a part because I want to, not because great things are expected of me.

I'm always fearful. … Fear generates in you a huge energy. You can use it. When I feel that mounting fear, I think, 'Oh, yes, there it is!' It's like petrol.

It is true that there are few plays of Shakespeare that I haven't done.

Since Michael died I think I've worked constantly. Friends and colleagues are very sustaining. They're the people who get you through it... It's no good to be on your own.

Most things don't work out as expected, but what happens instead often turns out to be the good stuff.

I've figured out what to do so far, but it's always the next thing you come to where the man with the bucket of ice cold water is waiting - whoosh! in your face. That's why you work with directors who know what to tell you to do.

Some things you know about, you know what the ingredients are - maybe not all of them. But it's up to you to put in the amount. It's up to the director to nag you until you get it right.

I couldn't be a one-woman show, since I wouldn't have anybody to bounce off from. Once you're out there, dribbling on, you have nobody to interrupt you. I love being part of a company, and telling a story.

Never fall out of love with life

Seriously, though, I think I never ceased to be grateful of the fact that I am able to do a job that I really love - I never got over that.