Explore Quotes by Kenneth Branagh

Probably 90 percent of the stuff I make has inevitably been done before... Whether it's playing Hamlet, which has been on the go for 400 years, or pieces from the cinematic world that also have been essayed before, I feel released by that.

'The Painkiller' is a remarkable play.

The idea of accumulating ambitions or achievements didn't get much further than wanting to do the next exciting thing. I really haven't set out with any list of achievements.

I'm by no means an opera buff.

I only got 'War and Peace' on the third attempt.

The BAFTA is both absolutely fantastic and sort of meaningless at the same time.

I choose to be inspired by things that have been done well in the past. So, I don't worry about being compared, because I think that does paralyze you.

There are some amazing stories from all over this country, where people's work and contribution has been acknowledged. To be part of that is an absolutely fantastic feeling.

Variety is very, very good. Going from medium to medium, if you get the chance to do it, from theater to television to film, which are all distinctly different, keeps me sharp. What works in one doesn't work in the other, and you have to be looking for the truth of the performance, whatever way that medium might demand.

I do think that, for instance, we've been very lucky to have theatrical careers and be associated with Shakespeare which sometimes gives you a kind of bogus kudos.

If it's good art, it's good.

I don't know that there is too far, actually. I think there's only too bad. If it's bad you've gone too far.

Being Irish, I always had this love of words.

The elasticity of Shakespeare is extraordinary.

I read the final Wallander novel, 'The Troubled Man,' not long after it was published.

The best actors, I think, have a childlike quality. They have a sort of an ability to lose themselves. There's still some silliness.

I've always loved pure, silly slapstick comedy. It always makes me laugh.

I did 'Celebrity' by Woody Allen. I did 'The Gingerbread Man' with Robert Altman. These were big talents.

I remember the first book I bought, when I was about 11... Dad said, 'What have you got that for? What are libraries for?'

My parents are the reason I wanted to make Shakespeare available to ordinary people.

I have a pathetic urge at some stage in my life to be able to pull out my wallet and pull out a little card on which it would say, 'Kenneth Branagh, artistic director.'