Chris and Toby are far too sane to be upset any more.

There's this wonderful first assistant and he'll be saying, 'Now Harry goes down among the dragons.' You have to hold yourself together. Because if you lose it for a second then you're sunk.

The performances you have in your head are always much better than the performances on stage.

I like the ephemeral thing about theatre, every performance is like a ghost - it's there and then it's gone.

People say it gets better but it doesn't. It just gets different, that's all.

Chris and Toby are far too sane to be upset any more.

I said 'It can't go on' and he said 'No, it can't.' Honestly, I don't think I could have mattered less to him by then. But by then, nothing mattered to him.

It's true I don't tolerate fools but then they don't tolerate me, so I am spiky. Maybe that's why I'm quite good at playing spiky elderly ladies.

An actor is somebody who communicates someone else's words and emotions to an audience. It's not me. It's what writers want me to be.

I believe that I am past my prime. I had reckoned on my prime lasting till I was at least fifty.

I do love comedy, and when it's a comedy moment and you can make people laugh, of course it is wonderful.

I fear that I won't work in the theatre again. I'm sad about that. But I won't retire.

I had been feeling a little rum. I didn't think it was anything serious because years ago I felt a lump and it was benign. I assumed this would be too. It kind of takes the wind out of your sails, and I don't know what the future holds, if anything.

I have many good friends, but I tend to keep to myself anyway. It's odd, doing things and having no one to share them with.

I tend to head for what's amusing because a lot of things aren't happy. But usually you can find a funny side to practically anything.

I wanted to be a serious actress, but of course that didn't really happen.

I've been playing old parts forever. I play 93 quite often. When you've done it more than once, you take the hint. I think it's a great burden if you're one of those fantastic stars who've always been beautiful; then I think it's hard.

If you're lucky, I think you know what you want to do with your life. I think that's a greater gift that any of the gifts you might have when you do know, if you know what I mean. It must be awful to not know what to do.

Listen, I must be 110 by now. Granny is going to kick the bucket at some point.

My career is chequered. Then I think I got pigeon-holed in humour; Shakespeare is not my thing.

Old people are scary. And I have to face it. I am old and I am scary.

Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes.

The chemotherapy was very peculiar, something that makes you feel much worse than the cancer itself, a very nasty thing. I used to go to treatment on my own, and nearly everybody else was with somebody. I wouldn't have liked that. Why would you want to make anybody sit in those places?

The thing is, often press people ask questions that are so personal that even your nearest and dearest wouldn't ask them.

There is a kind of invisible thread between the actor and the audience, and when it's there it's stunning, and there is nothing to match that.

There's a difference between solitude and loneliness.

When I started acting almost 50 years ago, it wasn't about fame. It was about acting.

When you get into the granny era, you're lucky to get anything.

There's nothing simpler than avoiding people you don't like. Avoiding one's friends, that's the real test.

Let that which stood in front go behind, let that which was behind advance to the front, let bigots, fools, unclean persons, offer new propositions, let the old propositions be postponed.

Everything's completely different, and it's been hard. Fortunately, I have a lot of wonderful people around me, and I think I'm handling things pretty well.

Rock stars are good at making noise.

When your dreams include service to others - accomplishing something that contributes to others - it also accelerates the accomplishment of that goal. People want to be part of something that contributes and makes a difference.

At no time is freedom of speech more precious than when a man hits his thumb with a hammer.

What studies say the number one best way to start an exercise habit is to give yourself a reward that you genuinely enjoy.

One of the aims of sexual union is procreation - the creation by reproduction of an image of itself, of the union.

The days I see a Make-A-Wish kid are the best days of the week. It's a real privilege. I give them exactly what they give me - hope.

I'd love to do a Columbo-type detective character in a series.

All of my records have been very personal, just writing more and more songs, you get better at being able to say what you feel.

When people know they are created with a purpose, and not here by accident, it is life-changing.

For too long we have swept the problems of mental illness under the carpet... and hoped that they would go away.

People want to express themselves - that's what fashion is for. You can go to Target and get something that Rodarte designed for $34, but would you want to go buy the higher version for $3,400? I think most people would say no.

I usually hang around the room listening to a bit of last night's show. If there's one available, I go to the steam room every day for my voice. I spend half an hour there and then I eat, because I can't eat later than four o'clock. Then I go for a soundcheck. That's my day.

Doing 'EastEnders' wasn't exactly suffering, but my soul's not in quick-fix TV. Theatre doesn't pay like TV work pays, though. We all have to live, don't we?

Well, the medium of film is so different than a book that just by bringing it into visual storytelling is to change it up. I think in a book, in any book, you can have a reactive character. Some of the great novels of all time have had that, but in a film you can't do that.

Only trust thyself, and another shall not betray thee.

I travel often, so my routine is always getting scrambled. But on a standard sort of day, I get up at 6, pack lunches, hustle the kids off to school, then brew a pot of coffee and head downstairs to the dungeon, as I call it: my cobwebby office in the basement.

One of the cries from the people was, don't forget us. They have a long road ahead of them. Operation Blessing has found those little fishing towns. They will not be getting what other towns are getting from the government.

I look back on my 20s. It's supposed to be the prime of your life, the most vital, the most beautiful. But you're making your critical decisions and sometimes your most critical mistakes.