It would've been hard to do something else, to as it were, run away from the circus and become an accountant.

We'll be back. I promise you that.

I mean I think children love the idea that there are different viewpoints and different words for things and different worlds. And the more that they pretend to be other people, the harder it is for them to hate them and misunderstand them when they grow up.

It would've been hard to do something else, to as it were, run away from the circus and become an accountant.

At heart, this job is about continuing to make great theatre for the people of Sheffield - a city I've known and loved since childhood.

I'm not very good at relaxing. Reading's the main thing. On the bus, on the tube, on the loo. Literally all the time. I mean, I don't think there's a moment of the day when I wouldn't be if I was left alone.

I did start reading quite young but I was always read to by my parents, who are both actors. Bedtime stories from when I was about two/three to when I was about 15. In fact they didn't stop until I eventually kind of kicked them out of my bedroom.

I'm lucky enough to work with, I think, the greatest writer there's ever been, Shakespeare. Whose collected works would always be under my pillow if I was only ever allowed one book to keep, and who never bores me.

Books don't exist unless you read them. And it's a two way process - you write the book as you read it and you fill in the gaps. You discover it and you put the marks together and without you doing it they're just marks.

I absolutely love working with my dad because there is such an ease about it, and I also love his company.

I am a coward, basically, but one of the things about acting is that you are always putting yourself through yet another test.

I really do think the things that make our society what it is are under threat. It should be about everyone having the potential to be what they're going to be.

I usually play toffs and soldiers, with a sideline in mass murderers.

I'm rather proud of having been a trainspotter.

If you play a part that's been done before, on stage for instance, you feel like you're carrying a torch and staggering under the weight of it for a bit and then passing it on to somebody else.

Most actors are socialists, aren't they?

Most good art is left wing. It's a moot point whether there is any good right-wing art.

My one remaining professional ambition is to read the shipping forecast. I live in hope.

Of course 'Hamlet' is a debate about the nature and morality of revenge and whether it is right to do something to assuage your angry feelings.

Stamps from Afghanistan are hilarious. You can tell when the revolutions are because suddenly they stop having pictures of the mullahs and the independence monument and they start having fish on them.

The idea that if you are very clever you shouldn't be an actor would be laughable in Russia.

What I do believe is theatre is a medium with a peculiar ability to air vital issues.

When people say, 'If I had my life over again I wouldn't do anything different,' well, I'd do everything differently just for the variety.

When you are in a bad production there are two things you can do. You can do your best or you can leave. I chose to do the third thing which was sulk.

Sweeter than the perfume of roses is a reputation for a kind, charitable, unselfish nature; a ready disposition to do to others any good turn in your power.

There's no question 'Amazing Race' is a beautifully produced show.

I truly love 'Gangnam Style.' I guess it's a meme. I feel like it's one of the few times where the meme and the quality combines nicely.

Most significantly, the fullness of the priesthood contained in the highest ordinances of the house of the Lord can be received only by a man and woman together.

I don't always have the stomach muscles I have, and I get cellulite as well like everyone else.

Even though I resigned as Papandreou's adviser early in 2006 and turned into his government's staunchest critic during his mishandling of the post-2009 Greek implosion, my public interventions in the debate on Greece and Europe have carried no whiff of Marxism.

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.

I feel that all good art is powerful and simple.

I'm not so sure I believe in dopplegangers. I just prefer to be Dane DeHaan.

A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it.

Indeed, our everyday world presents intellectual challenges just as daunting as those of the cosmos and the quantum, and that is where 99 per cent of scientists focus their efforts. Even the smallest insect, with its intricate structure, is far more complex than either an atom or a star.

It is never too late to become reasonable and wise.

I wasn't expecting two seconds of me on the medal stand to go viral after the Olympics. I came back to my room after the medal ceremony, and my dad said this picture of me doing a face I don't even remember making is blowing up.

Preventing female infanticide is equally important in protection of women's rights.

The ultimate first date? Something that is completely out of the ordinary - go crazy, because first dates are always a little awkward, so do something a little extreme.

I think really good books can be read by anybody.

When someone stabs you its not your fault that you feel pain.

I'm no health care expert, but you've got technology that constantly advances the ability to extend life and maybe improve lifestyle. That puts constant upward pressure on health care costs.

Whether we are talking about access to affordable birth control, feeling safe from violence in our homes, or being able to earn the same amount of money as our male counterparts, these are rights that all people deserve, and they are being threatened.

If you're not ready for everything, you're not ready for anything.

There's a lot of movies that aren't all about Christmas, or where Christmas isn't the focus, but have that spirit of Christmas in them. I love that sequence in 'Auntie Mame,' where she's in the department store, sewing at Macy's, and she doesn't know how to do anything but fill out a form as 'cash on delivery!'

I know that if I could really understand mental illness, then it would be appropriate to make a big career shift. I would become a therapist and a leader in terms of mental illness. But I'm not in the position.

I love thinking of movie stars who could play the characters in the books I write. I think Charlize Theron would make a lovely Marie Antoinette.

You already caught me but everyday you pull me in deeper and deeper.