top of page
Quotes by Welsh Authors

"I will never say never, but I will say never to doing the more typical romantic comedies. You know, unless I'm getting audited and I'm on the street and I desperately need some dough and that's the only thing that I'm getting."

"If everyone really knew what a jerk I am in real life, I wouldn't be so adored in the slightest."

"Every time I try to retire, or even think of retiring from acting, my agent comes up with a script."

"To remain relevant though, I think making great records is the key."

"I worked with Lawrence Olivier some years ago. He was a great mentor."

"The human crisis is always a crisis of understanding: what we genuinely understand we can do."

"So yeah, a good director will be able to listen and hear everything, but have a confident vision of his own that he can say, 'oh yeah - that's a great point.' And you never know; often you can help far more than you think you can, because there's so much more that he's juggling than an actor."

"I have a punishing workout regimen. Every day I do 3 minutes on a treadmill, then I lie down, drink a glass of vodka and smoke a cigarette."

"I have no interest in Shakespeare and all that British nonsense... I just wanted to get famous and all the rest is hogwash."


"I decided to retire from show business at the age of 17, because I didn't like it a bit."

"A man that hoards up riches and enjoys them not, is like an ass that carries gold and eats thistles."

"I never considered myself a songwriter, but now since I've been working with Nick Lowe, I am contributing to an extent. But I'm the guitarist and he's not, so we compliment each other in a way."

"I think, especially in our business we meet a lot of people, and sometimes you spend so much time being nice to strangers, and so, you know, keeping a clear head and just being nice to each other. And that's all the advice I can give."

"Without sounding too pretentious, I was sort of a slave to the narrative. When the narrative cracks in, I have to go where it takes me. I had to go to the Bohemian Grove. It was the obvious end to the book."

"Don't be too harsh to these poems until they're typed. I always think typescript lends some sort of certainty: at least, if the things are bad then, they appear to be bad with conviction."

"Oh yes. I'm an actor, so I just learn my lines, and show up and do it. I gave it a little bit of thought."

"Richard Burton came from the same town as me, so I thought I'd follow my nose, and follow my luck. I think I've been very lucky."

"And I love a scary movie. It makes your toes curl and it's not you going through it."

"I like the good life too much, I'm not good at going on stage night after night and on wet Wednesday afternoons."

"Well, I had nightmares when I was doing the Klan story all the time. I had a recurring nightmare of basically being exposed as a Jew inside the Klan compound."

"The Welsh are all actors. It's only the bad ones who become professional."

"The spirals of the helix should be as nearly approximated as possible, as each aids by its heat that of its neighbour, or rather diminishes the cooling effect of the gaseous atmosphere."

"No amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin."

"From these inconsiderable attempts, some idea may be formed with what success, should Fortune afford an opportunity, I am likely to treat matters of greater importance."

"A kleptomaniac is a person who helps himself because he can't help himself."


"No wedding bells for me anymore. I've been happily married to my profession for years."


"I do not wish to hide my origins, nor do I seek to make it a subject of conversation. I am what I am."
bottom of page
