You can throw away the privilege of acting, but that would be such a shame. The tribe has elected you to tell its story. You are the shaman/healer, that`s what the storyteller is, and I think it`s important for actors to appreciate that. Too often actors think it`s all about them, when in reality it`s all about the audience being able to recognize themselves in you. The more you pull away from the public, the less power you have on screen.

About actress Aishwarya Rai: "It was a pleasure working with Aishwarya in The Last Legion (2007), and her fans are in for a big surprise. She is an excellent and outstanding actor. She is a shining example of beauty from India, and I`m sure we will be seeing her in more Hollywood movies real soon " (August, 2006)

But comedy I`d love to do as much as humanly possible.

I just loved playing a man who was unafraid of making an idiot of himself in the process of falling in love. I found that admirable.

[about the holocaust] It`s like a big, hulking monster squatting in the middle of our history and it won`t go away.

Somewhere in your career, your work changes. It becomes less anal, less careful and more spontaneous, more to do with the information that your soul carries.

If your best friend has stolen your girlfriend, it does become life and death.

There was one titanic guiding light on the film set, and I was in the presence of a true Mahatma, in the deepest and most profound sense of the word.

As an actor there`s no autonomy, unless you`re prepared to risk the possibility of starving.

I would like to make it known, on this program, loud and clear, that I would absolutely embrace with all five of my arms being a Bond villain.

It is better for me to serve a charity as an actor or a voice, rather than at a luncheon being just a celebrity.

All the great writers root their characters in true human behavior.

I try and reduce myself to an almost blank slate and hope to God that I am creative.

When you drop your guard in films, the acting process compensates. You get lazy and you start acting.

I think I`m more bonded, emotionally and in a craft sense, to films that tell extraordinary stories about extraordinary destinies.

Filming is so much to do with rhythm, as is music, and if it isn`t there then you know in the end nobody can save it really, they can`t.

When I choose a role it`s either because I recognise the man, or that I`m very curious to know him. If I neither recognise nor know him, then it is better that I don`t play him.

But comedy I`d love to do as much as humanly possible.

I think that most actors, and they`re a very strange lot actors, very strange people, but I think that they attempt to keep in touch with the child.

I think that all of us either lose touch with the child inside us or try and hold onto it because it so precious to us and it`s such an extraordinary part of our lives.

The many many imponderables come together when a film opens and for all sorts of reasons it may or may not succeed.

In cinema, the leading player is the director.

With narration, you have to be very accurate with your voice. It`s a good exercise to do.

There have not been any troughs as regards my work. There`s never been a trough of my assurance.

But filming is good for you, because the crew isn`t allowed to laugh. You can`t get addicted to getting the laugh.

I think that you can fall into bad habits with comedy... It`s a tightrope to stay true to the character, true to the irony, and allow the irony to happen.

There is so much to do on a film set. It is an extraordinarily invigorating and wonderful place to be, when things are running well.

As a singer, I might have fallen among thieves. I wonder if I`d still be alive by now.

When Attenborough asked me to do Gandhi it was almost like stepping off one boat and stepping on to another, even though both boats are going at 60 miles per hour.

The trick is to try and justify every word on the page and make sure my character is the man who would say that.

In an ideal way, in an ideal world, myself and the director are one. And as you rightly say, in an ideal world, you can`t see the horizon between sky and sea. I felt that the times with Spielberg [Steven Spielberg] on Schindler`s List (1993), we were moving as one creature.

I always try to find something I admire about every character I play.

I think if I were to go back on stage I might be in great danger of acting.

I was fortunate as a young actor, to go straight to the RSC, where I learned that being an actor can bring with it wonderful responsibilities.

I honestly have no strategy whatsoever. I`m waiting for that script to pop through the letterbox and completely surprise me.

I have never felt bereft of anything.

In England, it`s now Sir Ben. Mister has just disappeared. It`s not even on my passport anymore. They`ve taken Mister away from me.

Movie magic is movie magic and acting magic is acting magic.

Well, it`s wonderful to be identified strongly with my work.

I think that various styles and methods and approaches are an invention of people who don`t understand the process of acting and who try very hard to label things.

on Winning the Oscar for Best Actor in Gandhi (1982): "If I knew I was going to win, I would not have gone dressed as a waiter."

As a singer, I might have fallen among thieves. I wonder if I`d still be alive by now.

The hierarchy of class in London was rigid. It was like a religion. It still is to a certain extent.

Hopefully, as I get older in the business, I make my choices more accurately, and I perhaps know from either the script or the first meeting that it isn`t going to work.

That hunger of the flesh, that longing for ease, that terror of incarceration, that insistence on tribal honour being obeyed: all of that exists, and it exists everywhere.

One of the greatest things drama can do, at it`s best, is to redefine the words we use every day such as love, home, family, loyalty and envy. Tragedy need not be a downer.

I think Romeo and Juliet is uplifting. That`s how much a son wishes to avenge his father. That is how much two young people can love each other.

John Lennon and Ringo Starr liked my songs. I used to write songs and they heard me sing songs on stage in London.

The camera does not like acting. The camera is only interested in filming behaviour. So you damn well learn your lines until you know them inside out, while standing on your head!

I`m convinced that had I not changed my name, I don`t think I would have had quite the same career curve that I eventually had.

All the great writers root their characters in true human behaviour.

I have a rather naive approach, I think, to my job.

I think the cinema you like has more to do with silence, and the theater you like has more to do with language.

I do remember, as a child, that I always imagined, when I was maybe 6 or 7, my fantasy was that everywhere I went I was being followed by an invisible film crew.

Hopefully, as I get older in the business, I make my choices more accurately, and I perhaps know from either the script or the first meeting that it isn`t going to work.

I`m very in love with the fact that the camera is revolted by acting and loves behaviour.

Fifteen years before I became a screen actor, I was in the theatre. A lot of my work was comedy, which I loved doing. It`s harder.

I don`t honestly think people know what acting is.

I`ve never had to turn my hand to anything for monetary gain, other than pretending to be somebody else. I`m deeply fortunate.

As an actor there`s no autonomy, unless you`re prepared to risk the possibility of starving.

Being a leading man on a film set under the direction of somebody like Dickie Attenborough [Richard Attenborough, director of Gandhi (1982)] is very empowering, and you have to be extremely careful how you use that power.

If I were to play somebody who ran a fish and chip shop, I would not work in a fish and chip shop for three months. Staring at chips is not going to help me in my performance.

There`s so much crap talked about acting.

Hamlet is an astonishing intelligence.