Comedian

Oh, it takes a lot for me to walk out of a film.

It was extremely important to show that Wilde's sexuality was not just some intellectual idea. It was real, and it was about the human body. To just have mentioned it and not shown it would have been, I think, peculiar and wrong.

But happiness is no respecter of persons.

Philosophy is an odd thing. When we use the word in everyday speech, you know, you sometimes hear it hilariously.

I think the fact that I'm so well known to be gay makes it very difficult to have a convincing relationship with a woman on screen. It wouldn't be at all difficult for me to kiss a woman - I'll kiss a frog if you like.

There is no particular Socratic or Dimechian or Kantian way to live your life. They don't offer ethical codes and standards by which to live your life.

Personally, I'd never seen a graphic novel. I knew they existed because friends of mine like Jonathan Ross collect them and some very literate and intelligent people really rate the graphic novel as a form.

An original idea. That can't be too hard. The library must be full of them.

I don't need you to remind me of my age. I have a bladder to do that for me.

I don't watch television, I think it destroys the art of talking about oneself.

I've always had great respect for Paddington because he is amusingly English and eccentric. He is a great British institution and my generation grew up with the books and then Michael Horden's animations.

I shouldn't be saying this - high treason, really - but I sometimes wonder if Americans aren't fooled by our accent into detecting brilliance that may not really be there.

Christmas to a child is the first terrible proof that to travel hopefully is better than to arrive.

Having a great intellect is no path to being happy.

My life, at least, is divided between writing and performing and mixtures of the two.

I have pushed the boat out as far as I should in terms of taking on too many things. I'm getting older and I just could not take it any more. I am now monitoring myself very closely and I'm just trying not to get into that sort of state again.

I'm a bit of a coward, and lazy, oddly enough.

I like to think of myself at home in the armchair, writing, smoking and occasionally wandering down the shop.

I'd probably want to teach at university, because children would drive me insane. I suspect it would be English literature, Shakespeare and so forth. I've always been deeply, deeply in love with that kind of thing.

No, I love the idea that someone changes. As an actor it's always the thing that you look for. He is someone who starts off bright, cheerful and confident and then has everything taken away from him. It's a wonderful journey to take.