Quotes from Miriam Margolyes

People tend to think I'm funny and fluffy, but I can switch on a sixpence from extreme happiness to utter despair. I'm aware that doesn't make it easy for people sometimes.

My mother died of a stroke in 1974, and for a long time, I blamed myself. She was utterly devastated when I told her I was a lesbian not long before.

There's a strong melancholic streak in me.

I am stopped in the street by kids and Harry Potter fans all the time.

I have no secrets. I decided very early on in life that the strongest position was to be completely open.

Israel is stupid for allowing people to vent their anti-Semitism.

From my earliest days, reading was my passion, and at Cambridge, where I studied English literature, my intellectual life deepened and grew.

I studied English literature in university, and then I went straight into radio.

I've been fat my whole life and pretended I don't mind. But I do mind. It's really stupid that I've gone on being greedy and fat.

It would be absurd to say I'm not British - you can hear it when I speak.

I still miss my parents every day; I adored them. And when you have no children, friends are even more important to you.

I've burnt my boats, and there they are - smouldering in public view.

Everything's harder for women: harder to start, to stay employed, to run a life with a family.