Quotes from Helen Mirren

I always tell my husband, 'That's it, I quit, I've done all I wanted,' and he's just like, 'Yeah, yeah. Sure.'

My parents believed in education and economic security, and I thank them for it. Because I think that's part of what's made my life stable. It was instilled in me. You have to be able to pay your bills. You do not get into debt. And I never have been.

When women get great roles in life, they start to get great roles in films and TV. Look at Janet Reno, Madeleine Albright, and Mrs. Thatcher. Because those images are coming at us in life, they are reflected in acting.

I have done film, television and theatre - all at a pretty substantial level - I don't think it's possible for American actors to do that.

I prefer the finesse of French humour. English humour is more scathing, more cruel, as illustrated by Monty Python and Little Britain.

It's great to be queen!

Gardening is learning, learning, learning. That's the fun of them. You're always learning.

I resent having witnessed the survival of some very mediocre male actors and the professional demise of the very brilliant female ones.

All you have to do is to look like crap on film and everyone thinks you're a brilliant actress. Actually, all you've done is look like crap.

I was never that kind of star. I was never cast because I was gorgeous.

I've been working every year since I started acting, and I got many awards before I won the Oscar for 'The Queen.'

I don't like the word 'strong,' because a strong character is never an interesting character. A character is made interesting by their vulnerabilities and their weaknesses.

I don't throw a lot of parties. I find throwing parties a bit intimidating.

There's no good way to waste your time. Wasting time is just wasting time.

You know, you have to allow life to play itself out, don't you? And one thing you learn is that it doesn't stop. It moves on.

I couldn't handle the rules the Queen has to live by at all, and very few of us could. It's a golden cage, really. You're never alone in that role - you are always surrounded by security.

Parkinson's is a slow but inevitable process. It's hard living with it on a daily basis. The difficulty facing people with it is that they never quite know 'Can I or can't I do this today?'

I think every woman in our culture is a feminist. They may refuse to articulate it, but if you were to take any woman back 40 years and say, 'Is this a world you want to live in?' They would say, 'No.'

Hollywood is a very small world; the people who matter matter, and the people who don't matter are just like nothing.

I've always found as an actress that the best thing to do in film or TV or theater is just to lose yourself in it. Think of the story, the character, the worlds we're in, and forget everything else.

I'm under the impression that this notion of decency is disappearing from our society where conflicts are made worse on cinema and on television, where people are nasty and cruel on the Internet and where, in general, everybody seems to be very angry.

I have to say, without sounding like a total tosser, that everything I've learned in life, and that has taken me out of my natural interior life, has been with men. They exposed me to things that I wasn't aware of. I learned from all the guys.

I remember thinking, when I was in my early 30s, that this is the best age to be, and I still believe your 30s are a wonderful time.

Wherever I am in the world, if I get free time when I'm filming I always hire a car, take to the road, drive for miles and explore.