Quotes from Jeremy Irons

So nevertheless, what I'm saying is that what one is - one's parameters are constantly narrowed by one's success, and my desire is to widen my field even if I risk failure.

So the better my partner or my opposition, however you like to think about it, the better my game.

An acting assistant stage manager in a theater in Canterbury, a rep theater. A small wage but just enough to get by on, and I made props and I walked on, and I changed scenery, and I realized that I just loved it.

The older I get, the less busy I like to be.

I think I would not be described as a character actor in that I don't take on characteristics which are very alien to me.

It's always great to play a man who sets himself up to be punctured.

My father was a CPA. He worked hard in the aircraft industry, and would come home more and more infrequently. He was about to leave my mother, which he did when I was 15.

I believe that most people would like to cooperate in reducing waste, but to encourage them, the national policy should be clear, well advertised, and consistent. Even within Greater London, there is a huge discrepancy between council policies. I believe a national waste management initiative should be designed and implemented by government.

Most people have fallen by the wayside once or twice in their lives, and because the world is so transparent now, I think they're very fearful of running for office.

I do what I do because I like doing it. I'm well paid for it. I get far too much adulation compared with what it's worth.

So I continued through my next school, which takes me up to the age of 17, moving from the bottom stream of one year into the bottom stream of the next year, all the way through. I showed other talents which gave me self-respect, which is fine.

Commerce seems to be covering every aspect of our lives now. Which me, because I'm a romantic, is sad for me to say.

It was a better time to be a young actor when I started out. There was a repertory system where you could go and practise.

The sad thing about any business I suppose, but in mine you see it particularly, is that you're always asked to do what you've already done.

So nevertheless, what I'm saying is that what one is - one's parameters are constantly narrowed by one's success, and my desire is to widen my field even if I risk failure.

The sad thing about any business I suppose, but in mine you see it particularly, is that you're always asked to do what you've already done.

We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some take us forward, they're called dreams.

I constantly experience failure in that my work is never as good as I want it to be. So I live with failure.

However, I wasn't very good at the sciences, or didn't have a lot of help in the sciences or something but certainly didn't set science for my A level. And when I came to take my A levels I didn't get a good enough result to go to University.

And trust, yes, which is important, but that is what I aim towards. Now that is difficult for some people, and with that desire to get things as good as possible, I would say that I'm probably regarded as quite prickly to work with.

And whenever I'm in a situation where I'm wearing the same as 600 other people and doing the same thing as 600 other people, looking back, I always found ways to make myself different, whether it be having a red lining inside of my jacket, having red shoes, it hasn't changed.

The film business has changed hugely. You seem to spend about 30 per cent of the time producing the films and 70 per cent talking about it.

I've never disliked a character I've played. I've always tried to find the humanity and the reasons for what he does.

I succeeded on sort of chutzpah and charm. No technique at all, didn't know what I was doing, but it worked and the character suited me.