Quotes from Anthony Hopkins

I worked at the Steel Company Of Wales when I was 17. My job was to supply tools to the guys working the blast furnaces.

I have a punishing workout regimen. Every day I do 3 minutes on a treadmill, then I lie down, drink a glass of vodka and smoke a cigarette.

If I spent all my time criticising myself, I wouldn't be able to function. There are actors who theorise till the cows come home. I haven't the patience for them. It's maybe shallow, but that's why I'll never be part of the acting set.

We're all caught up in circumstances, and we're all good and evil. When you're really hungry, for instance, you'll do anything to survive. I think the most evil thing - well, maybe that's too strong - but certainly a very evil thing is judgment, the sin of ignorance.

We're always looking over our shoulders, 'what they will think, what the press will think, what will this one - am I making the right career move?' When you're young you have to do all that to survive, I suppose.

I look in the mirror and I see the lines, but I don't care. It's a good time. I don't know why it's such a good time, but it's a good time.

Every time I try to retire, or even think of retiring from acting, my agent comes up with a script.

And I love a scary movie. It makes your toes curl and it's not you going through it.

People ask, 'Should I call you Sir Hopkins?' But I say, 'No. Call me Tony,' because it's too much of a lift-up.

Multiply it by infinity and take it to the depths of forever, and you will still have barely a glimpse of what I'm talking about.

Relish everything that's inside of you, the imperfections, the darkness, the richness and light and everything. And that makes for a full life.

I spent two years in the military service, then I trudged around in repertory for quite a while. I somehow wound up at the National Theatre, though, and then I was definitely on my way.

My father wasn't a cruel man. And I loved him. But he was a pretty tough character. His own father was even tougher - one of those Victorians, hard as iron - but my dad was tough enough.

Once you begin to fall off the track and believe you breathe different air to everyone else, you're doomed; you're finished.

We are dying from overthinking. We are slowly killing ourselves by thinking about everything. Think. Think. Think. You can never trust the human mind anyway. It's a death trap.

I love roller coasters. I don't get a chance often, but I've gone to Magic Mountain and gone on the rides. I love roller coasters.

I play piano and that's my love. I read and I paint and I compose music, so I've got a pretty full creative life. And it's not because, I'm obsessively creative.

I love the hour in makeup. It gives you time to think and have a cup of coffee. It's my favorite part of the day.

Years ago I met Richard Burton in Port Talbot, my home town, and afterwards he passed in his car with his wife, and I thought, 'I want to get out and become like him'. Not because of Wales, because I love Wales, but because I was so limited as a child at school and so bereft and lonely, and I thought becoming an actor would do that.

I don't have many friends; I'm very much a loner. As a child I was very isolated, and I've never been really close to anyone.

I worked with Lawrence Olivier some years ago. He was a great mentor.

The knighthood was a tremendous honour, I don't dismiss it. But I feel embarrassed by the flowery, theatrical stuff that goes with being an actor.

By giving up 'the need' and 'the want', things begin to happen for you

I'm not young anymore. I don't wanna start over again.