Although there's an inherent light-heartedness to 'Sherlock,' I slightly err towards not doing the comedy.

Please God, I'll never be in a war zone, but everything I sort of know about people who come back is that it's a hard transition to make. I mean, even if you've not been in a war, even if you've just been in the Forces, you come back and probably have more fights in civilian life.

It's more fun playing someone who isn't just a bad guy.

I've tried not to treat Shakespeare as a marble giant.

Rehearsals are one of my favourite things in the world.

You don't want your children to look at you like you are anything special other than their dad.

In my life, the strongest evidence of any fandom is 'Sherlock' - 'Hobbit' fans are positively restrained.

True heroics, obviously, is not the absence of fear, but having that fear and doing something anyway.

I value being able to go into a record shop and people leaving me alone.

Humour is - how do I say this without sounding pompous - it's a huge part of my life.

I read 'Animal Farm' when I was 11, and it remained my favorite book, really.

It's a funny thing, 'The Office,' because millions and millions and millions and millions of people didn't watch it. But culturally, it is more of a phenomenon than almost anything else I can remember as far as British television is concerned.

I have never been in, nor have I had any strong particular desire to be in, what is termed a costume drama, but I keep forgetting to think of 'Charles II' as a costume drama.

Fans want to see a story with characters, and they want to see a story.

As soon as you get two actors in a room and they're locking eyes, they're doing a scene.

Actors are people who are doing a job they want to do, which isn't the case for many of the people who watch what we do.

There was very little drama and performance at my school, so I've never forgotten the people who did encourage me and I've thought whether it would be a good idea to even get in touch with them and just say thanks, because they really opened a door for me mentally and emotionally - that's really important.

I know very few people who have literally improvised a film from start to finish.

I think I'm less gloomy than I used to be - I've got a very supportive other half.

My relationship with my belief has never been easy.

All my life, I've felt people are looking at me. So, when I became known, it was like, 'I'm not imagining this any more. People genuinely are staring at me. Oh, Christ, now they're coming over!'

I think acting is all about the other people. Sounds like a worthy thing to say, but it's true.

Whenever someone says to my mum: 'How's your son doing?' she says: 'Which one?' If you're a parent, you're not going to go: 'Oh I'll concentrate on the famous one.'

Half of us are partly German! Half our language and culture, generally, in Anglo-Saxon terms, is German.

I don't think anyone looks into their family tree and expects it to come up smelling of roses.

'Sherlock' is beautifully done, if I may say so myself. Even if I wasn't in it, I would like the show.

I think what 'The Hobbit' and Middle-earth deal in are quite universal and timeless themes of honour and love and friendship... so they're things that do resonate with people.

I like anything with my face on it, just from an aesthetic point of view.

I think the world needs to see more of my face.

I want to inspire children to be obsessed over jewellery.

I hope I inspire children to make films.

To be honest, if people thought my performance in 'The Office' was the same as my performance in 'The Hobbit,' it would tell me everything I needed to know about what they know about acting.

I enjoy fighting scenes. I like fighting in film. I like pretending to fight in films.

Most people aren't these grandstanding heroes.

I suppose the real cult things now are independent films made for a million pounds.

I've had several really tangible dreams about UFOs, and they've been amazing!

I don't write anything off without reading a script, and if it's a good one, I'll consider it, whether it's for $20 or a million dollars.

When I was at youth theatre and drama school, I never thought people would mistake me for a stand-up.

Coming back from doing 'The Hobbit,' you think 'Sherlock' is realistic, but of course, it's not that realistic.

Like, honest to God, I don't expect people to be into what I'm into.

I don't like affectation.

I'm geek royalty now.

I think the hardest part about anything you do for 18 months is just keeping yourself together for 18 months.

Any pigeonhole is something to be rebelled against.

I've always slightly envied other actors I know who have different reputations. I think, 'God, you don't get people coming up to you, going, 'Hey!' - because they're scared of you.'

It would be a shame for me if I were to become 'Mr. Half-Hour Sitcom.'

My idea of a good night out is staying in.

I'm always interested with other actors in what their process is, and are they still interested in acting, as opposed to being a star.

I think when see you a character on the screen who is actually being touched by the world, and the stuff is actually landing on him, it makes you empathize.

Are there many Tims in America? I don't know if I can think of many American Tims.