Like lots of people who say, 'I'm going to write a novel,' it's actually more comfortable to think I could write a novel than to discover that you can't.

I've driven people mad on films that I've made - I want more takes; I want to try new lines. Then I want to interfere in the editing process, and I want to interfere in the advertising process - everything, everything. Pretty much Barbra Streisand in trousers, I am!

I get very annoyed when people think I'm nice or diffident or a polite English gentleman. I'm a nasty piece of work, and people should know that.

Some people are drawn naturally - there are natural guitarists, and there are natural piano players, and I think guitar implies travel, a sort of footloose gypsy existence. You grab your bag and you go to the next town.

I think there is a basic comfort in clever people who know things.

Lots of people would say House doesn't have any charm at all. I would disagree, though: I find him immensely charming and endlessly entertaining. He has a sort of grace and a wit about him, and ultimately, I think he is on the side of the angels.

I think good-looking people seldom make good television. And American television studios almost concede before they start: 'Well, it won't be good, but at least it'll be good-looking. We'll have nice-looking girls in tight shirts with F.B.I. badges and fit-looking guys with lots of hair gel vaulting over things.'

My only obligation is to keep myself and other people guessing.

When I'm in the U.K. - and I'm here more than people would think - I tend to keep a very low profile.

Legolas in 'Lord Of The Rings' was sent as a bridge from his people into the world of dwarves and humans and wizards and everything else.

People think getting a new partner is like getting a new car.

People forget that Mozart wrote for commissions. There's a thing in psychology where they think if it's popular, it can't be serious.

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

I don't like freeloaders; I don't like people who are negative.

People don't always tell you what they are thinking. They just see to it that you don't advance in life.

No one gossips about other people’s secret virtues.

Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so.

Really high-minded people are indifferent to happiness, especially other people's.

Conventional people are roused to fury by departure from convention, largely because they regard such departure as a criticism of themselves.

People watch three or four episodes at a time of their shows.

I was in The Wire for three years, and I left at the highlight of that.

I've never had to explain Prometheus to people, ever. Most people get it.

Imagine a film such as Inception with an entire cast of black people - do you think it would be successful? Would people watch it? But no one questions the fact that everyone's white. That's what we have to change.

You’re directing a movie, but you are at the head of a ship of people, a whole fleet of people. And being able to manage that - being able to handle yourself as a director being a leader - that’s massively important.