408 Quotes by Anthony Hopkins

Living with reality is a very good trick. It gives you tremendous freedom and it changes the structure of molecules of your soul by living through reality because you don’t expect anything anymore, which is a weird paradox.

I’m just an actor. It’s the way the script is written, and it’s easy. I don’t have think about it. When you receive the script, you know pretty well how to play it, apart from little technicalities like the accent.

It’s such a pleasant surprise when you come on set and you find someone in charge like Ken Branagh or James Ivory. You know that you’re going to do a day’s work and at the end of it, it’s going to be good.

I’m very much a loner. I don’t like long relationships with people and I always keep people at a distance.

I have no illusions about my position in this world as an actor or anything like that. I’m very realistic. Reality is a very liberating thing.

I became an actor because I didn’t know what else to do. Academically, I wasn’t good.

I always had a knack for improvisation. I can write down the notes I play, but never really had a proper academic musical background. I suppose I’m blessed and cursed by the fact I have that freedom.

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.

Working with Katherine Hepburn, she said to me, “Don’t act.” She said, “Read the lines. Just be. Just speak the lines.” I said, “Okay.” She said, “You look good. You got a good pair of shoulders, you got a good head, good face.”