301 Quotes by Benedict Cumberbatch

What makes a good animated movie is being able to balance adult and knowing in-jokes and also just out and out funny things that make all people laugh. The idea that it’s actually something that will appeal to a family, that’s the trick.

I drag a lot of stuff round with me that I don’t need.

I’m not an overnight success. I’ve been doing it for 12 years. It’s been lovely and varied so far.

I’ve seen and swam and climbed and lived and driven and filmed. Should it all end tomorrow, I can definitely say there would be no regrets. I am very lucky, and I know it. I really have lived 5,000 times over.

I remember very clearly someone saying, ‘Don’t shake hands with the cactus,’ and I thought, ‘Well, why not? What could possibly go wrong?’ Shaking hands is a friendly gesture.

Do awards change careers? Well, I haven’t heard of many stories where that’s the case. It’s a fun excuse to meet colleagues and celebrate people who’ve done well that year in certain people’s eyes, and it’s nothing more than that.

If you have an over-preoccupation with perception and trying to please people’s expectations, then you can go mad.

One of the fears of having too much work is not having time to observe. And once you get recognised, there is nowhere for you to look any more. You can’t sit on a night bus and watch it all happen.

I play enough other mad people, as well and some sane people, to vary the palette of what’s scrabbling around in my head and soul to bring to the floor, as a storyteller.