58 Quotes by Derek Jacobi

Every person who is offered a knighthood has the opportunity to say yes or no. You get a letter from the Prime Minister saying you’ve been recommended for a knighthood and there are two little boxes, one says yes, one says no.

I would like to be as fit as I’ve always been. I’ve been blessed with good health, I’ve been blessed with stamina. Particularly for those great classical roles, you need an Olympian stamina. I, fortunately, have that.

I think my parents were happy that I’d gone to university and gotten a degree in history so they thought, ‘Well if acting doesn’t work for him, he can always become a history teacher or something.’ Fortunately, the acting worked out.

I’ve been a professional actor now for 38 years. A long time. And it’s wonderful to earn your living doing something that you love. To think people actually give you money for it!

It’s too hard a life for me. I could only do it – check out in that sense – if I checked out somewhere that was luxurious and within hailing distance of civilization.

They were totally supportive, always saw everything I did. One of the thrills of my life was when they went to the theater to see something that I wasn’t in. It opened doors for them that otherwise would have been totally closed.

I’d gone into that restaurant and sat down and the waitress had taken my order and everybody else had seen me with this what must have looked like this creature, this animal, sitting on the top of my head!

I’m always conscious of the fact that I am part of a profession that is 80% permanently unemployed. So, to be working in any sense is to be privileged.

Actors, I don’t think, ever really grow up. I’m hoping that that rejuvenating process applies to me, too. It has so far. I’ve been very lucky.