306 Quotes by Helen Mirren

When you do Shakespeare they think you must be intelligent because they think you understand what you're saying

I don't believe that if you do good, good things will happen. Everything is completely accidental and random. Sometimes bad things happen to very good people and sometimes good things happen to bad people. But at least if you try to do good things, then you're spending your time doing something worthwhile.

It's never been confirmed that Elizabeth was a virgin. It's like the Virgin Mary - it's about branding, a logo. To use a modern term, Elizabeth was actually a bit of a slut.

At the time of the Silver Jubilee, I was a grumpy anti-monarchist. I didn't celebrate and was appalled by the celebrations. In my idiocy, I missed out! I feel completely differently now compared with that time.

hoping something would leap magically from the canvas into me. 'Who are you? Where are you?' I'd shout over and over.

I have never in my life found myself in a situation where I've stopped work and said, 'Thank God it's Friday.' But weekends are special even if your schedule is all over the place. Something tells you the weekend has arrived and you can indulge yourself a bit.

The most difficult thing about shooting guns instantly on film is to not pull a silly face while the gun is going off, because it's always a bit of a shock. So you find yourself sticking your tongue out or blinking or whatever. So the hardest thing is to keep a straight face while you're shooting a gun.

I'm under the impression that this notion of decency is disappearing from our society where conflicts are made worse on cinema and on television, where people are nasty and cruel on the Internet and where, in general, everybody seems to be very angry.

As an actor, those are the roles that you long for. You always want something that's going to kick your last role out of the water and put you off on a new path.