304 Quotes by Ian Mckellen

[There's] nothing special about an actor's imagination, except that he uses it a lot.

In the theatre, the actor is in total control. The director wasn't in the house last night, the designer wasn't there, the author's dead. It's just us and the audience.

I think I've become more modest as the years have gone on.

No one needs to feel sorry for me or anyone else who has fallen victim to success.

Try and understand what part you have to play in the world in which you live. There's more to life than you know and it's all happening out there. Discover what part you can play and then go for it.

I have been reluctant to lobby on other issues I most care about - nuclear weapons (against), religion (atheist), capital punishment (anti), AIDS (fund-raiser) because I don't want to be forever spouting, diluting the impact of addressing my most urgent concern - legal and social equality for gay people worldwide.

I have heard of people dying from prostate cancer, and they are the unlucky ones, the people who didn't know they had got it, and it went on the rampage.

There's no sex in Middle Earth.

Acting is no longer about lying. It's now about revealing the truth. People are at ease with me now. Honesty is the best policy.