Quotes

The older you get, the better you get, because you've seen more. You don't necessarily have to go through a lot, but you have to witness it in order to recreate it.

[If someone saw one of your performances in 1,000 years' time, what would it tell them about the year 2007?] That nothing has really changed. People will still love and hurt and yearn.

[on the Academy Awards] The whole thing was just silly. All those awards are a bit silly, aren't they? It's quite funny if you're English, because we take them all with a bucket of salt really; we're always a bit embarrassed to go 'I'd quite like to win that award'. The Americans are very: 'Oh my God! Is this the most exciting day of your life?' I just thought 'no, not really'. It's good fun and you get to see everyone on the carpet, but frankly, get a grip!

[on being honored with an Oscar nomination for Albert Nobbs (2011)] There were a lot of people who lived like this. One thing you have to remember in England that is different from over here, is that sodomy if you're a guy was illegal. You'd be kicked out of the country. There was nothing against lesbianism because Queen Victoria didn't believe it existed.

[on the day her second Oscar nomination for Albert Nobbs (2011) was announced] "I just had my beady eyes on the television, and when Glenn Close was announced as well, I was very happy. By the time I had finished my day, I was completely exhausted, so we had a low-key celebration; my husband and I drank Champagne, ate cheesecake, and watched Downton Abbey. It doesn't get better than that."

Yes, I was slightly outside everything when I was growing up. My mother jokes that I was exchanged at birth. She brought us up to have traditional values. She was absolutely not part of the '60s generation.

I have become a marketing tool and I feel very uncomfortable with that. There's no space for me to express myself.

It's naive to think there is a woman in the world who isn't brought up to believe that they are waiting for their soul mate. You even see it in Disney.

Put a Post-It note on your mirror that says: 'Someone has to succeed. There's no reason why it shouldn't be me.' Repeat before every audition.

I have very girly hands and I use them a lot when I talk in a way that I think is very feminine.

We are a very close family, and I love them very much, but I'm definitely the odd one out. I live a completely different kind of life style. I always was different. I felt like a fish out of water; I really never knew who I was.

When children arrive, or when some crisis occurs, couples don't have the resources to deal with it because they've been so busy getting on with their lives. They haven't learned how to sit down and discuss things.

When you're a young English person who wants to be an actress and you have dreams, you dream of being Vanessa Redgrave or Judi Dench.

I do mostly British projects, and for family reasons and life reasons Britain's my home, where I have a lovely garden.

People are calling a lot, sending scripts my way. Yes, it's wonderful because, let's face it, there aren't many wonderful scripts for women over the age of 10.

I've always thought if you watch the performance and you don't know about the person, then you only see the performance.

But then I got a job selling coffee at the York Theatre, and when I met theatre people, something clicked. I felt comfortable with them; I felt like myself. I decided to go to drama school based just on that feeling. I had never done any acting.

My mother and father are still together after forty something years. I lived in one place till I was 6. I lived in another place from when I was 6 till I was 17.

I just want people to focus on the performance.

New Yorkers are either the nicest or the rudest.

I did Tumbleweeds (1999) for fun. I did it because I loved it and I hardly even got paid.