Peter O'Toole

If I'd known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.

I've played farce on the stage, but I have never played any sort of comedy on the screen.

Money is always a pressure.

I take whatever good part comes along.

If you can't do something willingly and joyfully, then don't do it.

I can now tell from the envelope whether or not it is a good script.

I know nothing at all about women. They are an amazing, beautiful mystery.

I put steam on the table by being an actor. That is how I live. The longer I live, the more expensive it becomes. So I do my work. And I can't be immensely picky. How many beautiful scripts come in one's lifetime? I have had more than anybody, practically.

I love working with the young.

When I work with young people, I grab energy from them by the handsful.

I've stopped acting, but I don't think I've finished using my voice. I could, and probably will, record the whole of Shakespeare's sonnets. They live at the side of my bed and are my constant companions.

The only thing I've ever been interested in teaching anyone in life is cricket.

Actors have to stay optimistic. The moment we start thinking otherwise, we're dead.

The common denominator of all my friends is that they're dead.

I can't stand light. I hate weather.

Irish women are always carrying water on their heads, and always carrying their husbands home from pubs. Such things are the greatest posture-builders in the world.

Writing is a kind of performing art, and I can't sit down to write unless I'm dressed. I don't mean dressed in a suit, but dressed well and comfortably and I have to be shaved and bathed.

Where do I begin? I loved working with Kate Hepburn, which was one of the highlights of my life; Working with Richard Burton in Beckett was another great joy.

We were doing it under the most extraordinary circumstances, but the first out of the tent in the morning would be David Lean. He said to me on the very first day of shooting, Pete, this is the beginning of a great adventure.

There is a legend. And to protest is daft.