Peter O'Toole

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.

I tell my children to avoid theatre and go into cinema and TV.

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

I suggest that an education and reading and facts aren't bad things on which to ponder a few notions.

In my day England, Scotland, Wales had 80 drama schools. There are none left. So there's no training, no discipline.

It's very inconvenient because every time I finish, let's say, a chapter of a book, I think I'm going to ring Richard and then realize: Oh, Christ, I've buried him. I buried him last year.

It is time for me to chuck in the sponge. To retire from films and stage. The heart for it has gone out of me: it won't come back.

I have my very own Oscar now to be with me until death us do part.

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.

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

I can't stand light. I hate weather.