FastSaying

It was wrongly assumed that I wished to become some sort of leader among gay activists, whereas in reality I was happier to be a foot soldier.


Ian Mckellen

  Email Quote to Friends   Link to Quote   Create Short URL  Publish Text About This Quote   Share on Facebook, Twitter, and more
  See Recommended Quotes For You

Related

It was just really odd to be in a room with Ian McKellen sharing cucumber sandwiches.
ADAM BROWN I think Ian McKellen made it all happen, because he used to throw dinner parties and invite everyone...
SHAWN ASHMORE I was born as a soldier and will die as one.
MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATURK These dreams reminded me that, since I wished some day to become a writer, it was high time to decid...
MARCEL PROUST I'd spent my twenties trying to be everything to everybody. I had my family, my straight friends...
DAVID FURNISH Judi Dench and Ian McKellen taught me how to work hard and respect the theatre.
FRANCESCA ANNIS Ian McKellen is brilliant with research. I paid really close attention to the sources he goes to. He...
BRENDAN FRASER Gay culture is surviving and thriving. Some activists believe the recent rise in homophobic violence...
LANCE LOUD The environment I was raised in, you had to, to survive.
MARK WAHLBERG If I talk to a girl, it's assumed that I'm having a scene with her. If I don't, then it's assumed th...
SHAHRUKH KHAN I was informed... that some... were dreaming and wished to return.
ZEBULON PIKE It is very hard to be a female leader. While it is assumed that any man, no matter how tough, has a ...
BILLIE JEAN KING It is very hard to be a female leader. While it is assumed that any man, no matter how tough, has a ...
BILLIE JEAN KING MISERICORDE, n. A dagger which in mediaeval warfare was used by the foot soldier to remind an unhor...
AMBROSE BIERCE MISERICORDE, n. A dagger which in mediaeval warfare was used by the foot soldier to remind an unhors...
AMBROSE BIERCE If you think like a leader, act like a leader, inspire like a leader then you are a leader.
DEBASISH MRIDHA If I talk to a girl, it's assumed that I'm having a scene with her. If I don't, then it&...
SHAH RUKH KHAN I think it would be irresponsible to speculate at all that this was some sort of attack.
GLEN MATHISON In reality, I've always been an actor - since I was a kid. I did theater growing up in New York....
ZACH MCGOWAN I was raised to be some kind of artist.
ELLAR COLTRANE I didn't let what I wanted to do become a made up memory that I looked back on years down the road a...
S.A. TAWKS I didn't realize, actually, at the time how terribly important this documentary was. I didn't know t...
SHEILA NEVINS It was just assumed that I was wrong. It was a blatant lie.
SHERRON WATKINS Nilipozaliwa nilipendwa na kuogopwa, watu walicheza na mimi lakini mimi sikucheza nao. Niliwapenda.
SIMON MASHALLA Theatre outings are my favourite thing to spend money on. The most influential play I saw was 'B...
DAWN FRENCH But pain may be a gift to us. Remember, after all, that pain is one of the ways we register in memor...
SUE MILLER What I wrote... wasn't crazy... or a bullshit... or nonsense... it was what I saw!
DEYTH BANGER I was raised in a tribal situation, among cannibal people.
WILLIAM P. YOUNG Because I'm an American woman, and I write straight plays, it's always been sort of assumed ...
THERESA REBECK Whale was gay, I'm gay; Whale was English, I'm English. Whale made some horror movies, and I've made...
CLIVE BARKER I mean, Emily Harris was his wife. And she seemed to resent his leadership, but on the other hand, s...
PATTY HEARST I was born in a family with a strong military background, so I chose to be a soldier.
WANG JIANLIN The Glenn Close model makes the most sense — a hard-assed, hard-nosed leader for a male-oriented g...
WILLIAM LUHR To be honest, I was born in luxury. I never saw the dearth of money, so money is not something which...
RANBIR KAPOOR Harvey Milk was a friend of mine, an important gay leader in San Francisco in the '70s, and he c...
GILBERT BAKER I was still closeted, but from the day I decided to run for office, knowing that I was gay, I decide...
BARNEY FRANK While I was writing I assumed it would be published under a pseudonym, and that liberated me: what I...
NICHOLSON BAKER I want to be a soldier as my father was.
KASPAR HAUSER I thought everyone would be familiar with this figure: if I'd studied a thing in school I assumed it...
MARGARET ATWOOD Rumors went round that I might be gay. In some ways, I was happy w/ this. Larry Rivers proved to me ...
PETE TOWNSHEND I have a foot here and a foot in some spirit world. There are many more layers to reality, and that ...
ISABEL ALLENDE When I was a kid, and I was odd, the default assumption was that I was odd, not that I was gay. Now ...
DAN SAVAGE Gay life in 1970 was very bleak, compartmentalized. You didn't take it to work. You had to reall...
LARRY KRAMER Perception is assumed to be reality until clients encounter the reality of the brand, don’t fake i...
BERNARD KELVIN CLIVE I was worried for a while that it was some sort of reflection of me that all I seemed to be getting ...
TORREY DEVITTO I just assumed that since I was a resident, I was covered.
ERVIN LINDSEY Khomeini was not a puppet like Arafat or Qaddafi or the many other dictators I met in the Islamic wo...
ORIANA FALLACI I think that our future has lost that capital F we used to spell it with. The science fiction future...
WILLIAM GIBSON It used to be that I wanted to be taller. Once I made 5-foot-1, I was happy.
TARA LIPINSKI She wished there was some place where she could go to hum it out loud. Some kind of music was too pr...
CARSON MCCULLERS I wished the dream were real, and this reality a dream. But that wasn't the case. And that was why, ...
KYōICHI KATAYAMA When I was a child my mother said to me, 'If you become a soldier, you'll be a general. If you becom...
PABLO PICASSO When we first met, I was probably six layers down in the military structure, but General McChrystal ...
CHRIS FUSSELL I've become this sort of icon for the gay community. I don't like the position.
SANDRA BERNHARD They've got a problem to solve. For some reason, they alone among big box retailers have sort of bec...
DAVID NEUMARK I mean, I grew up with pretty down-to-earth, atheist parents, but I was born a Pisces.
MELISSA AUF DER MAUR I felt after I finished Slaughterhouse-Five that I didn’t have to write at all anymore if I didn�...
KURT VONNEGUT JR. Today i am bolder then i was yesterday, fighting the fight of life like i was a soldier in it...
SHANE J VAN DER VELDE When I wished to sing of love it turned to sorrow. And when I wished to sing of sorrow it was transf...
FRANZ SCHUBERT When I wished to sing of love, it turned to sorrow. And when I wished to sing of sorrow, it was tran...
FRANZ SCHUBERT When I was a college student and I got interested in linguistics the concern among students was, thi...
NOAM CHOMSKY A coin is examined, and only after careful deliberation, given to a beggar, whereas a child is flung...
PETER WESSEL ZAPFFE Of course, I just assumed that the world was full of solo percussionists. It was only when I studied...
EVELYN GLENNIE I was born in Bournemouth, England, in 1943.
J. PHILIPPE RUSHTON I was born in a blender.
LORNA LUFT I was born 'neath a clouded star.
JULIA WARD HOWE I wasn't born a redhead, but I was born to be a redhead.
GEORGETTE MOSBACHER I was born to be funny.
BUDDY HACKETT I was born in Palo Alto, California in 1961.
ERIC ALLIN CORNELL I knew I was gay when I was 4 years old. I don't think it's a choice for me. But for some people, th...
LINDA CZYZYK When Peace Corps was first proposed, some in Congress assumed that only men would be volunteers.
ELAINE CHAO As a little boy of eleven I entered the Cadet Corps. I was not particularly eager to become a Cadet,...
MANFRED VON RICHTHOFEN I always wondered if there was a purpose to the universe, if there was a plan, if there was some sor...
JOHN GREEN When I was young, I forgot how to laugh in the cave of Trophonius; when I was older, I opened my eye...
SøREN KIERKEGAARD I was kind of a cross between Kristy and Mary Anne among 'The Baby-Sitters Club' characters....
RAINA TELGEMEIER Some of the greatest actors have turned superheroes into a serious business: Michael Keaton and Jack...
TOM HIDDLESTON Gay activists claim that because I don't subscribe to their political agenda, I am a homophobe, ...
LAURA SCHLESSINGER As a Zionist youth leader in the 1940s, I was among those who called for a binational state in Manda...
NOAM CHOMSKY Oftentimes I felt ridiculous giving my seal of approval to what was in reality such a natural thing ...
WILLIAM SEARS The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between ...
MAX DEPREE We can't go back to who we once were. We can only go on and become the person we were meant to be.
ANTHONY T.HINCKS That was great. I didn't quite know what was going on. I thought there was going to be some sort of ...
ALLEN BAKER I do admire Judi Dench and Sir Ian McKellen, but I'm a philistine. I like the good life too much...
ANTHONY HOPKINS I had quite a repressed childhood. I was born in '55 and by the mid '60s it was still very much a so...
JUDY DAVIS George was a leader in the lesbian and gay community in fighting discrimination and demanding equal ...
DOUGLAS ELLIOTT Rather than worrying about work, schedules, and deadlines, I felt at peace with God. He was in contr...
CRAIG GROESCHEL I only knew what was in my mind, and I wished to express it clearly
ULYSSES S. GRANT For a long time I believed in the death penalty. But now I know that the system can't be trusted to ...
FRANCES NEWTON It didn't sound that appealing and it wasn't paying much, ... They liked a character that I was doin...
CASSANDRA PETERSON Ian was the kind of smart that makes your straight A student look like she’d drown in a wet paper ...
MATT K. TURNER I had never before seen somebody I admired understand what was expected of him, choose to act otherw...
JOEL DERFNER I was wrongly terminated from my position.
BILL MORIARTY There was some questions where we had to choose (from a list) which we wished to be.
BEN OBOMANU This is an idea that came to me when I was a child, and now has become a reality. I know it works an...
FREDDY MELLA I was a closet straight. I think I wanted to be gay because I thought it was arty and interesting. A...
RUPERT GRAVES I'm not a soldier and I don't want to be, and quite frankly I don't care about the brand name of the...
BERTIE AHERN I didn't choose the fact that I was gay, but I did choose whether to live my life as a gay woman...
PORTIA DE ROSSI I always wanted to be a singer, it's what I wanted to do since I was little. I'm doing it now and I ...
BRITNEY SPEARS Just as Jesus was born to be the Messiah, I was born to be gay.
JUSTIN FLIPPEN Among some of the youngsters, I think reality TV has installed that culture into them and inspired a...
ALAN SUGAR

More Ian Mckellen

Until I came out, my acting was all about disguise, and thereafter it became about telling the truth...
IAN MCKELLEN You always think that 70 is the end of the road: 'Somebody died when they were 73; good life'...
IAN MCKELLEN What's upsetting about an autobiography is that the final chapter is always missing. I mean, you...
IAN MCKELLEN Godot is whatever it is in life that you are waiting for: 'I'm waiting to win the lottery. I...
IAN MCKELLEN I tend to discourage people from calling me 'Sir Ian,' because I don't like being separa...
IAN MCKELLEN I think the point to be understood is that we're all different. I've never been a fan of the...
IAN MCKELLEN If I was on a march at the moment I would be saying to everyone: 'Be honest with each other. Adm...
IAN MCKELLEN I love the Broadway audiences, who relish live drama and don't hesitate to display their enthusi...
IAN MCKELLEN Personally, coming out was one of the most important things I've ever done, lifting from my shou...
IAN MCKELLEN It's only fair that stable gay relationships of long standing should have the same rights and re...
IAN MCKELLEN I have little routines in the theater. Once I've established something, like the order of puttin...
IAN MCKELLEN There is a fantasy as old as the modern gay rights movement that if all our skins turned lavender ov...
IAN MCKELLEN You mustn't upstage the bride.
IAN MCKELLEN What I particularly like about Broadway is the camaraderie and the friendship of other people in oth...
IAN MCKELLEN So it's joyful to me, in my 71st year, to be able to be in a play that is absolutely right for m...
IAN MCKELLEN I like sleeping a lot.
IAN MCKELLEN Shakespeare's villains are fabulous because none of them know that they are villains. Well, some...
IAN MCKELLEN My friends are my family.
IAN MCKELLEN I headed out to have a breather at the stage door, dressed in my tramp costume. I had my bowler hat ...
IAN MCKELLEN Try and understand what part you have to play in the world in which you live. There's more to li...
IAN MCKELLEN I've often thought the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front saying, 'This is fiction....
IAN MCKELLEN Every anti-gay remark from the Church gives the thug a license to be cruel.
IAN MCKELLEN I don't make any distinction between a popular TV series or blockbuster film and doing Shakespea...
IAN MCKELLEN When we'd suggested doing it, the Theatre Royal management had said, 'Nobody wants to see Wa...
IAN MCKELLEN I've often thought the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front saying this is fiction.
IAN MCKELLEN Imagine trying to be a gay actor, a gay anything in modern Russia? Where to be positively oneself, t...
IAN MCKELLEN There are some tremendous actors in the U.K. who have been knighted, and I've spent much of my l...
IAN MCKELLEN I am lucky, I don't have aches and pains. I do Pilates regularly, which is a series of stretchin...
IAN MCKELLEN Acting is a very personal process. It has to do with expressing your own personality, and discoverin...
IAN MCKELLEN The thing you notice here after America is how refreshingly ordinary people look because they haven&...
IAN MCKELLEN Doing some of the 'Lord Of The Rings' press junkets got a bit claustrophobic.
IAN MCKELLEN The battle going on over gay marriage in America reveals an awful lot. The Bible belt - people hate ...
IAN MCKELLEN I certainly don't disparage someone whose attitude towards their work is utterly different from ...
IAN MCKELLEN Tolkien is as good as Dickens at sketching a scene.
IAN MCKELLEN In the past, kids didn't tell their parents they were gay, so there were never the bust-ups. Som...
IAN MCKELLEN My own death threats have declined considerably.
IAN MCKELLEN I owe a great deal to Harold Hobson, doyen drama critic of the 'U.K. Sunday Times,' who cham...
IAN MCKELLEN I often get mistaken for Dumbledore. One wizard is very much like another.
IAN MCKELLEN I used to comfort myself when I became an actor that it was a useful job, entertaining people. And i...
IAN MCKELLEN I always walk up the escalator on the Tube, and I live in a house with a lot of stairs, and that'...
IAN MCKELLEN Why do you act? You act for an audience. In the theatre, you're in their presence. Film stars do...
IAN MCKELLEN In any human-rights campaign, everybody must do what they can.
IAN MCKELLEN 'King Lear,' I've been seeing all my life. I mean, the great actors of my lifetime... to...
IAN MCKELLEN If you are playing King Lear you are the centre of attention anyway. You don't need to draw atte...
IAN MCKELLEN I used to think 'King Lear' was an analysis of insanity, but I don't really think it is....
IAN MCKELLEN If I say often enough that I'm going to be in 'King Kong,' I'm hoping that Peter Jac...
IAN MCKELLEN There have been many gay knights in the past - like Sir Noel Coward or Sir John Gielgud.
IAN MCKELLEN There are some tremendous actors in the U.K. who have been knighted, and I've spent much of my l...
IAN MCKELLEN People who are truly horrible are often the most interesting people in the room. You look at them an...
IAN MCKELLEN The one thing you can ask, I think, is that actors get paid a living wage. I would like it if all th...
IAN MCKELLEN 'Macbeth' was a very lucky play for me.
IAN MCKELLEN The most likely explanation is the most practical. 'Macbeth' is a very popular play with aud...
IAN MCKELLEN Macbeth is a very popular play with audiences. If you want to sell out a theater, just mount a produ...
IAN MCKELLEN There's no sex in Middle Earth.
IAN MCKELLEN Anyone who thinks Peter Jackson would fall for market forces around him rather than artistic integri...
IAN MCKELLEN The whole atmosphere of the book, the tone of 'The Hobbit,' is of a kid's adventure stor...
IAN MCKELLEN The strength of British theatre should be that these actors in their middle years know what they'...
IAN MCKELLEN Bill Gallagher's new version of 'The Prisoner' is an enthralling commentary on modern cu...
IAN MCKELLEN I don't make much distinction between being a stand-up comic and acting Shakespeare - in fact, u...
IAN MCKELLEN In the U.K. there is still work to be done, particularly in schools, stopping the homophobic bullies...
IAN MCKELLEN When you grumble about a taxi being dirty, people your own age will absolutely agree with you, where...
IAN MCKELLEN I think the point to be understood is that we're all different. I've never been a fan of theories of...
IAN MCKELLEN I have never wanted to be typecast, one of those actors who plays a variation on a one-note theme. S...
IAN MCKELLEN If you've got Mystique as your girlfriend the fun you could have in bed - I've just imagined...
IAN MCKELLEN I don't make much distinction between being a stand-up comic and acting Shakespeare - in fact, unles...
IAN MCKELLEN It's only fair that stable gay relationships of long standing should have the same rights and respon...
IAN MCKELLEN Long-held ambition
IAN MCKELLEN It is very, very, very difficult for an American actor who wants a film career to be open about his ...
IAN MCKELLEN When you were on stage, you could be absolutely open about your emotions and indulge them and expres...
IAN MCKELLEN Acting is a very personal process. It has to do with expressing your own personality, and discoverin...
IAN MCKELLEN I have got prostate cancer, and I have to keep monitoring that. It's no problem, it's under ...
IAN MCKELLEN That was the big effect Lord of the Rings had on me. It was discovering New Zealand. And even more p...
IAN MCKELLEN If I was on a march at the moment I would be saying to everyone: 'Be honest with each other. Admit t...
IAN MCKELLEN If you've got Mystique as your girlfriend the fun you could have in bed - I've just imagined X-Men 3...
IAN MCKELLEN It may be my rather puritanical upbringing at odds with my inborn laziness that makes me feel guilty...
IAN MCKELLEN Before acting, I wanted to become a journalist. I also toyed with the idea of being a chef - but tha...
IAN MCKELLEN Quakers are terrific.
IAN MCKELLEN One school invited me down, as two pupils had come out, and the headmaster didn't know what to d...
IAN MCKELLEN When I left Cambridge, I applied to regional repertory theaters in the U.K. and got accepted by one ...
IAN MCKELLEN I came rather late to film. I've done an awful lot of theater before - before I discovered the c...
IAN MCKELLEN It's an interesting but useless bit of information that every single character in 'The Lord ...
IAN MCKELLEN I have heard of people dying from prostate cancer, and they are the unlucky ones, the people who did...
IAN MCKELLEN I don't think many people will re-read 'The Da Vinci Code.'
IAN MCKELLEN You won't hear me talk about my politics, you won't hear me talk about my vegetarianism, you...
IAN MCKELLEN I'm brilliant at cooking my stepmother's scrambled egg recipe. The secret is to put eggs, bu...
IAN MCKELLEN It is really, really wonderful that in your old age you are protected by specialists who understand ...
IAN MCKELLEN I just followed my parents' example and advice on living, which was to leave the world a better ...
IAN MCKELLEN The wonderful thing about modern medicine is that so many of these complaints that used to signify o...
IAN MCKELLEN When I came out, I told my stepmother Gladys, and she just said she had known for years and was glad...
IAN MCKELLEN Before acting, I wanted to become a journalist. I also toyed with the idea of being a chef - but tha...
IAN MCKELLEN There's lots of Tolkien that must be confusing to people.
IAN MCKELLEN Tony Blair is not a villain, but he's played the part very well.
IAN MCKELLEN In the '50s and '60s, the life of a gay man was a secret. Homosexuality was illegal, so you ...
IAN MCKELLEN If I was a star, it would be difficult to go off and do 'Coronation Street.' So I guess I...
IAN MCKELLEN A book tour is not a good opportunity to let your mind wander. You have to pay attention, remember s...
IAN FRAZIER Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.
IAN FLEMING There is something magical about three you know - a trio is tight and nicely economical.
IAN WILLIAMS Seventy years old! How did that happen? I was part of the generation that wasn't going to die.
IAN MCSHANE Training a puppy is like raising a child. Every single interaction is a training opportunity.
IAN DUNBAR Once you're halfway home, you know that you can probably get the rest of the way there.
JANIS IAN I'm still swimming.
IAN THORPE For myself, losing is not coming second. It's getting out of the water knowing you could have do...
IAN THORPE I've enjoyed training again, I've enjoyed pushing myself in the pool and I'll keep on sw...
IAN THORPE Maybe one of the only things I do well: I cook like a maniac! I would be a chef if I weren't an ...
IAN SOMERHALDER I don't ever want anything to come in the way of me truthfully telling a story.
IAN SOMERHALDER You spend enough time on set as an actor and it's great when a director was at some point an act...
IAN SOMERHALDER The coming together of like-minded individuals through action is what's needed to see wide sprea...
IAN SOMERHALDER I don't know how to do anything else other than be an actor. If I wasn't in this, I would be...
IAN SOMERHALDER Kids are meeting in coffee shops and basements figuring out what's unsustainable in their commun...
IAN SOMERHALDER They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. It's the same way with women... or...
IAN SOMERHALDER Oceans are one of the most important things in the world now and that is a national security threat ...
IAN SOMERHALDER I can't let time move on without fighting tooth and nail and hopefully being a part of a revolut...
IAN SOMERHALDER Every love story needs a catalyst of some sort.
IAN SOMERHALDER I don't care how hot a girl is - if she doesn't like animals, it would be a major, major pro...
IAN SOMERHALDER I've sorta learned that I'm so tired of taking myself so seriously. It's so great to sho...
IAN SOMERHALDER A lot of things that happen in the world make me a bit crazy.
IAN SOMERHALDER You can't get anywhere without the people who have come into your life.
IAN SOMERHALDER There are always decades that interest people. For me, that's the Roaring Twenties.
IAN SOMERHALDER I always try to be reasonable and effective.
IAN SMITH Every human being makes mistakes.
IAN SMITH Declaring independence was the most traumatic decision I had to live up to. Because I didn't wan...
IAN SMITH Freedom. And Justice. If you have those two, it covers everything. You must stick to those principle...
IAN SMITH Status based on wealth is an old-fashioned idea; I find it repugnant, actually.
IAN SCHRAGER My best vacation was renting a boat and motoring along the Adriatic, going along the Croatian coast,...
IAN SCHRAGER I have to be more universal than my projects, but no less innovative.
IAN SCHRAGER The trimmings of wealth are not as important to me and my generation as they were to my parents'...
IAN SCHRAGER I consider myself fortunate to have grown up in Brooklyn. It's what gave me my drive to succeed,...
IAN SCHRAGER Great ideas have no attachment to either money or class.
IAN SCHRAGER I'm not into nostalgia, and I only look back to find lessons.
IAN SCHRAGER Good design is good business.
IAN SCHRAGER People say you should go out at the top but I was enjoying my football so much. Robbie Fowler's ...
IAN RUSH I like the Stereophonics. I know the lead singer, Kelly Jones, and there's the Welsh connection.
IAN RUSH I just wanted to play as long as I could. When you stop playing, you're not going to get it back...
IAN RUSH I think great players can play in any year, that's why they're great. A lot of it is down to...
IAN RUSH I've done my coaching badges, I've got my Pro Licence, but I enjoy what I'm doing now. I...
IAN RUSH The only thing I can cook is Welsh rarebit.
IAN RUSH There are a lot of famous comedians from Liverpool, then obviously the Beatles, and the football clu...
IAN RUSH This is why cup finals are so special because on the day anyone can beat anyone. That's what it&...
IAN RUSH I was so shy when I was younger. When I first went to Liverpool I didn't say a word for a year.
IAN RUSH You can enjoy yourself, but you need to look after yourself as well.
IAN RUSH It's different from Liverpool. Boston seems to be a friendly place.
IAN RUSH I love horse racing, I play golf, and I love travelling.
IAN RUSH Mainly it's the parents who remember me. But the kids today, what they do is go and Google you. ...
IAN RUSH Moving from Wales to Italy is like moving to a different country.
IAN RUSH I've got a place in Portugal, which I like very much, but I've just been working in Malaysia...
IAN RUSH I couldn't settle in Italy - it was like living in a foreign country.
IAN RUSH In India, kids need someone to look up to. They've got it in cricket: they have Tendulkar and ot...
IAN RUSH You've got to have a dream... if you don't have any big dreams, nothing happens.
IAN RUSH I don't have many friends. It's not because I'm a misanthrope. It's because I'm ...
IAN RANKIN A lot of writers, especially crime writers, have an image that we think we're trying to keep up ...
IAN RANKIN Right from the very beginning, I knew I wanted to write palpably Scottish fiction.
IAN RANKIN No matter how many awards you've won or how many sales you've got, come the next book it'...
IAN RANKIN My first novel was turned down by half a dozen publishers. And even after having published five or s...
IAN RANKIN You need a great idea, but then you've got to carry it through. If you get it right, you're ...
IAN RANKIN I wrote my first short story for a competition and won second prize. Another competition came up and...
IAN RANKIN I'm often asked how I write books, but I don't think my approach is suitable for everyone. I...
IAN RANKIN The most difficult part of any crime novel is the plotting. It all begins simply enough, but soon yo...
IAN RANKIN I'm interested in Scotland now and then, how it's changed. I want to get the reader to think...
IAN RANKIN I think writers have to be proactive: they've got to use new technology and social media. Yes, i...
IAN RANKIN At all times, think like a writer, and keep those antennae twitching - that way, you pick up new ide...
IAN RANKIN I've always written. At the age of six or seven, I would get sheets of A4 paper and fold them in...
IAN RANKIN I remember back in the early '70s, when I had a disastrous Grand Prix, my wife, Lynn, said to me...
IAN MILLAR It's always a thrill to wear the flag and ride for Canada in any competition, but especially the...
IAN MILLAR I would never want to be selected to a team just because I am going to set a record. It's critic...
IAN MILLAR I work out every morning for an hour while in front of the news channel or business channels, then I...
IAN MILLAR When we train a horse to do a certain job, we're training the horse to be like a soldier, and ye...
IAN MILLAR The minute I put my leg on a horse and say, 'Come on, let's go,' I absolutely believe th...
IAN MILLAR Obviously, as you get a little older, you are not going to be quite as quick or quite as strong, and...
IAN MILLAR If you persevere long enough, if you do the right things long enough, the right things will happen.
IAN MILLAR I come from the liberal side of thinking: Better one guilty man should walk free than one innocent m...
IAN MCSHANE Blackbeard is probably the most infamous pirate who ever lived. He's one of those characters for...
IAN MCSHANE Mum and Dad were both happy for me to do what I wanted.
IAN MCSHANE People tweet before they think, and it becomes obsessive.
IAN MCSHANE Acting is great therapy - you get to do things you'd normally get arrested for.
IAN MCSHANE My daughter said, 'I don't think granddad really suits you.'
IAN MCSHANE The bad boys get all the best lines.
IAN MCSHANE When you're in your early 20s, you go ahead and do everything. And it's very hard to judge y...
IAN MCSHANE Bosses will tell you they are looking for something different but they're not, actually.
IAN MCSHANE I mean, I'm an actor. I do what comes along.
IAN MCSHANE Acting's boring.
IAN MCSHANE I think the reason 'Sexy Beast' was so good was it wasn't just another run-of-the-mill g...
IAN MCSHANE I had a bit of a male menopause. It started at the age of 18 and continued until I was 45.
IAN MCSHANE My second marriage was to a girl I met in Manchester, kept a long-distance relationship going for tw...
IAN MCSHANE Every actor has to love and loathe the character he plays.
IAN MCSHANE If I'd had the choice when I was 14, and someone had said to me, 'You can either be a footba...
IAN MCSHANE You set paths for yourself, but as you get older, things change.
IAN MCSHANE There's only two kinds of actors - good ones and bad ones... and lucky ones and unlucky ones.
IAN MCSHANE You don't particularly want to stay close to your ex-wife. Or why would she be your ex-wife?
IAN MCSHANE When you're doing a medieval show like 'Pillars,' it starts off a bit like a school play...
IAN MCSHANE I'm from the disco era where everybody thought they were John Travolta... What song is going to ...
IAN MCSHANE What you do is, you just do the gig, enjoy, get on with it, and treat the rest as horse doodle.
IAN MCSHANE My dad was a football player - a soccer player - for Manchester United, and I loved playing football...
IAN MCSHANE It's tough to be 68 and dating. I've given it up now.
IAN MCLAGAN I only seem to date younger women.
IAN MCLAGAN The Small Faces are thought to be a one-hit wonder in America because we only had 'Itchycoo Park...
IAN MCLAGAN The Small Faces was such a different band than the Faces. I know three of us are the same, but when ...
IAN MCLAGAN When I joined Small Faces, we occasionally would bump into The Who. And Keith Moon and I became firm...
IAN MCLAGAN Small Faces were really a soul band as far as we were concerned. That's what we listened to; tha...
IAN MCLAGAN We had something very special in the Faces. We were blessed to have the fun we had.
IAN MCLAGAN I am so blessed that all I've done in my professional life, since I was 17-18, is play music and...
IAN MCLAGAN