Derek Jacobi Quotes & Sayings

“There's never been any game plan or thread through my career. It's just happened that I've ricocheted from one interesting character to another.”

“Ultimately it's a leap of faith and a leap of imagination to put yourself back in time into those conditions and situations and see how you would react.”

“We started filming in 1993 which was only four years after the fall of communism. The difference in Budapest over the last five years has been remarkable.”

“You have to get through the Hamlet hoop as a young actor. Your classical qualifications are based on the quality of your Hamlet. And then, as an older actor, you have to get through the Lear hoop. And I'm approaching the Lear hoop.”

“One of the last episodes was all about a flood. We were working in the rain till all hours, and it was muddy and it was cold and it was damp, and it was hours under the hoses. That was not pleasant. That was not pleasant.”

“He was somebody who made me think, I suppose, about the contemplative life. I've always been a city fellow, but I've often had vague thoughts about 'checking out' and perhaps going into a monastery and just seeing what it was like.”

“Actors, I don't think, ever really grow up. I'm hoping that that rejuvenating process applies to me, too. It has so far. I've been very lucky.”

“I am an actor and I live in the world of pretend in my working capacity. I live in the world of my imagination.”

“Ellis Peters's historical detail is very accurate and very minute, and therefore is not only interesting to read but good for an actor to acquire a sense of the period. And the other thing I think is that an actor lives in the land of imagination.”

“I would like to be as fit as I've always been. I've been blessed with good health, I've been blessed with stamina. Particularly for those great classical roles, you need an Olympian stamina. I, fortunately, have that.”