Hugh Grant

“When I finished my degree at Oxford, I went and acted for a bit. And I was appalling. And with each part, I thought, 'Well, that's embarrassing. I'd better do one more to show people I'm not that bad.' And, in fact, instead of a taking a year, that's gone on for 35 years.”

“I'm not a hopeless romantic. I'm quite the reverse. I'm a nasty piece of work, an ego maniac.”

“It's very rare in life to be sure about something - particularly when it's an issue.”

“I think there's something unromantic about marriage. You're closing yourself off.”

“The angry Scot is a cliche not without some foundation. That's the Lowland Scot - I'm a Highlander. We're particularly lovely and charming.”

“I used to dream about Gorbachev before he lost power. I'd go into a panic because I was meeting him, and I had nothing to wear. I'd ask my brother what to do, and he'd tell me to wear my dressing gown. I'd tell him I can't - it's too horrible. He'd tell me to wear his as well. So I'd meet Gorbachev wearing two dressing gowns.”

“I don't think there's much point in putting me a deep, dark, heavy, emotional film because there are people who do it so much better than I do.”

“The emphasis in 'Notting Hill' was perhaps, I thought, slightly more on the romance than on the comedy. But I think 'Mickey Blue Eyes' is maybe slightly more on the comedy. And the tone on 'Mickey Blue Eyes,' it's a far sillier film.”

“Theater has always been much more fun. You get a laugh, and it's really encouraging.”

“I suppose after 'Four Weddings' I was very busy for a bit, and I imagined that was my career, but I never had that thing of, 'I'm burning to be an actor. If I don't act, I'm not alive.' I've never had that.”

“I frequently dream of having tea with the Queen.”

“Something about teaching is curiously attractive, actually. I don't know what it is.”

“The reason I turn down 99% of a hundred, I mean a thousand, scripts is because romantic comedies are often very romantic but seldom very funny.”

“I don't particularly like babies. I don't mind them for about four minutes. That's my max. After that I can't quite see what everyone's fussing about.”

“For a few years, I thought I was putting show business behind me. I was busy doing other things in life, particularly with politics. I was not out looking for films, really. I lost interest.”

“At home, I hardly ever leave London. I don't like the countryside in England.”

“My whole history of being an actor is unusual and slightly disgraceful because it should be something you burn to do.”

“I have no doubt that I'd be a marvelous father. Maybe not when they're tiny, but when they're a little bit older, I think I'd be rather good.”

“And I particularly like the whole thing of being boss. Boss and employee... It's the slave quality that I find very alluring.”

“I'm such a chronic relativist, I can't hold down a strong opinion about many things long enough.”