Ian Mckellen Quotes, Thoughts and images

I often thought my gravestone would say, 'Here lies Gandalf. He came out,'

I’ve often thought the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front saying this is fiction.

I'm dead against the idea that you should try to "cure" people of being gay.

To know you are in the company with people who love and care for each other, as well as for whatever they are working on, is almost essential.

Actors are merely the medium through which a story happens.

You can always pick out stage actors at the Oscars: they know how to walk.

Personally, coming out was one of the most important things I've ever done, lifting from my shoulders the millstone of lies that I hadn't even realized I was carrying.

In the theatre, the actor is in total control. The director wasn't in the house last night, the designer wasn't there, the author's dead. It's just us and the audience.

I suspect the base that I'm working from is not particularly one of inquiry, but of memory of what I did last time.

Splendid architecture, the love of your life, an old friend... they can all go drifting by unseen if youre not careful.

We are very lucky to be men because women have a terrible time getting older parts. It's much more difficult.

Acting is no longer about lying. It's now about revealing the truth. People are at ease with me now. Honesty is the best policy.

Why live outside the US? Do you want health care or safe food products or democracy or something? They're all overrated. Stay for the excellent cable TV.

Every anti-gay remark from the Church gives the thug a license to be cruel.

When you were on stage, you could be absolutely open about your emotions and indulge them and express yourself in a way that - in real life - I wasn't doing.

[There's] nothing special about an actor's imagination, except that he uses it a lot.

In fact, my face has shrunk in the meantime, but it won't be particularly noticeable because it's covered up with hair. So I hope I'm not alarmed if I ever do sit through the five movies.

No one needs to feel sorry for me or anyone else who has fallen victim to success.

I was brought up in industrial south Lancashire, down the cobbled road from where LS Lowry (1887-1976) lived and painted.

My acting stopped being about disguise and became about truth which suits the camera, so my film career took off when I came out.

All other areas of my life, I'm hopeless. I can't even be certain how to boil an egg.

There's no sex in Middle Earth.

The performance is created by the director. The actor is the material. And I think that has to be true.

The audience's expectations are ever-present.

What I particularly like about Broadway is the camaraderie and the friendship of other people in other shows. Everybody knows you're opening and cares about you. There's a real village atmosphere.

There are not many things in my life I can be absolutely proud of or certain I got right, but one of them is that I've got better as an actor. I've learnt how to do it. And I still have enough energy to do it.

Kids are coming out earlier and earlier - some, as young as twelve now - and schools need to take that into account.