"A feeling is something that’s really important to have! Real life is not always easy. You cannot always look at the good stuff. But just because something is not positive, it’s not like it’s going to kill you. You don’t have to say, “No, no, no.”"

"No, you're only brave in the face of something you're afraid of, and I'm not afraid of stories, of emotion, of people. So I don't feel it's risky. I feel it's an exploration of something human."

"I think everybody's political. The act of being alive is political. Unless you choose to be a hermit, you're automatically political, because you're part of a community."

"I do think the one thing ageing allows you is to go, 'Well, I know what I like, I know what I don't like.'"

"All I really care about is staying alive for as long as possible for my children, because I don't want them to have to experience loss."

"You have to remember children are not usually very interested in what their parents do for a living."

"When I see people do extraordinary things and I think: How did they do that?"

"In the early Eighties people thought feminism was over, but now, my God, we’re dealing with third-wave feminism, which is extraordinary."

"It takes a long time to figure out what you care about."

"I don't understand how it happened so suddenly; why the upper echelons of society have flourished while other people suffer."

"It's difficult in an economy like ours to call yourself a socialist, because we're living in a capitalist society where we all benefit from that. But in terms of where we are going politically, a lot of people would like to see a more equitable distribution."

"My mother always told me that for a person to be happy they need love and work."

"The older I get, the more I want to be authentically myself."

"Sometimes when things are mysterious to us– the thing that we do, you just do one, two, three and it’s done. But something that is outside of your abilities or your world and it’s mysterious, it’s amazing."

"I had to go off on my own. So, okay, I haven’t got Michael Caine, I’d better get Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr, Kenneth Branagh, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Cillian Murphy, Tom Conti, and hoped that all those greats would add up to one Michael Caine."

"I keep saying I'm going to retire. Well I am now."

"I'm very lucky the whole face has not collapsed."

"Not many people know that."

"[On assuming he would never be a star] Because I thought you had to be very handsome and all that – kissing the girls and everything – and I wasn't like that when I was young. I was an ugly, skinny bastard."

"I'm both, but I will use Sir Michael Caine."

"[On his 50-year long marriage to his wife Shakira] [W]e went to Vegas for my 40th birthday, and we got married. It was where a lot of famous people had got married, because there were pictures of all of them on the wall. I was looking round thinking, f—g hell, I’m getting married where whatisname got married, and so-and-so. And then, at the end, I looked round, and realised every single person on the wall had got divorced. I thought, oh s—t, this isn't going to last long, then."

"I was named after my father and I was knighted in his name because I love my father. I always kept my real name - I'm a very private and family-orientated person."

"But I'm 90. I don't worry about the future. I worry if I'm gonna make it to lunch."

"My worst roles have been in movies I made solely for the money — like Jaws – The Revenge. I was offered a small part in a fourth of the 'big shark' movies at a tremendous fee, and I took it. I have never seen the film, but by all accounts, it was terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it's terrific."

"[On his National Service] And then when I was 19 they sent me to Korea – which was not a very nice idea for your 19th birthday. I wasn't a big professional soldier, and it wasn't a big war. The Korean War was like the First World War, we all lived in trenches and fought each other in the dark; but I was still s—t scared, as everybody else was. So I understood those things – death and close friends dying and getting injured."

"[On his father, Maurice Micklewhite Snr, a soldier during World War II] He liberated the Pope."

""My name is Sir Maurice" or "My name is Sir Michael"?"

"Jennifer has really emerged in the last few years. She's very intelligent, a great beauty and has a lot of integrity. And she's developing this extraordinary screen presence."

"My character has a lot of rapid-fire technical jargon, so wrapping your head around it and trying to say it with authority is a challenge. For me, the scenes that are more emotionally fraught, I always find the most fun to play."

"Jennifer goes in very deep, not just about her character but everyone else's, line by line, page by page. She is driven by the desire to understand why we act the way we do, why we behave a certain way."

"I can’t say exactly how it impacts me and changes me, but I feel like the process of doing that and really considering other perspectives, I feel like it offers some kind of teaching."

"I mean, my dad was there with me and my dad was just so proud and excited to be there and I was so happy to have him there with me and I don’t know, I connect that a lot with my dad in that experience of being there, being there with him and what it meant to him."

"It wasn’t until my late twenties that I realised acting could be a creative experience."

"I'm more reserved. I can be kind of shy in a group. Once I'm comfortable with someone, I'm not reserved."

"It’s weird how much his death has affected me, especially how I feel now. I am much more conscious of how precious time is and I strive to find joy in everything. I catch myself quicker now when I start wasting my time worrying about silly things."

"I went through a really hard time at the end of last year. The biggest thing for me is that my kids grow up safely and have happy lives. For me, that’s enough."

"I did think that it was the sort of film that we could do together, and we had wanted to work together on something for some time."

"The thing that really matters to me is well-being and happiness."

"He was funny and gracious and made me feel so comfortable. He was amazing. Subsequently, I became a huge fan of his music."

"It was something about the way that we were together. He stood out to me as someone singular and rare and beautiful, and I liked the way he was in the world. I liked the way he was with people. I liked the way he was with my son and the way he made me feel."

"I have a thing about honesty; I think it's crucial to a relationship. Otherwise, one person holds all the power. It's healthy to be straightforward, and it turns out you can wind up weathering a lot. Knowing that everything is on the table what you see is what you get lends a sense of safety."

"Lots of other people have won Oscars, too, and there are a lot of talented women my age working who could play the roles I go after just as well."

"I don't really have a vested interest in what they do career-wise, so long as it's neither destructive to their bodies nor illegal. And hopefully not destructive to other people's bodies either."

"I'm incredibly loyal, I like that. I'm not into trends and fads. I'm in it for the long haul. The same goes for relationships, business and personal. I believe in functioning that way."

"I'd like both of my kids to remain kids as long as possible until they actually have to become grown-ups, so I prefer none of them become professionals before adulthood."

"I got to spend the whole year with my kids and my husband. And that's wonderful. My job really suits me."

"After working with him, he became a real hero of mine because he was so kind to me – I was a 14-year-old kid and knew nothing."

"You have to do it. You can't keep thinking about it, you just sort of surrender to it, especially when you get the opportunity to work with great actors."

"I still don't know if I have the hang of it. It's kind of a work in progress but I've felt more invested than ever and committed and passionate since the birth of my son."

"And here we all are separated from people that we love and not able to go live the lives we’ve always loved. It is strange. I didn’t quite anticipate. I don’t think anyone anticipated being in this position now."