Alan Rickman

Alan (on why he won't discuss Snape): I never talk about Harry Potter because I think that would rob children of something that's private to them. I think too many things get explained, so I hate talking about it. Some child would read something I said and go, `You mean it's not in my head, I'm not imagining that.' So pardon me if I don't talk about it. Until it's [the Potter film franchise] over, it should be left uncommented.

Alan: I am the character you are not supposed to like.

Alan: I'm still living the life where you get home and open the fridge and there's half a pot of yoghurt and a half a can of flat Coca-Cola.

Alan: I get stage fright and gremlins in my head saying: 'You're going to forget your lines'.

Alan: (on moving between England and the States) If you could build a house on a trampoline that would suit me fine.

Alan: I do take my work seriously and the way to do that is not to take yourself too seriously.

Alan: When I get off the plane in England I always feel about two inches shorter.

Alan: What's interesting about the process of acting is how often you don't know what you're doing.

Alan: Talent is an accident of genes - and a responsibility.

Alan: Nothing gives me as much pleasure as travelling. I love getting on trains and boats and planes.

Alan: It's a nightmare to sit and watch a film that I'm in. There's a horrible inescapability to it.

Alan: I'm a quite serious actor who doesn't mind being ridiculously comic.

Alan: I do feel more myself in America. I can regress there, and they have roller-coaster parks.