"I've never been passionate about acting, and I find more and more that I work to live the life I want to live. An actor like Al Pacino lives to act. I'm not sure though, there's something about the detachment I have, the feeling of the lack of importance about what I do, that is healthy." "Anyway, I'm never satisfied. I think were I ever satisfied with my work, I'd be in trouble." "Basically, I want to keep working, so I don't worry about the size of the character - if it's interesting, I'll do it. It's quite nice doing smaller roles, in some ways. It means I get home more, and I can get on with my life." "The movie industry is run by accountants in Hollywood and it's as simple as this; everyone has a number on their computer. They can look up Jeremy Irons and see what my last five movies have made. Say you want to make a $20m picture, which is relatively cheap. If Jeremy makes $9m, the director makes $5m, then you need a leading lady, and they just go through those figures - that's how casting happens. And none of my movies has made a lot of money." "As you get older, you look back and try to make sense of the sort of person you have become. And I think the most important thing that happened in my childhood was the first night I went to boarding school at the age of seven. I remember that night, and the loneliness. Also, my parents' marriage broke up when I was 15. But I think it was that first night at seven years old when I felt something had broken, and I've spent my life trying to get back to that feeling of home. It's the same sense of family that you find in the theater and movies. In fact, I'm hoping to make a film about that very subject - the need for home. You don't really have a home until you have children. And that home is created by the children." "What a camera likes are eyes which have life and tell a story." On his Ducati motorbike: "Ferrari on two wheels." "I sing like an actor and dance like a duck." In an interview, he once explained the origin and pronunciation of his name thus: "My name is certainly not pronounced 'Eye-rons,' but just like the metal. In England we say, 'Eye-ons' -- we're lazy about our Rs. Here [USA] I guess you would say 'Ire-ons.'" The name is fairly common in England, it's probably short for Ironsmith." "If we have to pay taxes [for Emmy gift bags], so be it. But don't spend it on bombs, for Christ's sake."