Dan Stevens Quotations

My dad tells me that he took us to a pantomime when I was very, very small - panto being a sort of English phenomenon. There's traditionally a part of the show where they'll invite kids up on the stage to interact with the show. I was too young to remember this, but my dad says that I was running up onstage before they even asked us.

The comfort zone is the great enemy to creativity; moving beyond it necessitates intuition, which in turn configures new perspectives and conquers fears.

A British porch is a musty, forbidding non-room in which to fling a sodden umbrella or a muddy pair of boots; a guard against the elements and strangers. By contrast the good ol' American front porch seems to stand for positivity and openness; a platform from which to welcome or wave farewell; a place where things of significance could happen.

In the 21st century, I think it's fair to say, homosexuality is more accepted in Britain and it's wonderful that my generation has been able to grow up with that.

I haven't done as many films as I would have liked. A lot of my contemporaries have done more. I don't have 'I will be a movie star' emblazoned on anything, but I'd like do a bit more screen stuff and then when the time is right come back to theatre. When it is good, theatre takes a lot of beating both to watch and perform.

I never quite toed the line. I was a bit disruptive. All my early school reports from the age of 5 were 'Daniel must learn not to distract others.' And now, that's what I do for a living.

The female attention I have to struggle hardest with is from my two-year-old daughter.

Soap opera seems to be a dirty word, but actually they are the most popular shows we have. People want to know what happens next, people hate the villains and love the lovers. It's good, fun TV. But I wouldn't call 'Downton' a soap opera as such.

I've never tried to find my real parents. I'm very grateful to my mum and dad for adopting me - they're completely incredible people. It was my dad who encouraged me to question everything, to forge my own path, to think, to read. I always felt it was my right to question everything.

I've had to learn when not to tweet. Like, you learn how to keep your mouth shut? Learn to keep your tweet shut.

All my early school reports from the age of 5 were 'Daniel must learn not to distract others.'

I don't see money or a particular status as an actor as a goal, but I want to do the best work I can in as interesting a range of roles as I can.

It's nice to get your glad rags on for awards like the Baftas, but it doesn't happen all the time.

Not a lot of people would think that I spent most of my early years totally rebelling against anything I could, getting suspended from school, going on demonstrations.

At the age of 11 I was about 6 ft. tall and my voice had completely broken. That caused problems. I was this gangly, spotty, very unattractive kid. I wasn't cool and I wasn't a nerd. I didn't even want to fit in with anyone.

I saw Mercury Prize-winners Alt-J for the first time recently, touring their debut album 'An Awesome Wave,' and I'm still riding the high: they're the most musically dynamic and exciting band to have poured tune into my lug holes live since Bellowhead.

'Planet Earth' was such an extraordinary series and the 'Making Of'... is fascinating: the creatures and stories behind the camera are just as fascinating as those in front. It's a bit of a dream come true to be a part of the team in some small way.

We take so many of our freedoms for granted nowadays - I can travel where I like, I can have a baby when I like, I can do any job I want - but I do think chivalry has been lost a little bit.

You can be romantically interested in someone and love them and still, I think, be really interested in things and a certain lifestyle that person might provide.

Coming back to theatre is something I'm keen to do for the rest of my life. It recharges my batteries, so to speak.

When it is good, theatre takes a lot of beating both to watch and perform.

You do feel a certain obligation to shows that raise your profile like 'Downton' has. But there are definitely other exciting opportunities out there.

I've been a lucky boy.

I'm sure I wouldn't have been asked to judge the Man Booker if it weren't for 'Downton.'

I'm shocked at being recognized.

I'm a huge fan of Eighties music.

I would like to do something modern and possibly funny.

I was never very happy at school.

I was a pretty difficult teenager.

Books are my weakness.

I've never been a fan of directors who clutter a piece with all sorts of crazy preconceptions or weird ideas.

What was interesting was talking to older gay men about what it was like being gay in the Eighties.

I always wanted to be an actor.

There is great worth in holding universal truths and timelessly beautiful words in your heart, which will stay there forever, infusing your thoughts and speech…

Family is hugely important to me. Having kids is the best possible way to shake off any kind of darkness that might accompany a role that you're playing.

I'm shocked at being recognized. You go to places you don't think you would be and still, you are. Taxi drivers often recognise me... but I haven't got a free ride yet.

But even writing the column for the 'Telegraph,' that idea of working to deadlines, which as an actor that's not something you have to do in the same way. It's excited me into wanting to do a bit more.

It's great when somebody is able to communicate an actual shot sequence to you and you know the world you're inhabiting with that. It's literally a haunting tune.

Everything's so accelerated now.

I don't know much about my biological background.

It's the challenge of trying to evoke any kind of sympathy for a role that ordinarily we would say, "Oh, this is a bad guy" and dismiss him.

I don't think many people get to play big emotions in life.

I don't think there's ever a right time to have kids. I'm actually pretty glad it's happened quite young.

"I've never see you do something like this before and I'd love to see you try." For a young actor, that's about the most exciting thing that anyone can say to you.

I haven't done as many films as I would have liked.

I want to spend as much time as I can with my family, yet I'm aware of having to bring home the bacon.

I never quite toed the line.

I do listen to a lot of music. Actually, I very often ask directors if they can offer up a play list. They very often have one anyway that they're listening to.

It’s not a bad lesson to learn in the bleaker months: how you view a storm is a question of perspective; provided you find the right rock to watch it from, it could be the most incredible thing you’ll ever witness.

None of us had any idea of how successful Downton was going to be. I thought I was signing up for another period drama that had a slightly modern feel. It had a freedom about it because it was coming out of the head of Julian Fellowes. Anything could happen and generally did.

My dad's family were pretty working class, actually.

I'm amazed by just constantly - there's not a week that goes past where there's not someone in Ulan Bator or Rio De Janeiro suddenly says, 'Ooh, 'Downton' started this week.' You completely forget it's staggered across the world.

When they're four, five, six-thousand feet up in the air, there's nothing you can do for them.

People look at me, they know I've appeared in costume dramas and they automatically assume I must be a Tory, I must be a certain type of person. Not a lot of people would think that I spent most of my early years totally rebelling against anything I could, getting suspended from school, going on demonstrations. I was a pretty difficult teenager.

We were up 26-19, and it looked like things were clicking. But for a few minutes, we went in our little shell and gave them some easy baskets.

We believe he was a passenger on board the United Airlines flight. He stated that the plane was being hijacked.

We lost a lot of high tech jobs recently. They've been replaced with service sector (lower pay) jobs.

Is it too early? I don't think so. The citizens of the United States have forgotten what happened. It's definitely a moment I'll never forget.

The Broadway audiences are very vocal and seem very engaged. For certain shows, especially with a show like 'The Heiress,' the audience's reactions sound like 'The Jerry Springer Show' sometimes. That seems to be a very New York thing. Oh, there's also the entrance round of applause here, which we don't get too much in London.

As long as I am given the opportunity to keep performing and keep exploring in whatever medium, I'll be happy. As long as I get to spend time with my family, I'll be happy. As long as I can write in some form, I'll be happy. It is the essential things like that I equate with happiness.

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They're going to have to do some voluntary conservation -- take shorter showers, don't wash your car as often, don't water your lawn unless you are putting down some new grass.

It's head and heart. I like to feed both. I always wanted to be an actor. But the cultural-intellectual side of things has always excited me. I wouldn't want to let it go.

Every night, half an hour before curtain up, the bells of St. Malachy's, the Actors' Chapel on New York's 49th Street, peal the tune of 'There's No Business Like Show Business.' If you walk the streets of the theatre district before a show and see the vast, enthusiastic lines it sounds like a calling: there is certainly no place like Broadway.

Theatre, when it is at its best, takes a lot of beating - the live experience and the shared collective experience of live storytelling is really special when it is good. Particularly here in New York because the audiences are amazing, very vocal and very engaged, and that makes theatre very exciting.

Oh, it is quite possible that none of us in 'Downton' will ever again get the ratings this has had. But from a career point of view, it has opened so many doors.

No matter what happens, there are humans involved. We make mistakes. We try to go through enough checks and balances.

At 13, in my first year of Tonbridge, I went up for the part of Macbeth. I was up against the 17- and 18-year-olds, but for some reason I got the part. It made me incredibly unpopular with my peers, but it was the English and drama teachers who stepped in to save me when others wanted me kicked out of the school.

I have only recently got interested in film, and it is a strange way of working in many ways. But actually, when it is at its best, it's quite an extraordinary way of working between a director and an actor, to really explore an inner life.

I'm lucky to be married to someone who entirely gets what I do. She is totally sympathetic to the actor's life. Her own mother was an actress, so she sort of grew up with it.