Richard C. Armitage Quotations

A charity donkey is where you sponsor a donkey in a sanctuary and give them three pounds a month to have some donkey nuts or something.

Trying to please everyone can be very hard, but, like 'Shrek' or 'The Simpsons,' 'Robin Hood' manages to entertain adults and children at the same time, but in different ways.

I'm looking forward to getting fat and old.

I try to keep at a non-obsessive level of fitness. It's not about looking great, it's about just feeling good. So I do a lot of yoga. Bikram just blows my mind. It's mental as well as physical; if I don't train, I get very depressed.

Small, slow growth is the best I expect from an investment. I'm a real saver: frugal - like my parents.

I read everything that Tolkien wrote, and also read biographies of him. I was fascinated by his experiences in World War I, which includes the loss of life of some of his very, very close friends. I think he writes about that a lot in 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings.'

I didn't become an actor because I thought I'd make lots of money.

If you're used to being a maverick, then people don't get surprised when you start acting strangely.

I think most five-foot-two people would be quite offended if they were to be called dwarves.

I'd like to act in a film without special effects.

The scariest stunt I've ever done was on 'Captain America.' We were doing some underwater sequence. I was in a submarine, and Chris Evans had to break the glass, and the water had to fill up quickly in the submarine.

Tolkien made dwarf sign language because, you know, it's too loud to talk in the mines.

As an actor, you're like, 'Yeah, I want that phone call from Peter Jackson saying, 'You're my first choice for Thorin Oakenshield.'

Give me a character that has an heroic quality, and I'll go there.

I am just not a water baby. I can swim, but I just don't.

Light, trivial comedy does not appeal - it is not something I go to see.

My instruction to my parents is that I would rather they enjoy their retirement than leave me anything when they go. I am much happier watching them enjoying life.

Monet was like a conductor. He painted with quite a straight arm and used bold strokes.

Personally, I'm not interested in getting more money for what I do; I'm just interested in more money being put into the production.

I wouldn't want a tattoo at all. They're difficult to cover up.

I wouldn't even dare to sing like Ed Sheeran.

I have been to the theater more since I have lived in New York than I ever really did in London working on a television show.

I did quite a lot of menial jobs. I was a waiter, an inventory clerk touring round properties listing cups and saucers, and a laserquest marshal.

I'd like a bit of a crack at some kind of anarchic comedy, but whether or not I'm skillful enough at it all, we'll see.

I'm a late developer in everything. I have a fast mind and fast metabolism, and I'm an intense worker, but in terms of life development, I'm way behind.

I have a visual mind, so when I read a book, I get an instant picture in my head and it's very clear.

I don't think actors need to go on pedestals. I don't buy it.

I was an estate agent for three years. That was pretty grim.

It is possible to work out of New York on film and television and still not lose your connection to theater.

I think that when Tolkien created Gollum and the ring, he even expressed in his biography that he never really knew what he created until he went back and looked at it.

I think that internal conflict works very well, because, after all, all the best drama is fuelled by conflict.

I went into musical theatre, which I'm not really cut out for - I'm not as skilled at it as other people.

I suppose I'm a bit mean. My face on camera doesn't lend itself to happy nice guys. I think it's just that my bone structure looks menacing.

People like continuity, and the good old cliffhanger every week is something they enjoy. I enjoy it - I don't want to dip into just one episode when I turn on the TV.

Some of the mail I've had has been weird. When I played Guy of Gisborne, a woman crocheted a mini-version of me.

My mum will not speak above a low whisper in public because she doesn't want to draw attention to herself.

I think my fighting skills have certainly been improved by working with Peter Jackson.

When I told my mom I was going to audition for 'The Hobbit,' she said, 'Well, you've always loved Tolkien.' And she was right.

You know, to an extent, Method acting feels occasionally lazy.

When you already have a following, people are more likely to employ you.

You fight for certain roles, and you realise they're being filled by television and film actors, because theatre is constantly fighting for survival and they need names and faces and ticket sales.

To survive in a profession like this, you have to have absolute discipline and commitment, and I did not quite have it for musical theater.

Being thought of as sexy makes one employable, but it's not going to last forever, so I try not to think about it. It's like something that exists outside of me.

I've become one of those actors who find it difficult to say 'no' when things are offered.

People get to know me slowly and over the course of time. I'll probably still be a newcomer when I'm 60.

Often you find the character through the things they say. How they talk about other people, how they describe themselves - which is very rare.

The narrative that Peter Jackson has put into 'The Battle of the Five Armies,' it stands alone as a film. Rather than just finishing off the story, it's like a whole new adventure all of its own. I'm very excited about it.

Someone told me a woman bought a dog so she could take it to the same park where I go running, but I'm hoping that's rubbish.

There's a very strong force in Tolkien's characters.

It's bloody annoying being shy. I'll spend a whole evening at a party asking everyone else about themselves. I'm not being self-deprecating; it's because I'm too shy to talk about myself. So people come away from the evening actually having learnt nothing about me.

I've done an awful lot of skiing all over Europe: I've done Italy, Austria, France. I skied loads in New Zealand - I did pretty much every ski slope I could find.

I want to be strong enough to cope with the roles, but I don't want to be cast as the guy that takes his shirt off.

The interesting roles have only come since I got into my 30s. But I didn't know that was going to happen.

I kind of got lost down a road of TV and film, so it's great to come back to theatre.

I'm probably not very good at rom-com, being funny on demand; I'll leave that to the comedians.

In school, I was a beanpole with a nose I hadn't grown into.

I don't really like making too much of a statement with what I'm wearing.

I confess I've got a yearning to go to Los Angeles, but I can't work out if it is because a lot of British actors seem to go or because there's this perception that the bottom has fallen out of British drama, so therefore, it's the place to head for.

You can't reject anything in your life as an artist. Everything has its use.

You've got to have baddies that you can boo.