[on cigars] Non-smokers think it's the most unhealthy, unattractive thing they've ever seen. I was in Australia one time, by a bridge, smoking a cigar and taking some pictures. These runners went by and this woman just had a visceral reaction, made a noise like 'Eeeerugaah'. And I said: 'Here I am standing in piss and vomit from last night and that's OK, but God forbid I smoke a cigar and have a little bit of peace.'

[on cigars] Say I'm dating a girl and at first she'll have whatever concept of a cigar, and then let's say we are intimate and so we kiss and stuff like that. By a week or two she will be begging to smoke a cigar before we kiss. It's incredible! It's an habitude. It becomes part of the intimacy, which is extremely weird because you'd think it would be revolting. I mean, if you polled the public whether it was worse to beat your grandmother or smoke a cigar I don't know who would win. People freaking hate cigars. And there's a stigma with it, that you're a certain kind of a person.

[on cigars] They're excellent to study to. You can put 'em down, pick 'em up - they keep you company while you're thinking. They're a good thinking man's tool. With cigars it's inherent in the mechanics that you're going to sit down for a long time. You plan your day around it.

[re his affection for Cary Grant] I always feel like he's so good that he was not regarded as an actor. Maybe he didn't have the range that people expect a modern actor to have, but there's never been anybody like him.

(2011 quote, on quitting drinking) I couldn't be happier with that decision. I recommend it to anybody. I did not go to AA...I haven't had a drink for seven or eight years. I've changed my lifestyle. I don't go out. That's not just because of drinking, it's because of getting older. I've outgrown it, plus all my friends are married and have kids. I'm very interested in my health and I want to live the rest of my life very healthily. I feel 100 per cent in command of myself, so, when I get up, I never have to ask, 'where have I been? What have I said?'

[on working with Heath Ledger] My experience was wonderful. It was the experience of...loving to act myself, to watch somebody who loved his character and had the discipline to make a bold creation. I found myself trying to keep up with him and I was also admiring him at the same time. I watched him off-camera and on-camera, as an actor, to see his process. After the day was over, I shook his hand and said, 'That's why I'm an actor - 'cos of guys like you'. So I treasure that time with him...He was brilliant, he was brilliant to watch, he was brilliant to see on a daily basis, on set in the makeup trailer, when we were putting on our makeup together. I was doing Harvey's and he was doing the Joker's and trying to figure it out. If you would have said to Heath, 'Hey dude, this is a superhero movie, why don't you chill?' You just wouldn't say that to him. And I don't think that the movie would be as special if he did, so I think we all have to strive to those standards.

I'm not prone to doing science fiction, it's not my bag.

[on his job working at a movie theater in Sydney, Australia) I thought Crocodile Dundee (1986) was an inspirational film, I loved that movie. I'm serious. I saw it hundreds of times.

(On his nomadic upbringing) I came back from summer camp and my dad said: 'Boys we're moving to England' and I said 'No we're not' But dad said 'I don't care about the expense or whatever, you guys can travel as much as you want when we get there.' So I'd ski in Europe, I'd go to Greece, Spain, Moscow, I played soccer in Paris and rugby in Munich. We did everything.

(2011, on mentally visualizing your goals) I believe if you contextualize something then it will manifest in your life. I have done that with houses, cars, jobs. It absolutely works and it's not hocus-pocus. I believe everything in life has a spiritual component and everything's fair game.

[on working with Nicole Kidman on Rabbit Hole (2010)]: "She was irritated with me and I was irritated with her. But that's the way movie-making is. For one day, are we not allowed? For half a day even? It's so surprising to me when people are surprised that movie making is sometimes tense and uncomfortable because inherently it's going to be.You're around tens of people or hundreds of people working on things that are imaginary and that come from the soul. You could be dealing with subject matter like prostitution, death, drugs, blah, blah, blah. How could you expect that not to be uncomfortable?"

Yeah, I've done a lot of smaller stuff before, so it's nice to be in something that people actually see - on the outstanding success of The Dark Knight (2008).

[on his height] Normal...About 6 feet tall and a buck seventy.