Rowan Atkinson

For telling a good and incisive religious joke, you should be praised. For telling a bad one, you should be ridiculed and…

— Rowan Atkinson

The one thing I would never wish it to be thought is that you play serious roles in order to achieve some…

— Rowan Atkinson

You're about as useful as a one-legged man at an arse kicking contest.

— Rowan Atkinson

The first couple of weeks of filming were quite tricky for me to find my feet with the character [Maigret], which wasn't…

— Rowan Atkinson

People think because I can make them laugh on the stage, I'll be able to make them laugh in person. That isn't…

— Rowan Atkinson

We haven't made any particular decision [on Maigret], I haven't been asked if I want to carry on with it. All these…

— Rowan Atkinson

I'm as poor as a church mouse, that's just had an enormous tax bill on the very day his wife ran off…

— Rowan Atkinson

Look, if I'd wanted a lecture on the rights of man, I'd have gone to bed with Martin Luther.

— Rowan Atkinson

I don't think you should be too absolutist about what you play and what you don't play.

— Rowan Atkinson

Of course, some would say if you have a performing inclination, then you should become a lawyer. That's a platform we use,…

— Rowan Atkinson

To Be Successful You Don't Need Beautiful Face And Heroic Body, What You Need is Skillful Mind And Ability To Perform

— Rowan Atkinson

I have always regarded Mr. Bean as a timeless, ageless character, and I would rather he be remembered as a character mostly…

— Rowan Atkinson

[Georges] Simenon could be very brave like that. You never quite know what you're going to get or how the story's going…

— Rowan Atkinson

Although the great frustration about this [role] is the fact that there's one thing Maigret never does, and that's drive. He's always…

— Rowan Atkinson

[Maigret Sets a Trap] was always going to be the first film, and it seemed to be quite a nice story. But…

— Rowan Atkinson

I tend to play rather odd men. People that are slightly odd or eccentric, or have a more particular attitude to life.

— Rowan Atkinson

The character [Maigret] is bound to change and develop, and I wouldn't like to claim that we are perfectly formed straight out…

— Rowan Atkinson

We still have a tradition certainly in English television; it's faded a bit in the last five years, but we still have…

— Rowan Atkinson

[Maigret] is more internal. I think if we made more of these I might let him out a bit.

— Rowan Atkinson

I have to say that I've always believed perfectionism is more of a disease than a quality. I do try to go…

— Rowan Atkinson

No, no, I was only funny on stage, really. I, I, think I was funny as a person toward my classmates when…

— Rowan Atkinson

We are in the stickiest situation since sticky the stick insect got stuck on a sticky bun.

— Rowan Atkinson

I've no desire to hang around with a bunch of upper-class delinquents, do twenty minutes' work and then spend the rest of…

— Rowan Atkinson

Marketing is what gets you noticed.

— Rowan Atkinson

The job is interesting, and the task is difficult, but the man [Maigret] is just a decent man doing a very ordinary…

— Rowan Atkinson