Atkinson: "The clear problem of the outlawing of insult is that too many things can be interpreted as such. Criticism, ridicule, sarcasm, merely stating an alternative point of view to the orthodoxy, can be interpreted as insult."

Atkinson: "But I always feel that whatever I do, I could do better. I suppose it is perfectionism."

Atkinson: "Of course, some would say if you have a performing inclination, then you should become a lawyer. That's a platform we use, or a priest. You know, anywhere you lecture and pontificate to people."

Atkinson: "I'm more critical of the films I make than anyone else."

Atkinson: "To criticize a person for their race is manifestly irrational and ridiculous, but to criticize their religion, that is a right. That is a freedom."

Atkinson: "Marketing is what gets you noticed, and that side of it something - this side of it, if you like, doing interviews - is the side of it that I least enjoy, and yet is 50% of the project."

Atkinson: "I have to say that I've always believed perfectionism is more of a disease than a quality. I do try to go with the flow but I can't let go."

Atkinson: "For me, the best way to increase society's resistance to insulting or offensive speech is to allow a lot more of it."

Atkinson: "Get that right, then- if you get the quality right, then the marketability or whatever; your ability to sell videos or your ability to earn money or whatever, will follow naturally. But try to be creatively lead rather than market lead. And that's important to me."

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

Atkinson: "I think I have an inner confidence that my tastes are pretty simple, that what I find funny finds a wide audience. I'm not particularly intellectual or clever or minority-focused in my creative instincts. And I'm certainly not aware of suppressing more sophisticated ambitions."

Atkinson: "I like to juggle with one ball at a time. Then I put the ball down and do nothing for extended periods of time."

Atkinson: "Mr. Bean is essentially a child trapped in the body of a man. All cultures identify with children in a similar way, so he has this bizarre global outreach."

Atkinson: "I consider myself more of a visual comedian than a physical one."

Atkinson: "There is always that age-old thing about England and America being divided by a common language. You think that because we speak English and you speak English that you're bound to understand and like everything that we do. And of course you don't."

Atkinson: "Nope, I don't enjoy work generally. Not because I'm lazy; it's just all so stressful and worrying."

Atkinson: "Apart from the fact that your physical ability starts to decline, I also think someone in their fifties being childlike becomes a little sad. You've got to be careful."

Atkinson: "I have always worried about things more than I should."

Atkinson: "Confronting a stadium audience, you can't see the whites of their eyes. It's just an amorphous mass of noise and, of course, you can't see the alleged billions watching at home either, so the degree to which you are intimidated is quite low."

Atkinson: "But generally speaking, I tend to be quiet and introspective."

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 the case at all. I am essentially a rather quiet, dull person who just happens to be a performer."

Atkinson: "The older you get, the more you realise how happenstance... has helped to determine your path through life."

Atkinson: "I find it difficult to laugh. I sometimes feel as though it’s in the back of me where I’m analysing the humour or analysing the joke, rather than enjoying it. So, if somebody tells a very good joke I go: 'mmm, very funny'... but I’m thinking about: 'yes, I suppose it is funny,' you know what I mean? It’s sort of clocking - it’s sort of slowly filtering way down through the system, and sometimes I laugh a long time afterwards when I suddenly realise how well-structured the joke was and how beautifully told it was, and then I can laugh at it."