“
Fear is an underrated emotion. And that's why I think it's very dangerous to try and cosset children from it. A healthy scare is as good as as a healthy laugh. In fact, they're two sides of the same coin. There is a desire to shield from the knocks and bumps of reality.
— Mark Gatiss
Courage
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I'm a great believer in the beauty and the power of surprise.
— Mark Gatiss
Wisdom
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My dad was quite a forbidding figure. I realise now that that was mainly because he worked so hard. He wasn't unkind, but he was a presence.
— Mark Gatiss
Success
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Even when I was a child, I always wanted to be older. I realised just in time that it's a mistake and to enjoy my youth while I had it.
— Mark Gatiss
Happiness
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I grew up with low self-esteem. I didn't think I was very pretty. I had glasses, red hair and was generally quite a spod.
— Mark Gatiss
Wisdom
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I love going to galleries, particularly the National Portrait Gallery.
— Mark Gatiss
Love
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The question I ask myself is: have I really just become a squeamish middle-aged man, or has something happened to the horror genre that shows a growing appetite for watching torture, or at least a desire to explore it on film? And if so, why would that be? I can't pretend I know. I just know I don't like it.
— Mark Gatiss
Wisdom
“
I think one of the few faults in Dickens is that mostly his lead characters are blanks - who is David Copperfield, who is Oliver Twist? And yet he takes such joy in populating the rest of his novels with these fantastic, grotesque people like Pecksmith and so on.
— Mark Gatiss
Happiness
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I had a girlfriend before I ever had a boyfriend, but it was just a phase.
— Mark Gatiss
Friendship
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I think a lot of people who say they are bisexual aren't.
— Mark Gatiss
Wisdom
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Sci-fi and fantasy used to be a TV staple throughout my childhood. Then it just stopped dead. It was seen as culty, a minority interest.
— Mark Gatiss
Wisdom
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Even though it's meant to be the season of jollity and goodwill, there's something delicious about the anticipation of a Christmassy ghost thrill.
— Mark Gatiss
Wisdom
“
The thing is, horror is a big part of 'Sherlock Holmes.' Doyle also wrote a lot of great horror stories, so there's a lot more horror in 'Holmes' that people possibly think of. There's a lot of curses and mysticism and real scares.
— Mark Gatiss
Wisdom
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At school I briefly wanted to be a palaeontologist, but I was no good at chemistry and physics.
— Mark Gatiss
Wisdom
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I am a gay man who loves James Bond films and snooker - all kinds of working-class pursuits.
— Mark Gatiss
Success
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I don't care what other people think any more about me writing my own parts.
— Mark Gatiss
Wisdom
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I used to go to the gym regularly and swim an awful lot, but that was when I was unemployed and knew leisure intimately.
— Mark Gatiss
Wisdom
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One of the pleasures of the original 'Grimm's Fairy Tales' is how incredibly ghastly they are. The ugly sisters have their eyes pecked out by crows.
— Mark Gatiss
Wisdom
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Slightly forgettable movies can sometimes make great musicals.
— Mark Gatiss
Wisdom
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Grooming-wise, it is now a constant battle as I progressively turn into my father. I have to keep on top of ear and nose hair - things you never believe will happen to you. Suddenly I have a shaving brush in my ear and I don't know where it's come from, and the more hair I take the out, the more it surges back.
— Mark Gatiss
Wisdom
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I'm terribly nostalgic, but I'm with the Elizabethans who thought nostalgia was a disease. It's a dangerous place to be because you can get caught up in it.
— Mark Gatiss
Wisdom
“
When I was seven or eight, I was bought a fantastic book called 'The Movie Treasury of Horror Movies' by Alan G. Frank; it became my bible. It's packed full of the most amazing photos and is still fantastic to look at.
— Mark Gatiss
Wisdom
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For some reason, I always get offered plays when I'm doing plays and then, if I stop doing them, people stop asking me.
— Mark Gatiss
Wisdom
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It's a cliche, but it's true that all the fun lies in baddies, grotesques and comic roles.
— Mark Gatiss
Wisdom