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Wonderful things happen when you turn 50: you change perspective. You ask, 'Who am I? What do I want to do with my life? What have I not done that I want to do?'

I love the perspective afforded by having lived five decades, a degree of bemused and muted calm, a relief from the insistent demands of a turbulent ego and rampant ambition. I'd love to stay here forever. But something tells me that 50 is a sunny idyll, a temporary state of grace, a golden afternoon.

I'm someone who's done the opposite of whatever the received wisdom is, to keep your career going into your 50s.

I'm not 40 yet. I wouldn't even bother comparing myself to Chaplin.

Turning 50 is a little bit of a 'taking stock' moment. I feel probably a little dumber. I don't think I'm as sharp as I was when I was younger, but I'm definitely wiser and less likely to make gigantic blunders of an intellectual, spiritual, emotional or physical type.

I think when you turn 50 you get a little melancholic in a way.

I'm younger than Rod Stewart and Bruce Springsteen, but I'm still getting up there in age.

I have always regarded Mr. Bean as a timeless, ageless character, and I would rather he be remembered as a character mostly in his 30s and 40s.

It ain't over at 40. I haven't crested the best part of my career.