I couldn’t imagine what Fox thought they were doing, contemplating such a jagged protagonist for a prime-time drama. I only knew that I wanted the role very much.

To be able to pretend to be something that I’m frankly not is very liberating and exciting.

My dad gave me my first bike at 16. I soon fell off and was in a wheelchair for weeks. I haven’t fallen since.

I don’t have a single complete show or movie or anything else that I could look at and say, “Nailed that one.” But endless dissatisfaction is, I suppose, what gets us out of bed in the morning.

I have my moments. Ever since I was a boy, I never was someone who was at ease with happiness. Too often I embrace introspection and self-doubt. I wish I could embrace the good things.

I run six-to-eight miles a day, plus weights and aerobics in the lunch hour. I also lie a lot, which keeps me thin.

I feel like a hostage to fortune. Not that I am complaining. I wanted to play the role. But in truth I didn’t think the show would be such a success. OK, I thought it would fail. Not because it was bad. I was confident it was good, but plenty of good things just sort of wither on the vine.

Driving a motorcycle is like flying. All your senses are alive. When I ride through Beverly Hills in the early morning, and all the sprinklers have turned off, the scents that wash over me are just heavenly. Being House is like flying, too. You’re free of the gravity of what people think.

I don’t talk like House, or walk like him. I certainly don’t think like him. I don’t like to think for more than 15 minutes at a stretch actually; I am a fragile flower.

As a real person, he wouldn’t last a minute, would he? But drama is about imperfection. And we’ve moved away from the aspirational hero. We got tired of it, it was dull. If I was House’s friend, I would hate it. How he so resolutely refuses to be happy or take the kind-hearted road. But we don’t always like morally good people, do we?

One of the principal goals in my life has been to avoid embarrassing my children by doing the job I do. I hope I’ve managed to do that, and I hope that, with the job I’m in now, they are, if not proud, at least unembarrassed by it. I must say, my three are most agreeable children, who do nothing but delight me.

I never was someone who was at ease with happiness.

I have been instrumental in banning bottled water on the set. It hasn’t gone that well with the crew… so I replaced it with tequila.

I didn’t realize House would be the central character, more the bitter comic relief appearing occasionally. I relish his wounded nature – the lameness, the scarred Byronic hero.

I feel like I’m working on an oil rig right now. I’m away from home a lot.

I’m finding it increasingly difficult to simply walk down the street. In New York, I dashed in to buy a big pair of sunglasses to conceal myself, but the guy behind the counter shouted ‘Hey! It’s Dr. House.’

I couldn’t imagine what Fox thought they were doing, contemplating such a jagged protagonist for a prime-time drama. I only knew that I wanted the role very much.

Seems to me that this business, for actors anyway, is not so much about whether or not you do good work. It’s about whether or not you get the chance to do good work.