People often ask where I get my inspiration from, and I always say I have no good answer because, well, inspiration comes from everywhere: people, places, memories.
In my first film, we always tried to have a script and work in a normal way, but I was constantly changing things during shooting. Because I worked as a scriptwriter for 10 years, I understood that directors always wanted to change what was originally written, to improve on it.
Ever occur to you why some of us can be this much concerned with animals suffering? Because government is not. Why not? Animals don't vote.
The great composer does not set to work because he is inspired, but becomes inspired because he is working.
Maybe it's because I'm English, but in terms of how people perceive us I only pick up on the negative side of it.
Almost everyone agrees that corporate tax rates need to be cut because of global competition. Companies should not be able to stash earnings overseas tax-free.
I got started when I was 3 years old because my father was a music teacher and my lessons were free. Instead of learning to walk, you learn to play the piano.
I hope that readers will tear through my books because they can't stop themselves - and then, maybe, read them again and find new things there.
I hope that I dress for my age. Because there's no need to be dowdy, is there? But I don't go with all the colours that everybody is wearing. I'm not very fond of lime green or orange, so I don't do that. I read all the fashion magazines, but most things are totally unsuitable for somebody of 79.
I'm always told that what I say is controversial. Why is it controversial? Because I speak from a tradition that has now fallen out of favor with the dominant media in this country. And so when I say things like marriage should be between one man and one woman, I'm called a bigot.
No, sometimes we just have to take liberties because the idea was so good. I wish we'd just gone with the idea that Patsy had been a man. It would have been fantastic.
I survived only a year in Berkeley, partly because I declined to sign the anticommunist loyalty oath.
We are suffocated by writers who want to enlighten us with their truths. For me, the theatre is beautiful because it is a secret, and secrets seduce us, we all want to share secrets.
It's a business you go into because you're an egocentric. It's a very embarrassing profession.
Our position should not be on how to eliminate the competition at all expenses, but we should focus on what we're going to do in order to make sure that Americans turn to the road of prosperity with the trajectory of capitalism, because making a profit is not an evil.
To play well you must feel tranquil and at peace. I have never been troubled by nerves in golf because I felt I had nothing to lose and everything to gain.
What we're doing now is we're saying that individual schools can spend the money on their own priorities, so that head teachers can decide what's truly important, because the big shift in approach on education that we're taking - which is different from what happened before - is that we trust teachers and we trust heads.
I went to the Professional Children's School in New York, and I started modeling because I could do that until I actually figured out what I wanted to do, and it gave me the opportunity to travel.
It's hard when something's bigged up because you want people to watch it, so you have to promote it. It'd be great if it was the old-fashioned days when there was no press, and you just switched on and thought, 'Oh, God, what's going on?'
Certain travellers give the impression that they keep moving because only then do they feel fully alive.
The big difference is the size of the crew and the flexibility of shooting because of the size. I mean, it's crazy. So you can't improvise, you cannot suddenly do something that comes to mind, whereas in a small production you have much more flexibility.
But before looking to the future, let's glance back at the road we've traveled these past two years because that is the source of much of the optimism we are all feeling about the future.
My behavioural problems are non-existent because all my freakiness, I guess, is manifested in a visual way. And I never have come unravelled.
Sex is a bad thing because it rumples the clothes.
Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.
I really do see the good in people, and I don't want to change that. That's really how I view things, so sometimes I'll look past a lot of huge red flags because I see something else in someone. Then, of course, it always comes back to haunt me in the long run.
I had hoped to go to law school, but the war started, and because of the strong feeling that I did not want to kill anybody, I joined the Merchant Marine when I graduated from Berkeley.
It takes a lot of courage to face up to things you can't do because we feed ourselves so much denial.
When I ask teachers why they teach, they almost always say that it is because they want to make a difference in the lives of children.
I knew Childress was going to help me because my crew told me on the radio. I really appreciate what Richard did, but that is typical of people in this sport.
When I see the cultural diversity that exists today, I feel that we must defend it, and we need Europe, because otherwise we are going to live in a society with a single model, the Anglo-American model.
The basketball coach cut me within two days, so I was back in the pool. I was the first one in the wall after the first 25 yards, but the last one out because I didn't have a flip turn.
I was so happy when they cast me in Chocolat, because it's one of my vices.
America slept because most Americans preferred it that way.
I feel like this: When you call me in to do something with you, you must want me to do soul-singing. Because you know I'm a soul singer. Don't ask me to come in and rap. And don't ask me to come in and sing pop.
