Every time I start a new piece of work, I spend a long while under the duvet thinking I can't do it.

Will you lie to me and promise to read them? Books need to be read. The pages need to be turned.

Yes, I hate it when people call me a 'national treasure'. It takes away your bite and makes you feel like a harmless old golden Labrador.

Love is the only thing that keeps me sane.

I married two weeks after my 18th birthday, far too young, and by the time I was 23 I was a single mother of three small children, Sean, Daniel and Victoria, living in a prefab house.

Most social problems could be helped or prevented if people had more money and practical advice.

I don't know why women are so mad about flowers. Personally, they leave me cold. I prefer trees.

There's only one thing more boring than listening to other people's dreams, and that's listening to their problems.

I think we take it for granted that if you are with your husband after 30 years, then he is the love of your life.

I am from the working class. I am now what I was then. No amount of balsamic vinegar and Prada handbags could make me forget what it was like to be poor.

8.45 a.m. My mother is in the hospital grounds smoking a cigarette. She is looking old and haggard. All the debauchery is catching up with her.

As the daydreams grew longer, the distinction between what was real and what was imaginary grew less. Soon I existed in a blissful world of my own creation.

Happy the man, whose wish and careA few paternal acres bound, Content to breathe his native airIn his own ground.

You are the salt of the earth. But remember that salt is useful when in association, but useless in isolation.

The best way to prevent a heartache was to cushion the coming blow.

Every Morning You Have Two Choices: Continue To Sleep With Your Dreams, Or Wake Up and Chase Them.

A pauper in the midst of wealth.

Hey, baby, nobody suffers like the poor.

I'm just stayin' humble, and true. It's good right now baby - staying' true baby.

I am a rapist and a sadistic pig,' if you get that tattoo removed I will carve it into your forehead, do you understand?