For most of us, when our 'dreams' - I use the word with reservations - came true, and marriage and motherhood became a reality, the romcoms, like horoscopes, swiftly lost their allure.

Joy acts like a trampoline, everything that touches it bouncing right back off it.

Life is rife with frustrations, jealousies and, on occasion, an overwhelming sense of its injustices, but it's a big mistake to let such negative sentiments rule our lives and dictate choices.

Every friendship goes through ups and downs. Dysfunctional patterns set in, external situations cause internal friction, you grow apart and then bounce back together.

In romance we feel the need to zoom in and expound on our partner's foibles in intimate detail; in friendship we tend to do the opposite, avoiding confrontation through fear, lethargy or both.

I was told that when you hit forty men stop looking at you. It's true, until you slip on a mini-skirt.

I wasn't allowed to be clever when I was young and blonde, but now I am 50 and an old blonde, I am allowed to have gravitas. With wrinkles comes wisdom.

Like cars, every relationship requires a bit of an occasional service, and fine-tuning should be compulsory.

Since so many romantic comedies vary little in their storyline, the success or failure of such movies depends largely on whether we believe in the relationship of the protagonists.

Having a baby is a disaster for your career. I don't think there's any sympathy.

Sustaining true friendship is a lot more challenging than we give it credit for.

Tut, Tut, looks like rain

The ship is always off course. Anybody who sails knows that. Sailing is being off course and correcting. That gives a sense of what life is about.

I'm proud of my sexuality. I embrace it. It's just another part of me.

My soul is not my own any more. I cannot live like I want to. I am going to give up films.

I have no desire to desire, and people become like the uncarved wood by themselves.

I'm tired of people calling me a devil worshipper. It's kind of pointless you know. Because if the Devil did exist, he'd be worshipping me, because I'm more successful than he is.

In general, I think my freedom of invention is not limited when I use historical characters.

Anybody who writes a diary insists it must be read by someone else.

Those who can take that crabbed tree handsomely upon their back, and fasten it on cannily, shall find it such a burden as wings unto a bird, or sails to a ship.

To meet the demands of the fast-changing competitive scene, we must simply learn to love change as much as we have hated it in the past.