I find it very hard to play a part, then take it off like a cheap suit and become Mr Normal - Mr. Nice Guy.

Even now I can't stand being recognized in the street. I just hate it when strangers come up and try to talk to me. I'm pathologically shy.

I couldn't make sense of things. But then I began the process of civilising myself and trying to become a decent human being. I'm still working on it.

I was racing through life, utterly confused and angry. I don't know if I was out of control; it was more like I felt frustrated with myself and everything I saw happening around me.

The whole fame and fortune thing is addictive.

I've had a blessed career, and that has been acknowledged in many ways over the years.

I've gradually grown more comfortable with who I am and what I am.

I went from being totally unknown to getting stopped every time I went out. I always wanted to be successful, but I have never wanted to become a celebrity. I never, ever, craved that.

If you think before you speak the other guy gets his joke in first.

The older I've got, the easier I've found it to accept myself. I think I've finally learnt not to beat myself up so much.

Readers will share in the environs of the author and her characters, be taken into the hardship of a pitiless place and emerge on the other side — wiser, warier and weathered like the landscape.

When people really understand it's do or die [and] if we work hard and pull through, it's going to be a great outcome; people will give it everything they've got.

Don't count your boobies until they are hatched.

Admit your mistakes but don't cry over them. Correct them and go forward.

If one cannot live the life of the brave, then it is better to die like the brave.

The situation is hopeless, we must take the next step.

Sinners think they are saints, but saints know they are sinners.

There’s something really rich and powerful in not talking about what you need to talk about sometimes.

I like DVDs so much - it's such a better format than VHS.

The contemporary form of true greatness lies in a civilization founded upon the spirituality of work.