I have a massive divide between being a competent human being and being completely hopeless, when it comes to logic.

I play Nitin Sawhney's 'Letting Go' repeatedly, nonstop. I find it transformative. I'm so glad iPods were invented so I didn't have to drive everyone around me mad with the repetition.

I always keep myself busy. I'm writing. Or I'm creating something. Or I'm doing stuff with the kids. I'm up incredibly early in the morning; I go to bed incredibly late at night.

In terms of 'Solaris,' I didn't really think about the religious aspect an awful lot. There's one scene at a dinner party, and it's discussed, but it wasn't an overwhelming theme for me.

Scribbling things down is my therapy. I filter later.

I think it's incumbent on actresses to bring something else to the part which isn't in the script.

My stepfather introduced me to The London Library when I was about 18; the clientele has definitely changed since then, but it is still a wonderful oasis in the middle of London.

I feel awful for women who are trying to raise kids on their own, with zero income and no fathers present - that's single motherhood.

Death is final. No it is not just final, it's worse than that, it's diminishing: the dead continue to decrease, to occupy less space.

I happen to find motherhood a very natural state, but I know a lot of other people don't.

It is difficult to write a paradiso when all the superficial indications are that you ought to write an apocalypse.

I don't think you can hold in your mind the full conception of what the world is.

Strivers achieve what dreamers believe.

Fear and anxiety were exploited by zealots and fools.

All my friends are dying. That's why I always wear black.

There's nothing more important than a good story.

Graeme Smith is capable of reading other people's heads.

The thing is I'm a great believer in the perfect moment. They don't come around that often.

Great work requires great and persistent effort for a long time. ... Character has to be established through a thousand stumbles.

True love is better than glory.