I'm terribly fastidious. I like symmetry and neatness, but my house is as chaotic as any other family's.

Building your own house is a primal urge, one of those universal genetic drives like the need to provide for your family.

Sustainability is now a big baggy sack in which people throw all kinds of old ideas, hot air and dodgy activities in order to be able to greenwash their products and feel good.

Building your own home is about desire, fantasy. But it's achievable; anyone can do it.

I don't look at what people do with their homes in terms of money, but the social and personal value of what they're trying to do and achieve.

Architecture was pretty much the sexiest thing to be doing from 1700-1800.

It's possible to be satisfied with a day's work or a cake, but a life... what is a life but a history of events badly remembered?

Every breath we take as human beings damages the planet.

Generally speaking, I think that if you do anything with commitment and passion, it will come good.

Living an environmentally responsible lifestyle can seem like a Scrooge-like list of don'ts. Don't take that flight, don't buy that car, don't eat those blueberries flown in from somewhere far-flung.

The thing that I champion is sustainability. My terror is that suddenly we see it as a luxury, not an essential. That's a danger.

God begins molding a mother after His own heart on the inside--in the inner woman and her heart--and then works outward.

I want to be in New Zealand SO BADLY. I've dreamt about coming to New Zealand ever since I was a kid.

When the Italians play the Germans it'll be fascinating. Mightn't be very good football but it'll be great psychology.

Words are clamor-filled shells. There's many a story in the miniature of a single word!

At one point in my 20s, I was about to quit acting. I'd had a crappy couple of years and I was depressed. My mom said, 'Don't give up! You'll be so mad at yourself.'

The imaginary flowers of religion adorn man's chains. Man must throw off the flowers, and also the chains.

You can't regret a whole period in your life. . . . It's part of who you are, one of your stories.

We make progress only when people are willing to speak about what their lives are like and what they care about. We make it possible for others to understand our perspective.

We do what we do, because of who we are. If we did otherwise, we would not be ourselves.

A bestseller is a book that non-book buyers buy