I think it's essential for comic writers to have a hate figure, a despot, a regime to react against, and I think Thatcher was perfect for me, I loathed everything she stood for.

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.

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

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.

Always try to be a little kinder than is necessary.

Informed by our sad experience of history, we require nothing short of a foundation for lasting democracy.

Revelation without a relationship produces rebellion.

I worry about images. Images are what things mean.

A painter with prestige among painters is bound to be discovered sooner or later.

If I lose, I'll walk away and never feel bad because I did all I could. There was nothing more to do.

There is a fine line between stubborn and stupid.

A transition from an author's book to his conversation, is too often like an entrance into a large city.

What do I do? (Jeff) Well, not to insult a man who looks like a rocket scientist in comparison to you, but…run, Forrest, run. (Rafael)

Be yourself. I much prefer seeing something, even it is clumsy, that doesn't look like somebody else's work.