I've never been one to sit around and eat my heart out. Life's too short.

People always seem to assume that we have a full, back-up support team - make-up, costume and a driver - but usually, in a war zone, there's only me and the cameraman.

On the Northern Ireland question, for instance, the British and Irish governments prohibit media contact with members of the IRA, but we have always gone ahead, believing in the right to information.

Hair is also a problem. I remember once, when I was reporting from Beirut at the height of the civil war, someone wrote in to the BBC complaining about my appearance.

I have no time for the endless nostalgia: 'Oh gosh I used to . . . ' Life is too short; I don't have any time for sitting and saying I miss things. What's the point? Go and do something else.'

My job is to get to the heart of a story, to find out what's really going on; to get it verified and, then, to get it out to as many people as possible as fast as.

I don't want to be involved in endless media gossip.

I was sent to a nice Church of England girls' school and at that time, after university, a woman was expected to become a teacher, a nurse or a missionary - prior to marriage.

The better the information it has, the better democracy works. Silence and secrecy are never good for it.

I never desired to go into war zones. I never had any thought about it. It sort of just happened as part of the job.

I wrote in the book very specifically what I wanted to write about, period, and left it at.

Never trust people who smile constantly. They're either selling something or not very bright.

Serving others means being willing to make sacrifices for their good.

The guest is always right - even if we have to throw him out.

He's my usual type of fan... a school shooter who didn't have bullets and now he's all awkward and alone.

I could spend a whole day at a spa. Id get a facial, a scalp rub, massages, then eat some grapes and be good to go.

I think there's a certain lyricism in the telling of a scientific story.

The utter destruction of our culture isn't just around the corner. It has been here for some time.

"Oh My God," I blurted, grabbing onto Phin as we faced the open bedroom door. "It's the axe murderer." "I doubt he would knock," she said, but she was whispering, too, and didn't move away from me.

The problem of telling contemporary history is that your message gets outdated.

An aphorism is not an aphorism unless you know what it means.