I went to the Glasgow Youth Theatre and they just let me in. But I was so shy that I was there for about six weeks without actually introducing myself.

Perhaps naively I thought people understand what humor was, that it was invented by the human race to cope with the dark areas of life, problems and terrors.

The movie business is very much like that: people in authority making purely emotional decisions instead of interesting rational ones.

My two elder sisters married Englishmen and went abroad.

I'd made these experimental films but I thought the major chore of a filmmaker was to relate to actors.

There are things that Scotsmen get and other people don't get in the dialogue. Scottish characters can be pinpointed by a phrase, targeted very quickly.

It means that if they misunderstood Comfort and Joy, they misunderstood my other films.

At the moment, my mother is the only one left in Glasgow, although it's certainly my home.

I didn't think Comfort and Joy was going to be a box-office smash.

It's easier for me to get three times the amount of money I really want.

I was quite surprised how easily people wanted to pigeonhole things I've done.

Do not drown yourself into fantasy, whatever you can do, do it now, do not wait for tomorrow to come.

We know we cannot achieve our twin goals of ending poverty and boosting shared prosperity without ending poverty and creating equality for women and girls.

This liberal progressive agenda... is the antithesis of who we are as a constitutional republic.

Idealism may get us into the fray, but it is the loss of all we cherish that begins to form in us a heart capable of leading others reluctantly and humbly.

Love and hatred are not blind, but are blinded by the fire they bear within themselves.

If you're familiar with a principle you don't have to be familiar with all of its applications.

In the hands of a master, light and shade is one of the great qualities of art.

She was nice to him on Valentine's Day. She gave him a heart-shaped rash.

Nature ever provides for her own exigencies.

Obviously neither 'American Idol' nor 'Dancing With the Stars' is a variety show in the classic sense, but the way they incorporate elements of drama, comedy and suspense is moderately ingenious.