It was an interesting question as to whether the BBC had a future in the digital world, and what form of market failure could justify the licence fee system.

The BBC should not have a cheerleader. It should have somebody who runs the organisation in the interests of the public and that should be a chairman.

I want the BBC to be a mass market public service broadcaster still funded by the licence fee... and the licence fee is more durable than many people in the commercial sector believe.

The BBC provides the commentary on our lives, the soundtrack of the nation. It is one of the most powerful unifying forces in the United Kingdom today.

Inflation is not always the main problem, or indeed a problem at all. Sometimes, though rarely, deflation is a more serious threat, and we need to shelve many of the orthodoxies we have held so dear.

Put aside your pride, Set down your arrogance, And remember your grave.

Every time I fumble or drop a ball I am embarrassed.

On one project I was hanging out with Brad Pitt, and Ryan Gosling, and Steve Carrel, and Christian Bale, and trying to explain economics to them for a movie I'm an advisor on.

The first level of practice is illuminated by the qualities of courage and renunciation.

Why did I take up racing? I was too lazy to work and too chicken to steal

Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerly believe and enthusiastically act upon ... must inevitably come to pass.

Remember: Christ is calling you; the Church needs you; the Pope believes in you and he expects great things of you.

There is no way to success in art but to take off your coat, grind paint, and work like a digger on the railroad, all day and every day.

I have changed for the last time--this is the man I will be till I die. And that man loves you.

Part of our essential humanity is paying respect to what God gave us and what will be here a long time after we're gone.