Marianne Dashwood looks at gray skies and sees blue. That's all very well, and it's not something you ever want entirely to lose. But you must lose a little of it; otherwise you're going to get wet.

Its unfortunate and I really wish I wouldn't have to say this, but I really like human beings who have suffered. They're kinder.

Being disabled should not mean being disqualified from having access to every aspect of life.

I think books are like people, in the sense that they'll turn up in your life when you most need them.

I hate the way market forces try to separate us out in to the appropriate demographic - basically in order to sell us things. We need to find stories that we can enjoy together, not separately.

Any problem, big or small, within a family, always seems to start with bad communication. Someone isn't listening.

I was brought up by very witty people who were dealing with quite difficult things: disease and death... I was brought up by people who tended to giggle at funerals.

Maybe I don't take myself so seriously any more. And I don't care how I'm judged. I'm past all that.

You can't imagine what satisfaction can be gotten from throwing a pie into someone's face.

When husbands and fathers leave, their wives and daughters tend to value themselves less as a result.

During an election, it's like they're doing my job: they're going around banging the drum for their party and selling their movie. You know, it's the same thing.

For you to be successful in your promised land, you must study the land

I love the fact we're still on the road. I was born to be a factory worker really, so for me the chance to get on stage at Wembley 30 years after we started is amazing.

When you lead change, sometimes you get arrows in your back. I mean, that's just the way the real world is.

Throwing up is natures way of saying you need to re-examine your idea of a good time.

Goodness and simplicity are indissolubly united.-The bad are the most sophisticated, all the world over, and the good the least.

Nothing so hardens the heart of man as a barren familiarity with sacred things.

I'm not a disciplinarian. I simply enforce other people's decisions.

Remember always that we are pattern-seeking primates who are especially adept at finding patterns with emotional meaning.

If you want a particular behavior from someone else, try spotlighting those times when he or she is already doing it.

Socially, most people delayed motherhood for five to 10 years around us.