My mum Margaret was a single parent, but though life was a bit of a struggle she gave me every encouragement.

I've always been quite thrifty. I can't bear to spend hundreds of pounds on designer clothes. I shop in second-hand shops in Portobello Road and go to Sue Ryder.

As a child, I always chose a false nose and some face paint and a wig for my birthday.

I take my hat off to mums who have lots of kids. Anyone that says being a mum isn't a full-time job has obviously never had any.

I just wanted to be an actress. It never occurred to me that I could become famous, because I'm not one of those people who's automatically going to be the lead. I always saw myself as the mate.

My husband is always telling me: 'We're on holiday - we don't need to have an itinerary!' But I always want to see as much as I can. Sometimes, I come back from holiday needing a holiday.

I've made this conscious decision to tell people on the street when I think they're wearing something great. If more people did that, the world would be a better place.

Nobody is more individual than you, so be confident with who you are and what you have to offer because everybody has got things to offer.

Americans are so direct. They'd ask me, 'What's your five-year plan? Do you have a five-year plan?' I don't know what I'm having for my tea tonight let alone a five-year plan.

I still giggle when someone asks for my address and I say, Hollywood, Los Angeles.

I've reached a point in my life where going to the supermarket is a day out.

But yield who will to their separation, My object in living is to uniteMy avocation and my vocationAs my two eyes make one in sight.

The poetical language of an age should be the current language heightened.

In order for answers to become clear, the questions have to be clear.

The EU should have consolidated its different presences and purposes in Kosovo earlier.

If I want to be great, I have to win the victory over myself...self-d iscipline.

Our souls possess the unknown power of extending as well as contracting space.

I'm constantly watching people. Watching their strengths and weaknesses. I find myself going into theater less and less, let alone horror. I gave that up when I was seven or eight years old.

I have not found a single good man in government; I have found good only in the people.

I think writing is, by definition, an optimistic act.

Voting is the expression of our commitment to ourselves, one another, this country and this world.