My mum's American. She's from Detroit.

It sounds trite, but I like telling stories.

There are people all over the world who like to write fan letters in the voice of their pet: 'Hello, my name is Fifi and I'm a labrador and I think you're great. Paw paw!'

Lentil dhal is the only thing I can cook.

As a child I loved ghost stories.

If you act scared, your body produces adrenaline.

A floor length backless black sequined dress would be my dream dress. As for my dream date - that would have to be a young Marlon Brando!

One aspect of my mum's personality that has influenced me is her love of Hollywood and the golden era of black-and-white films.

I always look for contradiction in a character.

A good piece of art raises questions.

Sometimes I can spend months doing things to make sure that my instincts work correctly, but ultimately it's still instinctive.

Forgiveness is the kindest form of revenge and it brings the sweetest form of peace on earth.

Feeling my own humiliation in my heart like the sharp prick of a needle.

In my eyes, all readers are my father and mother. You may see a boy, with all of his body and heart bared, resplendently smiling to mom, and that boy is me.

There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval. The dark background which death supplies brings out the tender colors of life in all their purity.

There are war-torn countries, people full of poverty, who still voted, 60, 70 percent. If here in the United States of America, we voted at 60 percent, 70 percent, it would transform our politics.

I've become quite a serious explorer: I've been to Everest three times; I'm the oldest man to reach the North Pole; and I've just been to the lost world of Venezuela.

I collect antiques. Why? Because they're beautiful.

We have a lot of issues with corporate power that have to be addressed. My plan takes us further and it would do the job.

Knowledge of the world means dissolving the solidity of the world.

Entire generations of Americans have come of age since the ancient time when the president's power was constrained by a duty of candor to the American people.