We may never know why Joe Ellis fabricated a heroic past. But we know that the life he embellished has deeply diminished the life he'd earned.

Let's just say that global warming deniers are now on a par with Holocaust deniers.

I have never been especially impressed by the heroics of people convinced they are about to change the world. I am more awed by those who struggle to make one small difference.

Most people do not consider dawn to be an attractive experience - unless they are still up.

Maybe this year, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives not looking for flaws, but looking for potential.

The central struggle of parenthood is to let our hopes for our children outweigh our fears.

I regard this novel as a work without redeeming social value, unless it can be recycled as a cardboard box.

What he labels sexual, she labels harassment.

Today, much of journalism and politics are in a kind of collusion to oversimplify and personalize issues. No room for ambivalence. Plenty of room for the personal attack.

Ultimately, time is all you have and the idea isn't to save it, but to savour it.

Our 'mistakes' become our crucial parts, sometimes our best parts, of the lives we have made.

Wise men put their trust in ideas and not in circumstances.

Subconsciously, every one believes in angels, fairies, magic and a happy ever after.

My friend, you are truly yourself alone. God must have broken the mould after turning you out.

Teachers can change lives with just the right mix of chalk and challenges.

Insomnia is an all-night travel agency with posters advertising faraway places.

I play disturbed people a lot, but always with a bit of distance or tongue-in-cheek. Most of the villains I play are essentially harmless.

All good work has magic in it, and addresses the mind in a subtle way.

I neither complain of the past, nor do I fear the future.

Hey, look, I just regenerated a finger. Guess which one.

If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try.