Women are always self-effacing and self-denying. There's a term that enrages me, and I always used to swear that I'd never play characters described that way. The term is "long-suffering."

Women have got to stop being polite. If I ever had children, which I don't, the first thing I'd teach a girl of mine is the words 'f - off.'

Being powerful is so much more interesting than being beautiful.

You write your life story by the choices you make.

It has nothing to do with clothing or makeup. Just put your shoulders back and chin up, and face the world with pride.

Actors are rogues and vagabonds. Or they ought to be.

When you're 16, 30 seems ancient. When you're 30, 45 seems ancient. When you're 45, 60 seems ancient. When you're 60, nothing seems ancient.

I don't think it's good to try and change anyone. The trick and the mystery - of relationships and life in general - is to learn to live with the bits you don't like.

Parkinson's is a slow but inevitable process. It's hard living with it on a daily basis. The difficulty facing people with it is that they never quite know 'Can I or can't I do this today?'

I don't like the word 'strong,' because a strong character is never an interesting character. A character is made interesting by their vulnerabilities and their weaknesses.

Where you grew up becomes a big part of who you are for the rest of your life. You can't run away from that. Well, sometimes the running away from it is what makes you who you are.

There is peace in play.

May you have the courage, confidence and commitment to achieve your goals.

Always be gentle.

It is easier to donate a few thousand to charity and think oneself noble than to base self-respect on personal standards of personal achievement.

It was with the advent of the Laudie London era that I realized the whole teenage epic was tottering to doom.

You're meant to have an unhappy childhood to be a writer, but there's a lot to be said for a very happy one that just let's you get on with it.

I've been lucky to broadcast some great events and to broadcast the exploits of some great players.

Before crime is committed conscience must be corrupted, and every bad man who succeeds in reaching a high point of wickedness begins with this.

First of all, I wish I could grow a beard.