ARTS / Overheard

He was a dimwit then, he's a dimwit now. He played the part and (Nancy) told him what say and do - James Garner, actor, on Ronald Reagan's days as president of the Screen Actors' Guild, Arena

It's an annual blood-letting, isn't it? Constable complained bitterly in 1825 that the devil comes down at this time of year and spews art over London - Sir Philip Dowson, president of the Royal Academy, on the reaction to the Summer Exhibition, Daily Telegraph

There's a difficult borderline between the artistic and the plain awful - Pedro Almodovar, film director, Arena

If you can still function, you want to savour it while it's peaking. It's a natural and beautiful impulse that gives you moral guidance - David Byrne, singer, on sadness, Billboard

I was very jealous of buildings. (My father) was always trying to save them and I remember him putting me in front of bulldozers and saying: 'If you're going to hurt the building you can run her over first.' - Candia McWilliam, novelist, Sunday Telegraph

I think I've done rather too many West End musicals lately - Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Guardian