ARTS / Overheard

The place where you stand, how you use your space, is the number-one priority. How you stand in relation to other people, how you dance with them - that's what it's all about.

Sean Connery, film actor, Vanity Fair

I think you should not give offence to people's religious beliefs. I hope that our people (HarperCollins) would never have published the Salman Rushdie book.

Rupert Murdoch, New Yorker

If I remember correctly, HarperCollins tried to buy The Satanic Verses, but they did not bid enough.

Bill Buford, editor of Granta, Evening Standard

Ah would think, to a degree, being white has a lot to do with it.

Harry Connick Jr, jazz singer, on the secret of his success, Esquire

Sometimes I can only express myself as Bertie Wooster. One becomes stuck.

Writer Clive Exton on adapting Wodehouse for TV, Radio Times

Families should spend more time talking to each other, rather than glued in front of the television.

The Princess of Wales, at Great Ormond St Hospital

Surely, friends, after following me all these years you cannot take these occasions seriously.

Leonard Cohen, to fans bemoaning the acoustics, Albert Hall