Overheard

It's awful, but I do think female novelists are better than male novelists.

Elizabeth Jane Howard, female novelist, Daily Telegraph

Do I know for sure that this idea will work? No I don't. Does anybody? But I'm willing to take the risk. We're human but we're doing well.

Demi Moore, actress, on rumours that her marriage to actor Bruce Willis is in trouble, Vanity Fair

Why do I need to invest money so I can make more money? I've already got too much money. Phil Collins, singer and actor, Mail on Sunday

In America, where most pictures are abstract, they realise instantly that mine are representational . . . I am tired of being a minor artist. To be a painter here is quite different from being a writer, footballer or figure-skater.

Howard Hodgkin, painter, Mail on Sunday

I concentrate on men and what horrible bastards they are. I don't suppose I'll ever run out of material . . .

Jo Brand, stand-up comic, Guardian

The fact that HRH wrote it was incidental. The kids don't give a bugger who it's written by. But I thought the cartoons were delightful and the character of Budgie was very accessible.

Dawn Airey, controller of ITV children's daytime programmes, on an upcoming adaptation of the Duchess of York's Budgie - the Little Helicopter