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The most important thing for a ballerina is to listen to her body. Every small sinew talks to you, and I listen hard - Silvie Guillem, principal artiste with the Royal Ballet

Girls have become the equals of men. They give their bodies as freely as we used to smoke cigarettes. It's a great loss of poetry, of humanity - Brigitte Bardot, former actress

Snails look quite elegant when drawing in their horns and curling up in their shells. Nations don't - Ferdinand Mount, once head of Margaret Thatcher's policy unit, attacking Europhobes

An armed mutiny may take place this autumn - Alexander Lebed, Russia's security supremo, warning of anger in the armed forces over government negligence and unpaid wages

I do all my own cleaning. I like it. I use lots of bleach and I vacuum my kitchen and dining room every day. Doesn't everyone? - Julian Clary, camp entertainer

There are no big politicians, apart from Nelson Mandela - Clare Short, Labour frontbencher

Politics are the ugly person's showbiz - Austin Mitchell, Labour MP

If I were to keep a pet animal in the same condition I am in, I would be prosecuted - letter left by Bob Dent, 66, cancer victim who became the first person to take his life under Australia's voluntary euthanasia law