Quotes

No director is a god. If he's a god, or a tyrant or an autocrat, or a master then he is actually stopping the creative processes happening, because he limits where things may go - Sir Peter Hall

As soon as paint starts flying around, I will probably forget what happened - Lisa Potts, teacher, 21, on her return to school six months after she battled to save pupils from a machete attacker

I wouldn't go into space if you paid me. There is quite enough otherness here on our planet for me to get immersed in - David Bowie, rock star, 50

He was such a gent to everybody that we couldn't get cross with him. He was dead straight about why he was mining: he needs the money - Anne Scargill, after leading a protest against opencast mining to Chatsworth, Derbyshire, home of the Duke of Devonshire

I had no choice but to drop all pretence at restraint and courtesy. I determined that if I did not fight bare-knuckle, the pro-monarchy view would be crushed into submission - Frederick Forsyth, best-selling author, on the Carlton TV monarchy debate

In politics you sometimes despair of having a sensible debate - Tony Blair

I think men believe what they see in the movies - that I am going to throw my head back and have an orgasm in two minutes. I have never done that. It is implausible - Sharon Stone, film star