If you want to be happy for a short time, get drunk happy for a long time, fall in love; happy forever, take up gardening.

Every generation of children has its private hero.

Reading the play at home, however fulfilling, can never be the vivacious experience that Shakespeare intended.

The best way to prepare for a night out with a Shakespearean tragedy is to do a bit of reading up in the afternoon, eat a light supper - perhaps Welsh rarebit - and then arrive early to do some stretching exercises in the foyer before curtain-up.

Comedy ages quicker than tragedy, to the extent that we can't know if the 10 commandments may originally have been 10 hilarious one-liners.

It was Julie Burchill who decreed that, beyond a certain age, a man should not be seen in a leather jacket.

The moon puts on an elegant show, different every time in shape, colour and nuance.