Masturbation is the thinking man's television.

It's possible to disagree with someone about the ethics of non-violence without wanting to kick his face in.

It's great to get out of the study and work with real living and breathing people.

I love films. If I'd known how to get into or do it from the word go, I would have done that.

Since my adaptation of Ian McEwan's 'Atonement,' I get sent a lot of novels that people think will work as movies. So every now and then I make a point of sitting down and reading a couple of them.

To seduce a woman famous for strict morals, religious fervor and the happiness of her marriage: what could possibly be more prestigious?

I became a virtuoso of deceit. It wasn't pleasure I was after, it was knowledge. I consulted the strictest moralists to learn how to appear, philosophers to find out what to think and novelists to see what I could get away with.