Can he love her? Can the soul really be satisfied with such polite affections? To love is to burn - to be on fire, like Juliet or Guinevere or Eloise.

Sometimes I get to put on posh frocks and be Madam Glamour, the vendor of my wares. My lovely friend Kath, a stylist, puts me into things I'd never dream of. But my real life is very different. It's very, very home-based - an intense domestic life, that's the core of everything.

I firmly believe there are books whose greatness actually enable you to live.

Film is so much to do with perfection and how differently you can feel about someone at the beginning of the film and the end of the film.

I think that my work is my attempt, I suppose, is to try and become a piece of connective tissue. I'm trying to communicate with people here and in America - in rich countries - about what I see on the ground in badly affected areas

Laughter is a celebration of our failings. That's what clowns are for. And that's what I am.

My worst quality is impatience.