Its unfortunate and I really wish I wouldn't have to say this, but I really like human beings who have suffered. They're kinder.

Being disabled should not mean being disqualified from having access to every aspect of life.

Children don't need much advice but they really do need to be listened to and not just with half an ear.

Children are much more understanding of the suddenness and arbitrariness of death than we are. The old fairy tales contain a lot of that, and we've stolen from them, just as they stole from Greek myth, which has that same mixture of pre-Christian chaos.

I think books are like people, in the sense that they'll turn up in your life when you most need them. I firmly believe there are books whose greatness actually enables you to live, to do something. And sometimes, human beings need story and narrative more than they need nourishment and food.

I want a different world. One where I don't wake up thinking I'm so lucky to be able to feed my daughter, and able to give people a clean drink of water. I don't want images of starving babies at the breast in my mind. I want that to change. And if I want that, I had better do something about it.

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.