There's a perception that British pies suffer from mediocrity, and historically they have. We're trying to re-educate people about what pie is.

The dead hand has too long hampered the freedom of the living.

No one can say I didn't pay my dues in life.

Our ability to look back on the past, our need or desire to make sense of it, is both a blessing and a curse; and our inability to see into the future with any degree of accuracy is, simultaneously, the thing that saves us and the thing that condemns us.

There is something hugely civilised about allowing long pauses in a conversation. Very few people can stand that kind of silence.

It might be tough, but my dad used to say, tough times don't last — tough people do.

I prefer the pen. There is something elemental about the glide and flow of nib and ink on paper.