I got Oedipus off the incest charge--technicality, of course--he didn't know it was his mother at the time.

Whenever I'm giving talks, I always ask people to think of the most obscure questions because I enjoy those the most. I always get the same questions: Why does Pickwick say "plock" and will there be a movie? I like the really obscure questions because there's so much in the books. There are tons and tons of references and I like when people get the little ones and ask me about them. It's good for the audience [and also] they realize there's more there.

Death doesn't care about personalities - he's more interested in meeting quotas.

Were you listening to a word I said ' 'I kind of switched off when you drew breath.

the best lies to tell are the ones people want to believe

I collect ex-boyfriends -- and more than five, at last count.

Don't let anyone tell you the future is already written. The best any prophet can do is to give you the most likely version of future events. It is up to us to accept the future for what it is, or change it. It is easy to go with the flow; it takes a person of singular courage to go against it.