I have pretty thick skin, and I think if you're going to be in this business, if you're going to be an actor or a writer, you better have a thick skin.

Being wrong about important things is exhausting.

When I feel like being a director, I write a novel.

Whereas she wished more of the population were better educated, she also believed that education was largely wasted on the majority of the people she met.

Life," Garp wrote, "is sadly not structured like a good old-fashioned novel. Instead an end occurs when those who are meant to peter out have petered out. All that is left is memory. But even a nihilist has memory.

As it was, things went from bad to worse, as they often will when amateurs are involved in an activity that they perform in bad temper – or in a hurry.

Newspapers are even worse for me than ice cream; headlines, and the big issues that generate the headlines, are pure fat.