Life is a game in which the player must appear ridiculous.

To me, all success is a delightful surprise, since one can absolutely never predict it.

There are many nations that have perfected a particular room. You know, you have the French drawing-room, the Austrian ball room, the German dining room, and I think the library is a room the English get right.

Every writer has to make an emotional journey from artist sitting in attic to being part of a business. The writer of a film is like Tinkerbell. You are only there because people believe in you. The moment they dont, because youre a pain the arse, youve lost.

I have fits of melancholia when I watch the news, but we all do, don't we?

For most directors, the scriptwriter is about as welcome on set as a member of the Taliban.

No, while most people have been at their unhappiest when in love, it is nevertheless the state the human being yearns for above all.