If we listen human instinct actually tells us what we need, but advertising makes us want things we don't need and things we can't have.

The rabbit is significant in that the handle on the original South Pointing Chariot was carved in the form of a rabbit. Because the handle extended out front it meant that wherever the rabbit went the chariot had to follow.

I took lots of photographs and had planned to write a treatise on how it worked, but I quickly got bored with that idea and wrote a scientific fairy tale instead.

As I was working I noticed that the way I designed the differential gearing actually created a spare drive that sat directly below the emperor's feet, or where they would be if he were to sit in the chariot.

I think most artists find it difficult to part with their work but it's the parting that keeps us alive and keeps us working. In the case of the chariot, although it's been sold I actually still have it, just in another form.

The engine of ancient society was religion but the engine of contemporary society, as I see it, is advertising.

I started by looking at what others had done before me. You see, over the years there have been attempts by many different people to reconstruct the chariot.