To me, making a tape is like writing a letter – there's a lot of erasing and rethinking and starting again, and I wanted it to be a good one.

No man is an island.

Look at all the things that can go wrong for men. There’s the nothing-happening-at-all problem, the too-much-happening-too-soon problem, the dismal-droop-after-a-promising-beginning problem; there’s the size-doesn’t-matter-except-in-my-case problem, the failing-to-deliver-the-goods problem…and what do women have to worry about? A handful of cellulite? Join the club. A spot of I-wonder-how-I-rank? Ditto.

You're not allowed to say anything about books because they're books, and books are, you know, God.

He has the personality of a child prodigy, but no discernable talent.

Sarcasm and compassion are two of the qualities that make life on Earth tolerable.

When even the scrupulously detached BBC is exhorting us to talk to God, you know something is going on.