When asked what attribute he most admired in human nature, Mahatma Gandhi replied, simply and immediately, 'Courage'. 'Nonviolence', he said, 'is not to be used ever as the shield of the coward. It is the weapon of the brave.

I do care about style. I do care, but I only care about style that serves the subject.

I just love biography, and I'm fascinated by people who have shifted our destinies or our points of view.

I believe in trade unionism, and I believe in democracy, in democratic trade unionism.

And that is how I employ my time in cinema, saying things about people who I think have touched us in terms of our value judgement and by example.

I passionately believe in heroes, but I think the world has changed its criteria in determining who it describes as a hero.

I don't read a great deal of fiction, to my shame, other than the classics.