You can't have modern states based on ideas which have been out of date for a thousand years.

I for one don't need a supreme "sacred" arbiter in order to be a moral being.

It seems that the right of freedom of speech that was enshrined in numerous constitutions is now under attack by religious institutions.

Doris Lessing really doesn't care what the critics say. In fact, she orders her publishers not to send her the reviews and gets cross with them if they do because she doesn't want that in her head. She's going where she's going, and that's where she wants to go.

Bin Laden was born filthy rich and died in a rich man's house, which he had painstakingly built to the highest specifications.

What I found interesting writing a screenplay as opposed to writing a novel is not the obvious thing, which is having to pare everything down and find the kind of essence, the skeleton if you like, which can then be fleshed out by performance and cinematography.

I want more than what I want. (Vina Apsara)