Madame Kovarian: The anger of a good man is not a problem. Good men have too many rules. The Doctor: Good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many.

Sherlock Holmes can be wise and funny. He wasn't, at the beginning. But later on, he's got a bantering relationship with loads of people. He's got a wisdom that he didn't have in the early stage. But he stays on the mountain top, and he will die up there. He's not going to change that.

When writing comedy, you have to have the confidence to believe that there is only one type of relationship in the world, and we are all having it, that all men behave in the same way and so do all women.

Never ignore a coincidence. Unless you're busy, in which case, always ignore a coincidence.

You don't want to take over the universe. You wouldn't know what to do with it beyond shout at it.

The universe is big, its vast and complicated, and ridiculous. And sometimes, very rarely, impossible things just happen and we call them miracles. And that's the theory. Nine hundred years, never seen one yet, but this would do me.

The difference between a beautifully made failure and a beautifully made hit is who you've got playing the leads.