“I’ve still got a brilliant head of hair, which refuses to lay down.”

All I needed was a friend to lend a guiding hand. But you turned into a lover, and mother what a lover, you wore me out.

What I do now is all my dad’s fault, because he bought me a guitar as a boy, for no apparent reason.

Only a fool permits the letter of the law to override the spirit in the heart. Do not let a piece of paper stand in the way of true love and headlines.

There’s still plenty of lead in this pencil, but I only write to one person now.

Even the President needs passion.

I have a voice coach, but only in so much as to make my voice stronger so I can sing for five nights a week, two hours.

Lyrics are coming to you all the time. I get inspiration in the middle of the night.

I love change, I need it.

Won’t someone please answer my prayers before I’m old and gray. I’ve been lonely too long and all my family thinks I’m gay.

Spread your wings and let me come inside.

I’m shrewd about money; I invest well and look after it. But it’s in my nature to be generous. I look after people.

Well, there’s not a day goes by when I don’t get up and say thank you to somebody.

I’m very proud of my well-earned wrinkles, so show ’em.

I have a very lively and colourful show. It’s two hours of hits and the music speaks for itself.

I’ve always been able to get inside a song really easily, and if it’s my song, I can make it seem honest.

I think, with suits and clothes, if you keep them long enough, they all come back in fashion. It’s like me. I’ve been around long enough and I’ve come back in fashion.

The brilliance of Max Brooks is that he always quotes authorities at the back of his books that never existed. Like a Russian professor he made up that validates a story or character.

The most brilliant satire of all time was ‘A Modest Proposal’ by Jonathan Swift. You’ll notice how everything got straightened out in Ireland within days of that coming out.

Cage Warriors is a brilliant organisation. They’re doing great things for European MMA, and they’re giving the platform for guys like me who came through. They’re vital. I’m forever grateful for the opportunities I got.

She is alone, and oh how brilliantly she shines.

She is alone, and oh how brilliantly she burns.

I wept upon reading this story. The Book of Negroes is courageous, breathtaking, simply brilliant.

A lot of artists use memories. A lot of prose writers, a lot of poets, a lot of songwriters, refer back to something. Generally it’s all you’ve got, unless you’re brilliant and can write totally in the now.

Drawing Dead is a brilliant noir from one of Australia’s most exciting new novelists.