“The best content is the means, not the end.”

Sci-fi is very much an American genre. Space and the exploration of space is something so closely associated with America.

I’m not into politics. I’m into survival.

I’m not from a particularly sci-fi background. I’m not anti sci-fi at all, but I’ve never been known as a sci-fi writer and, suddenly, I was creating a flagship BBC sci-fi show, which is terrifying sometimes.

The stronger a brand’s point of view, the greater its voltage.

I was a novelist before I was a TV screenwriter. Actually, as a kid, I think I’d always wanted to be a writer, but never thought that I would be one.

Just because there’s a trillion places to put an idea doesn’t mean you don’t need an idea in the first place

I wrote about the life of a housing officer in Britain, in a pretty rough area of London. Maybe it was because I’m a big-mouth and an exhibitionist, and I’m slightly egotistical. All those things have to come together for a writer.

The best laws cannot make a constitution work in spite of morals; morals can turn the worst laws to advantage.

I don’t go there thinking I’m going to lose. I never go into a tournament thinking that. I’ll do the best that I can. I need to be at my peak and my best is holding up the trophy. Anything less I wouldn’t be really excited about. So that’s all I can focus on.

I always believe I can beat the best, achieve the best. I always see myself in the top position.

Aiming for perfection causes frustration at best and paralysis at worst.

It often happens that those are the best people whose characters have been most injured by slanderers: as we usually find that to be the sweetest fruit which the birds have been picking at.

I don’t go thinking I’m going to lose. I never go into a tournament thinking that. I’ll do the best that I can.

People come out to see you perform and you’ve got to give them the best you have within you.

Venus told me the other day that champions don’t get nervous in tight situations. That really helped me a lot. I decided I shouldn’t get nervous and just do the best I can.