“I find the fact that billionaires are quoted as if the fact that they are billionaires gives them some kind of wisdom is outrageous.”

I resent the creation of a world in which beauty is a reminder of what we’re losing rather than a celebration of what we have.

The worst thing about being a great power is when you’re not one any more. It takes centuries to get over it.

I think it is very difficult to legislate for morality.

We’ve all got to look at ourselves, start with yourself, that’s all you can do. I believe that we can act responsibly as a group, it’s just that there are vested interests telling us not to bother.

I try hard not to preach, but I get carried away, which is a mistake, but it’s a risk worth running.

The earth only has so much bounty to offer and inventing ever larger and more notional prices for that bounty does not change its real value.

My parents were secular. I am an atheist.

The Germans are a cruel race. Their operas last for six hours and they have no word for fluffy.

You’re mugging old ladies every bit as much if you pinch their pension fund

I exercise hard and the reason I do is so that I can earn the things I like to consume.

And of course to hunt down sedition. Only paper is safe. Books are the key. A book cannot be accessed from afar, you have to hold it, you have to read it.

My advice to anyone adapting a novel is that once they’ve read it and learnt to understand it, then they must throw it away and never look at it again!

This calls for a very special blend of psychology and extreme violence.

I’m easy to work with, not a pushover, but I respond to criticism and find it inspiring.

For the past seventeen years I have been experimenting with lager. I am a lager user and one drug leads to another. If you do lager, as night follows day, you’ll end up doing Kentucky Fried Chicken.

There are lots of things I could have done for the money, but I’ve made a great living doing the things I want to do.

Since 1980, we’ve used reconciliation 22 times, and out of those times, Republicans used it 16 times. So, earth to my Republican friends, you can have your option but you cannot change these facts. They’re in the Congressional Record

It’s a fact that it is much more comfortable to be in the position of the person who has been offended than to be the unfortunate cause of it.

You have your thoughts and I have mine. This is the fact and you can’t change it even if you kill me.

If something is opinion, put it in the opinion section: Don’t put it in the facts section.

To me, one of the proofs that there is a moral governance in the universe is the fact that when people and governments work intelligently and far-sightedly for the good of others, they achieve their own prosperity, too.

It is a fact of history that those who seek to withdraw from its great experiments usually end up being overwhelmed by them.

The fact of being reported increases the apparent extent of a deplorable development by a factor of ten.

In fact, not only do I support eliminating soft money, but I support full public financing for campaigns.