“I really hate bureaucracy and the idea that I’m not a free person.”

I really like to please people, and I think it’s a symptom of being an only child.

I feel curious about every situation I’m in.

When you research prolific songwriters, it is usually later in their career they write songs that they distance themselves from, or it’s about other people.

I lend people money, but I’d never lend something that would jeopardise a friendship if I didn’t get it back.

Cinema affects everything, from the way I get dressed to how I build my stages.

I vote Labour and can’t begin to acknowledge anything good that comes from a Tory.

I’m surrounded by friends and family who are not that impressed by celebrity. They don’t have any problem telling me I’m acting like an idiot or I’m not that funny.

I’ve spent a lot of time being bohemian and sleeping on floors, but eventually I want to have kids and I want to bring them up in a secure environment.

I try not to brand myself ‘weird’ any more because it sticks.

My favourite authors are Milan Kundera and Jeanette Winterson.

Dressing up is like therapy; I feel better in myself when I’ve made an effort.

I don’t have a daily routine, beyond brushing my teeth. It changes every day.

I just have an inability to lie.

We all get old, but I always say the skinny, pretty girls will be screwed.

I think initially, the record industry struggled a lot with digital media because there are a lot of aspects to it that can potentially destroy our industry.

Whatever you are, you have the right to get married.

Where it is permissible both to die and not to die, it is an abuse of valour to die.

A true friend knows your weaknesses but shows you your strenghs; feels your fears but fortifies your faith; sees your anxieties but frees your spirit; recognizes your disabilities but emphasizes your possibilities.

You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose.

Knowledge is an addiction, as drink; knowledge does not bring understanding. Knowledge can be taught, but not wisdom; there must be freedom from knowledge for the coming of wisdom.

People assume that actors working in films won’t have the time to do theatre. But I make sure that whenever I’m free, I watch a play.

The undisciplined are slaves to moods, appetites and passions.

Without freedom from the past, there is no freedom to all.

To be free comes not from changing or fixing this world, but from seeing this world as it is and opening the heart in the midst of it.