Do everything yourself.

If I'd been a housemaid I'd have been the best in Australia - I couldn't help it. It's got to be perfection for me.

One of the drawbacks of fame is that one can never escape from it.

Always sing below your potential.

Do everything yourself.

The first rule in opera is the first rule in life: see to everything yourself.

Do you think I really care what Jeff Gordon says?

The classy gangster is a Hollywood invention.

I'm just looking for touching characters.

I have to reinvent myself.

Lots of people think the violence in the films I make is overwhelming, but they think they're seeing something that they aren't seeing.

By the Nineties, so many people were moonlighting and creating their own professional identities that China generated a brisk new business in the printing of business cards.

When I die, I want to be buried in a long long-sleeve black Ralph Lauren dress and brown chunky boots. I want my hair styled like his models, long hair that flows. I also want natural makeup with a light pink lip.

I was really good at being a bad guy; I like that role. Not being bad to people - just talking bad.

I wish that one of my children will be like the Australian guy from the Discovery Channel show. The crocodile hunter.

I think it's particularly fun not being a full-time showbiz reporter because you still have the 'Oh, wow!' factor when you go out on the red carpet and there are these big stars that are standing there. But if you're doing this day in and day out, it becomes a little blase.

A lot of my characters in all of my books have a self-destructive urge. They'll do precisely the thing that they know is wrong, take a perverse delight in doing the wrong thing.

I was born three weeks early, and I kept being ill. From the age of zero to four, I was always in hospital having tests done, but they couldn't find out what was wrong. They discovered that one of my kidneys wasn't working properly, and it had scarred. I had to have 32 injections in my arm in the morning and evening to try and make me better.

I would not be at all surprised to find out... that the dimensions of buildings affect us in ways we don't guess.

Old radio comedy makes me laugh, as well as 'I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue' and comedians like Paul Merton.

The police came to me to say I had death threats and that I had to be careful!

Mathematicians deal with large numbers sometimes, but never in their income.

If you're playing the character, you could say to yourself in 16 different ways, What if that didn't bother me? What if I knew exactly what he was talking about? What if I didn't get excited?

My mother told me, 'Son, nobody else but God knows.' And that's what I'm about - reaching out to the people, crying with them, giving them hope. Visiting the hospital, visiting the kids with cancer, visiting the adults, and stuff like that. That's what I do.

What I'm trying to do is get this message out about self-empowerment, entrepreneurial spirit and true Americanism - the way we were when we changed the world, when Edison was alone, failing his 2,000th time on the lightbulb.

A fault is fostered by concealment.

I agree with the British Legion that we have a responsibility to support our troops and support their families, particularly when we are asking people to do very difficult and dangerous things for our security.

Any game is important to me. At Boston College, when I went out for the spring games, I wanted to win. Maybe it is more important than other preseason games. It's just that everyone is expecting a lot from me in my first week of professional football. I want to confirm my expectations.

I investigated post-traumatic stress disorder. I've been to a unit where people are suffering from it, and I read a lot of literature. I looked at footage of soldiers in the combat zone. I found 'Restrepo' to be unbelievably useful.

Turning 16 is kind of scary because when you're 16, you go from being a kid and then you can drive and are more of a young adult in a way.