How come there's only one Monopolies Commission?

How come there's only one Monopolies Commission?

Democracy is too good to share with just anybody.

Euphemism in the workplace does not end with job descriptions. It reaches a pusillanimous peak at the other end of the work process - in dismissal.

I got into New College, Oxford. The ethos was that you could work - or not.

I was absolutely a non-starter at games. My report for rugby said, 'Nigel's chief contribution is his presence on the field.' I used to pray for rain and sometimes it did rain - and we played anyway.

I was broadcast-struck from an early age; I had saved up for a tape recorder and started making programmes.

I was terribly shy and never said anything in class. Then I started getting into school plays. When you've got words to say, you've got a sort of armour.

It is part of politics to make things look better than they really are. What is a spin doctor but a serial euphemiser?

My job involves searching for 'lost' quotations - that is, trying to find out who came up with a quotable saying that lingers in someone's mind and which they wish to use for their own purpose and which they cannot find in conventional dictionaries of quotation.

People will say what they want to say, in the way they want to.

You wish to put a positive construction on your deeds and words.

Every single day of making a movie is going to bring new problems.

When I was about nine or 10, I was on a few random talent shows in shopping malls.

Well, first of all the Dominion Bureau of Statistics made a survey in the spring of 1970, which showed that on balance the difference in the cost of living between Canadian cities and American cities was 5 % to the advantage, of course, to the Canadian cities.

Aunt: A cherished friend and personal cheerleader who will always see you through rose colored glasses.

I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters - two beautiful, intelligent black young women - playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters, and all our sons and daughters, now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States.

People who have witnessed all the years of me playing, they bring their kids and say, 'I used to see this guy when I was fourteen!'

With food, you're the artist; you put the colour in it, you present it to the table and it has the ability to knock out the senses. It can look fabulous, be beautifully presented and smell great and taste good as well.

Truth disappears with the telling of it.

The concept that you cannot own the airwaves has caused far more harm than good.

Remember, your body is a temple, not a 7-Eleven.

Over the years I have tried to develop something which is technically assured.

It's barely OK for me to be dressed up as a black guy. But part of me kind of enjoys provoking people.

I set myself some specific goals, but the key one is just getting myself into as good a shape as possible for one day this year: the Olympic marathon.

I learned how important timing is; having a really good idea five years ahead of its time is practically worthless.

What, of course, we want in a university is for people to learn the skills they're going to need outside the classroom. So, having a system that had more emphasis on inquiry and exploration but also on learning and practising specific skills would fit much better with how we know people learn.

I think they should let gays in the military because we are the United States of America. And if a gay person wants to serve his or her country, why should they not be allowed to?

All we hear about Africa in the West is Darfur, Zimbabwe, Congo, Somalia, as if that is all there is.

Believing takes practice.

I have my own people that make my clothes because it's hard for me to find stuff that fits.

So many people suffer from abuse and suffer alone.

Obama has been attacked repeatedly for not wearing a flag pin, with Republicans claiming that his patriotism is in question. It's all a bit silly.

I've learned that one thing about my life that is certain is trouble.

All that makes existence valuable to any one depends on the enforcement of restraints upon the actions of other people.

I didn't lead a very wise life, myself, but it was a full one and a grown-up one. You come of age very quickly through shipwreck and disaster.