Clare Balding

I think 'ambitious' is one of those adjectives used for women in a derogatory way. ”

Swimmers provide much healthier role models for teenagers than the catwalk. ”

I really love good food occasionally, but I need time to enjoy it, and I need to be hungry. ”

People like to think of you as a certain person, or a certain type of person, and they do love to give you a label. We like luggage labels, and we like people labels. ”

The British have a unique relationship with horses. They are etched into our landscape in chalk, they have been written about, painted, sung about, celebrated and gambled upon for centuries. ”

I have never understood the clamour for waif-like women whose flesh acts merely as a thin veil for their bones - much as I would love to be thinner, I would hate to take it so far that I had no actual shape at all. ”

I find people interesting. People trying hard are interesting. People with a passion are interesting - whether it's old cars or taxidermy or knitting. ”

I cannot be a placard waver for every campaign; that's why I have mostly kept quiet about gay marriage. ”

Particularly when you're young, you're terribly flattered by people who like you, so you think you love them. ”

Like so many kids, I just wanted to fit in, and I see now that I spent most of my life trying to be what I wasn't, trying to get people to like me. ”