For girls growing up, sometimes I think they get the wrong idea for what women should look like.

For exams, I swotted so hard because I couldn't bear the thought of not coming first.

To be honest, when I was growing up - I think it's because of Kate Winslet and 'Titanic' - I always wanted to do period.

I loved fairy tales growing up.

Death is acceptable only if it represents the physically necessary passage toward a union, the condition of a metamorphosis.

The tricky part of illness is that, as you go through it, your values are constantly changing... You may decide you want to spend your time working as a neurosurgeon, but two months later, you may want to learn to play the saxophone or devote yourself to the church. Death may be a one-time event, but living with terminal illness is a process.

I was court-martialled in my absence, and sentenced to death in my absence, so I said they could shoot me in my absence.

Kurt and I weren't the closest of friends, but I knew him well enough to be devastated by his death. For such a quiet person, he was so excited about having a child.