I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means - except by getting off his back.

The law condemns and punishes only actions within certain definite and narrow limits; it thereby justifies, in a way, all similar actions that lie outside those limits.

We lost because we told ourselves we lost.

Art is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced.

The Goddess of Old Europe and Ancient Crete represented the unity of life in nature, delight in the diversity of form, the powers of birth, death and regeneration.

They have - they do still hit me occasionally, and it's an overwhelming grief for what - even though my life is so good now, even including going through treatment for cancer, my life is incredible.

Some people think I have a death wish. I don't have one. I just make mistakes. Bad things happen to good people.

When I first came into parliament, there was, on average, a by-election every three months - due not to MPs bailing out, but because of the death rate.