If you come into success too soon you'll burn out and be finished before you know it. If you let the maturation process happen naturally you'll be happier with yourself in the end.

When I finish a picture I don't show it to anyone if I feel it's not good enough yet. I've learnt to listen to my partners and my friends. For me it's the biggest success if they like it.

You do the work and you want people to see it but um while I'm doing the work the result doesn't matter at all to me. Ultimately I don't I don't care whether the film is - you know - some big giant box-office bonanza and I don't care if its a complete flop. To me when a film gets made and it's actually finished it's a success. They're all a success in their own way.

The instinct of nearly all societies is to lock up anybody who is truly free. First society begins by trying to beat you up. If this fails they try to poison you. If this fails too the finish by loading honors on your head.

It scares you: all the noise the rattling the shaking. But the look on everybody's face when you're finished and packing it's the best smile in the world and there's nobody hurt and the well's under control.

I was sent to a finishing school which didn't last long when mother found out how badly chaperoned we were. Then I 'came out' before going to a domestic science school.

If I could be more vague I'd write more about people in my life but I hate hurting feelings or making people feel uncomfortable. I've done that before. Unless they're sad songs. Those get finished fast but the mean ones often end up at the back of the bottom drawer and it's probably for the best.

I never get scared making these kinds of movies because it's all make-believe but I did cry when I saw the finished version of Man On Fire because it is so sad.

I enjoyed in every way my 12 years of playing Archie and I wasn't personally sad about finishing a long job.

I didn't really want to live so anything that was an investment in time made me angry... but also I just felt sad. When the hopelessness is hurting you it's the fixtures and fittings that finish you off.

It seemed romantic but also tragic - people would be winning but then lose it all or crash but fight on break bones but get back on their bikes and try to finish. Just getting to the end was seen as an achievement in itself.

I respect newspapers but the reality is that magazine 'photojournalism' is finished. They want illustrations Photoshopped pictures of movie stars.

I've just finished my next collection Possible Side Effects and I'm now working on a collection of holiday stories as well as a memoir about my relationship with my father.

Sometimes you're not even sure which of your stories were failures. There are things I've written that I thought were complete catastrophes when I finished with them that have gone on to generate some of my most positive feedback.

I don't want to spend the rest of my life in politics. When I'm finished with my term as governor I'm going back to the life that's waiting for me in the private sector.

Finishing second in the Olympics gets you silver. Finishing second in politics gets you oblivion.

We recognise in the finished art which is the result of these conditions the best words in the best order - poetry and to put this essential poetry into different classes is impossible.