When things are bad we take comfort in the thought that they could always get worse. And when they are we find hope in the thought that things are so bad they have to get better.

One loves to possess arms though they hope never to have occasion for them.

I place no hope in my strength nor in my works: but all my confidence is in God my protector who never abandons those who have put all their hope and thought in him.

But yeah I'm really happy when I'm writing. When I'm being creative and when I have something that I can put down. You know if you go out and you overhear a conversation or you have a thought you have a receptacle to go home and say 'Oh this would be great in this script.' Your antenna's out in a different way and I love that time.

About 15 years ago I went though a period of a year or so when I just couldn't find anything good. My wife noticed I was having trouble reading menus. I bought some cheap reading glasses in a drug store. I got home and suddenly all these books that weren't good were good.

Well I'm not good with sliminess. I hate the thought of creatures that have slime on them or creatures that leave a slimy trail. At home the sight of a slug can bring up my breakfast.

I came home after a year and although my profession was only hairdressing I knew I could change it.

In the later books I am much more at home in the use of language to describe things. I had never thought of that until a critic pointed that out.

The thing about being at home versus being out in the world working is it's a whole different vibe. When I'm home with my kids and partner I will cook - even though she's a very good cook. She's learned over the years. We started with basics you know how to saute onions how to saute mushrooms.

Oh stuff the critics. I don't care. Too many people are snooty about classical. Look I wasn't brought up in a home where we listened to classical music. It was a singing teacher that thought it would be best for my voice. Then I moved into crossover. And if that makes the music accessible to more people then great.

Spare a thought for the poor introverts among us. In a world of party animals and glad-handers they're the ones who stand by the punch bowl. In a world of mixers and pub crawls they prefer to stay home with a book. Everywhere around them cell phones ring and e-mails chime and they just want a little quiet.

I'm a firm believer that lighting affects mood and twinkly lights on strings bring something magical to occasions ranging from concerts to weddings though I'm fond of using them as year-round home decor. There's a reason why they're sometimes called fairy lights. When the night is right there aren't any strings at all.

Most of the time I liked school and got good grades. In junior high though I hit a stumbling block with math - I used to come home and cry because of how frustrated I was! But after a few good teachers and a lot of perseverance I ended up loving math and even choosing it as a major when I got to college.

In the theatre people talk. Talk talk until the cows come home about journeys of discovery and about what Hazlitt thought of a line of Shakespeare. I can't stand it.

Your home is regarded as a model home your life as a model life. But all this splendor and you along with it... it's just as though it were built upon a shifting quagmire. A moment may come a word can be spoken and both you and all this splendor will collapse.

Although I have lived in London I have never really considered London my home because it was always going to be a stopping-off point for me and it has been too.

A happy home is one in which each spouse grants the possibility that the other may be right though neither believes it.