Actually, I can't imagine anything more tedious than a perfect person, especially if it was someone who also demanded perfection from me.

The copycat effects of media violence, similar to those previously attributed to westerns, radio serials and comic books, are easy to exaggerate.

Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. Relationships are complex. Outcomes are uncertain. People are irrational.

So, if falling crime rates coincide with the rise of violent video games and increasing violence on TV and at the cinema, should we conclude that media violence is causing the drop in crime rates?

I suspect the secret of personal attraction is locked up in our unique imperfections, flaws and frailties.

Universal literacy was a 20th-century goal. Before then, reading and writing were skills largely confined to a small, highly educated class of professional people.

The thing we need most is each other.

Obviously, every child should be given the best possible opportunity to acquire literacy skills.

It's Australian to do such things because, however uncivilised they may seem, it's human to do them.

One reason we resist making deliberate choices is that choice equals change and most of us, feeling the world is unpredictable enough, try to minimise the trauma of change in our personal lives.

On average, Australians watch more than three hours of television a day, compared with 12 minutes a day spent by the average couple talking to each other.

Everyone's time is limited. What matters most is to focus on what matters most.

Employment is the exploitation of the employer’s courage, and, the employed’s fear of failure.

Without darkness, nothing comes to birth, As without light, nothing flowers.

My own eyes are not enough for me; I will see through those of others.

Almost everything I do, especially later on, is really very scripted. And I do it over and over again until it's perfect.

It is easier going out of the way when we are in, than going in when we are out.

It was a source of shame for my family that I was in rock and roll, which is so blue-collar. It just isn't done. And I felt it, too.

My guru is in my imagination anywhere. Anywhere.

You can't be a minority in this society without having someone express disapproval about affirmative action.

Politics is a delicate business. I understand that well. But if a party is not willing to stand up for what is right, does it deserve to win back control of the government?