One of the key problems is that the Germans know what they do because everywhere they go there's a 'made in Germany' label on it - they can feel proud of Volkswagens and Audis and Mercedes.

Nice guys finish last, but we get to sleep in.

It's not a bad idea to occasionally spend a little time thinking about things you take for granted. Plain everyday things.

In principle, there are only three main components of spending that much matter to monetary policy: consumer spending, business investment and exports and trade.

We are more likely to cheat if we see others doing so. We tend to conform to accepted norms of reasonable behaviour, rather than adhere to strict rules.

Someday we'll look back on this moment and plow into a parked car.

If you're not making some mistakes, it probably means you're not trying hard enough.

Men don't know much about women. We do know when they're happy. We know when they're crying, and we know when they're pissed off. We just don't know in what order these are gonna come at us.

It's amazing, if you know what you want to say, how fast it is to write.

Being funny, it turns out, is like being a bank. It's a confidence trick. As long as everyone believes in you, you are fine.

But sometimes it's good to dare yourself to do the unthinkable. And rather than stand in front of an audience with no clothes on, I decided to have a go at stand-up comedy.

The books we love, they love us back. And just as we mark our places in the pages, those pages leave their marks on us.

Please let's change subject, as despite the alliteration, I don't think Politics and Puddings go together.

Eating toast in the shower is the ultimate multitask

I have had enough rest and enough training.

But I also think when we embark on intimate relationships, we make a basic human promise to be decent, to hold a flattering mirror up to each other, to be respectful as we explore each other.

Survivors are cooperators. In order to survive in anything we need others to cooperate with or partner with.

To the large extent that music can organize our perceptions of our own bodies and emotions, it can tell us things about history that are not accessible through any other medium.

I find it soothing, the thought of a movie theater.

I never pick up an item without thinking of how I might improve it.

Somewhere, deep within her, surfaces a tiny clockwork submarine. There are times when you can only take the next step. And then another.