Since my adaptation of Ian McEwan's 'Atonement,' I get sent a lot of novels that people think will work as movies. So every now and then I make a point of sitting down and reading a couple of them.

I think there's something degrading about having a husband for a rival. It's humiliating if you fail and commonplace if you succeed.

To seduce a woman famous for strict morals, religious fervor and the happiness of her marriage: what could possibly be more prestigious?

Masturbation is the thinking man's television.

If I had to give a definition of capitalism I would say: the process whereby American girls turn into American women.

I have always thought of sophistication as rather a feeble substitute for decadence.

I like L.A., but I think whats changed is that the kinds of films I do, the mid-range dramatic film, has become an endangered species.

You see, I always divide people into two groups. Those who live by what they know to be a lie, and those who live by what they believe, falsely, to be the truth.

You know very well that unless you're a scientist, it's much more important for a theory to be shapely, than for it to be true.

There is a sort of theory that you should adapt bad books because they always make more successful films.

I'm ashamed to say the first play I saw at the Royal Court was mine.

Water purling between the rocks, weed under the surface like green hair in the wind.

Success is following the pattern of life one enjoys most.

Listen, if you're a defender, DO BETTER!

We are as near to heaven by sea as by land.

The crises in North Korea, Iran, the Middle East, show how quickly things can change and how they can go wrong. We must be prepared. And right now the Army is not.

Am I a hero? I really can't say, but yes.

Terrorism itself is not the greatest danger we face.

PR is a mix of journalism, psychology, and lawyering - it's an ever-changing and always interesting landscape.

I find that with some girls, the words work and education have gotten a bad rap.

Interior design is a travesty of the architectural process and a frightening condemnation of the credulity, helplessness and gullibility of the most formidable consumers - the rich.