Why does everyone have to pretend to be stupid and not know long words?

Being a mod is more of a sensibility than a style.

You could say I'm a mod, but with a small 'm'; I don't wear a parka, but I do question what I wear and what I listen to, which is what it's all about.

Name anything - high-definition TV, computer obsolescence - and I'm pretty much annoyed by it.

I'm not posh or common, I'm in between.

I love that pre-mod jazz look of the late Fifties, the Steve McQueen style that influenced the British modernists.

Most people have a passive relationship with music and clothes, with culture. But music was my first contact with anything creative. Music is it, as far as I'm concerned.

I've got a stag weekend coming up and I've said I'm not doing anything more than a few drinks. I won't have it. I'll go home and watch Antiques Roadshow.

I hate the fact that so much of our life is computerised rather than mechanised.

True heroics, obviously, is not the absence of fear, but having that fear and doing something anyway.

Sherlock and Watson are a love story

The light will and can never be smothered in darkness.

The history books which contain no lies are extremely tedious

The way to defeat international terrorism is through international cooperation based on international law, clear intelligence, and a measured and appropriate military response.

Every truth has four corners: as a teacher I give you one corner, and it is for you to find the other three.

You'll be on your way up! You'll be seeing great sights! You'll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.

If you're gonna drive me crazy baby, drive me to drink.

All Americans (from the vast continent America) were, are, or will be border crossers.

The best teachers have shown me that things have to be done bit by bit. Nothing that means anything happens quickly - we only think it does.

You got to know what's worth keeping and what's worth letting go.

I like the idea of being a novelist. I picture myself on the coast, the wind in my hair, horses galloping around me as I sit at my typewriter in the middle of a field.