As a gay Jewish white South African, I belong to quite a lot of minority groups. You constantly have to question who you are, what you are and whether you have the courage to be who you are.

Once more I would adopt the graver style -- a teacher should be sparing of his smile.

William Cowper

My whole life had been designing computers I could never build.

Steve Wozniak

My father made sure that I had lots of levels of education - from ballroom-dancing to painting, commando training, theatre and magic.

Baz Luhrmann

It's amazing what some people read into songs.

Richard Thompson

Isn't that the ultimate homeland security, standing up and defending marriage?

Rick Santorum

Don't dress to kill, dress to survive.

Karl Lagerfeld

It is hard for any one to be an honest politician who is not born and bred a Dissenter.

William Hazlitt

I never thought a basketball shoe would be named after a woman, let alone me.

Sheryl Swoopes

Genius is its own end, and draws its means and the style of its architecture from within, going abroad only for audience, and spectator, as we adapt our voice and phrase to the distance and character of the ear we speak to

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I believe that access to a university education should be based on the ability to learn, not what people can afford. I think there is no more nauseating a sight than politicians pulling up the ladder of opportunity behind them.

Charles Kennedy

I have also just finished three weeks on a soap opera in England. The soap opera is a rather famous one called Crossroads. It was first on television 25 years ago, and it has recently been brought back. I play the part of a businessman called David Wheeler.

Jeremy Bulloch

You, dear reader, have now two accounts to choose between and there can be no doubt which is most probable.

Alasdair Gray