Favourite quotes

When I come across an interesting, amusing or pithy comment in a film, TV programme or newspaper, I always jot it down and later, put into my red Moleskine notebook. Here are some of my favourites from a wide range of sources, including the BBC's Ashes to Ashes; one of the Bond films; a lecture on how to perform Shakespeare; Ugly Betty; and a stand-up routine from the comedian Bill Bailey.

"You're cleverer than you look!" "Well, better than looking cleverer than you are...!"

"he's got as much charm as Gollum"

"he's got fingers in more pies than a leper on a cookery course..."

"the chicken kiev is the culinary equivalent of the spitting cobra"

"those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first call 'promising'"

"teenagers are toddlers with hormones and attitude"

"I'm in prison with a man who's so dyslexic that he thinks he's in here for HGB"

"I might come dressed as a nun. Or a cat. I haven't decided yet."

"to perform a great text, you need oxygen and blood"

"people in prison have done things that the people outside prison have thought about, and not done"