"High moral character is not a precondition for great moral accomplishments."

"'Bombing Afghanistan back into the Stone Age' was quite a favourite headline for some wobbly liberals. The slogan does all the work. But an instant's thought shows that Afghanistan is being, if anything, bombed out of the Stone Age."

"Well, I'll put it this way: you can certainly say belief in God makes people behave worse. That can be proved beyond a doubt."

"People until I was 60 would always say they thought I looked younger, which I think, without flattering myself, I did, but I think I certainly have, as George Orwell says people do after a certain age, the face they deserve."

"Also, if you want to reach people, theatre is not always the best way to do it."

"The bottom line is that the human body is complex and subtle, and oversimplifying - as common sense sometimes impels us to do - can be hazardous to your health."

"I'm not driven to get back into politics. It's not on my top five things to do before I die, but saying that, I may be in politics in the next year or the next ten years. I've been on the front line for 12 years, four in state government, eight on the national level."

"Fresh air is good if you do not take too much of it most of the achievements and pleasures of life are in bad air."