"Art’s true purpose is to be human as opposed to some rarefied activity set away from real life. I think art should help you to navigate the real challenges of being a human being."

"I realized that the only possible response was to go to my wonderful local café, Maison Bertaux, check everyone was well, eat a little cake and then make art. To me, making art, and in particular public art, is always an assertion of our humanity and our strength."

"I do see myself as aiming to foment some kind of revolution."

"Art should help you to navigate the real challenges of being a human being."

"I believe we have to put art back at the center of everyday life rather than allowing it to become a specialist activity at the margins of society."

"If the great Western experiment fails and we end up living in totalitarian war-on-terrorism states, one day someone’s going to say, 'Well democracy doesn’t work because they had to give it up’."

"If we’re being told to do stupid or cruel things, then it is morally correct to disobey."

"Writing adds up to the conscience of our times."

"I have a fundamental faith in folk, that people are interesting and good."

"Different is not wrong."

"Art is like a fart for the soul. Better out than in."

"It is in the nature of truth not to be at fault."

"When we speak plainly of death we stand equal to it."

"Everything is resurrected in memory."

"All I need is a hat and a vagina."

"I can accept no responsibility for any changes in your existence, miraculous or otherwise. You must take responsibility for your own life. You must have your own life because if you haven’t had at least that, what have you had?"

"Calamitous collapse is better than mediocre defeat!"

"Everyone is as confused as I am."

"Revolutions have always started in cafés."

"Everybody should be entitled to one lie, one failing, one infidelity."

"When the world’s run by fools it’s the duty of intelligence to disobey."

"I want to live in a city where the police don’t shoot you."

"It is perfectly reasonable to despair of a world where the Nobel Committee gives the Peace Prize to a man running a war."

"I am the conscience of the 21st Century."

"Never fall for someone with a body to diet for."

"Why settle for the art world when you can have the whole world?"

"Everything turns only to memory."

"Ageing is a privilege not a predicament"

"Rain has always been connected in my mind with kindness."

"You said in that moment on the beach you were entirely happy."

"Ultimately, the Indian public is not fool. They can spot the difference between what is said for effect and what is done in reality. Whether it is politicians or actors or social activists, they know for sure whom to trust or not."

"Fifty three per cent children in India face sexual abuse – both boys and girls – but we still feel uncomfortable talking about it. We are still hypocrites when it comes to issues like child abuse, sex or for that matter homosexuality. It is high time that we brought the issue from under the carpet."

"If the character has the motivation to dance round trees, then I will dance round trees. If the motivation is strong enough, then I'll fly to the moon."

"Man is evil, by nature man is a beast. People have to be educated from childhood, from kindergarten, that there should be no hatred."

"The Bundists did not wait for the Messiah, nor did they plan to leave for Palestine. They believed that Poland was their country and they fought for a just, socialist Poland, in which each nationality would have its own cultural autonomy, and in which minorities' rights would be guaranteed."

"To be a Jew means always being with the oppressed and never the oppressors."

"I'm just the dumb blonde with the jewelery!"

"So talented he's enough to drive any aspiring writer to OD on Smarties - or at least encourage them to stick to writing out place-settings for dinner parties."

"Soon censorship will become a luxury of the past. When I recently spoke to an okie connected with the censor board about why 'Mad Max' wasn't banned, his reply was that the youth of today must get used to violence as that will soon be their way of life! It's a sobering thought."

"Underneath the bitchy bon mots is a satirist of serious commitment."