"Crossing that bridge, With lessons I've learned. Playing with fire, And not getting burned. I may not know what you're going through. But time is the space, Between me and you. Life carries on... it goes on."

"Oh darlin... In a sky full of people, only some want to fly, Isn't that crazy? In a world full of people, only some want to fly, Isn't that crazy?"

"Did you know, That when it snows, My eyes become large and The light that you shine can be seen."

"A man decides after seventy years, That what he goes there for, is to unlock the door. While those around him criticize and sleep... And through a fractal on a breaking wall, I see you my friend, and touch your face again. Miracles will happen as we trip.But we're never gonna survive, unless... We get a little crazy"

"Ooh, the more I get of you, Stranger it feels, yeah. And now that your rose is in bloom, A light hits the gloom on the grave."

"There is so much a man can tell you, So much he can say. You remain, my power, my pleasure, my pain"

"There's nothing better than going out there and performing and making that connection with audiences. Even after all this time I get the biggest buzz from that."

"I've heard everything — that they were the result of ancient ritual induction into childhood that involved wrestling a wild boar, that I was viciously attacked by a gang. Someone even wrote that I was abducted by aliens who left me with a mark. You know, I really don't care. People can believe whatever they want to believe."

"There were signs in England that the only way for me was down. The media turned against me. I was given a hard time because my outlook wasn't one of pure debauchery. I was a sensitive male and I was singing about spirituality; I didn't choose the loutish Oasis approach to my profession. Britpop was just building up at the time and my attitude somehow counted against me."

"Family, my wife and children, that's my reason for being. Everything is done with them in mind, so perhaps that's the reason this new album is up-tempo. It does feel like a celebration of life. I am finally in a content and happy place to the point where I feel like I need to sing about it. It's made me want to address things that are close to home."

"Myself and the people close to me are all part of a social system, and we were being conditioned to accept the status quo. But on this album, I'm saying it's time for us to take charge. We can change it. We can take control of our emotional system and be happy. My point is don't just sit there and allow life to happen to you. Go out and take charge if you want change, but it begins closer to home."

"Lor’, but women’s rum cattle to deal with, the first man found that to his cost, And I reckon it’s just through a woman the last man on earth’ll be lost."

"It ’s no matter what you do If your heart be only true, And his heart was true to Poll."

"Son, son, I admire your sincerity. Always be sincere - whether you mean it or not."

"No more will I go To Blandford Forum And Mortehoe - On the Slow Train From Midsomer Norton And Mumby Road - No churns, no porter No cat on a seat At Chorlton-cum-Hardy Or Chester-le-Street I won't be leaving again On the Slow Train"

"The English, the English, the English are best - I wouldn't give tuppence for all of the rest!"

"And all the world over, each nation's the same; They've simply no mission of playing the game. They argue with umpires - they cheer when they've won And they practice beforehand, which ruins the fun. The English are moral, the English are good And clever, and modest, and misunderstood!"

"The bottle-nosed whale is a furlong long, And likewise wise But headstrong strong"

"Away on the hilltop sat combing her hair His fair Hippopotamine maid. The Hippopotamus was no ignoramus And sang her this sweet serenade: Mud! Mud! Glorious mud! Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood. So, follow me, follow, down to the hollow, And there let us wallow in glorious mud."

"Pity the poor old rhino with A bodger on its bonce."

"I'm a g-nu, I'm a g-nu, The g-nicest work of g-nature in the zoo"

"Hold very tight please Ting ting"

"Painting is an awkward thing to teach except the details of the medium. If you and your master are determined to look at nature and art in two different directions you are sure to stick."

"My mother is English, and as she was the one who read to us, my early world was A .A. Milne, Beatrix Potter, Kenneth Grahame, Lewis Carroll and Roald Dahl. None of them thought it necessary to protect children from darkness. On the contrary, they guided their readers right toward it. This gives one an enormous sense of being respected as a child. Not just of being trusted to handle things as they are, but to be accepted as not entirely good. To be recognized as having darkness within oneself, too. I don’t think I’ve trusted any author since who doesn’t address me with that assumption."

"I remember I used to half believe and wholly play with fairies when I was a child. What heaven can be more real than to retain the spirit-world of childhood, tempered and balanced by knowledge and common-sense..."

"Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were – Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter."

"Don't go into Mr. McGregor's garden: your father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor."

"This is a Tale about a tail — a tail that belonged to a little red squirrel, and his name was Nutkin."

"It is said that the effect of eating too much lettuce is "soporific." I have never felt sleepy after eating lettuces; but then I am not a rabbit."

"Although no one could question her zealous work ethic (she drove herself to breakdown performing in Pam Gems’s Piaf in 1993), Paige is not exactly known for her humility. In newspaper profiles, that dread word "difficult" is often applied, and yet here she is in the chorus line, cheerfully taking on a modest role in a musical with far more credibility and less bombast than the shows that made her name."

"She is confident when she talks about singing and stagecraft, surprisingly diffident when it comes to anything outside her field."

"I used to get nervous for Elaine before a show, but not any more. She likes to be really well prepared for a role; she's very hard on herself. I'd never want to put myself through that kind of stress."

"Three years ago, around Christmas, when she was starring in The King and I in London, Mum was diagnosed with cancer. Elaine thought she should come out of the show, but Mum wanted her to finish her contract. That was very hard for Elaine, having to go on stage night after night knowing she wanted to be with Mum."

"It was terribly difficult. It's not something I ever wanted in my life. Naively I just thought, 'oh I've got this great part'. I never thought about the reality of all the stuff that went with it. I'm actually quite a shy person when I'm not on stage."

"I would have liked to have had kids, and had a family, but I think in my profession it's quite difficult to achieve because you're always working. I think I'm the kind of person as well, had I had kids, I wouldn't have gone on working. I would have jacked it all in. But it's a wonderful life I have, so I'm very fulfilled in other ways. Am I ever bothered by it? Well it's too late now, (laughs)."

"I loved it. We would rehearse in this dark theatre, unaware of the sunny day outside, and be immersed in the magic of creating something from our imaginations."

"The lush sound and the sheer power of her voice are, to put it simply, incredible."

"I never expected to like her at all - she has quite a reputation for being difficult and once told a male interviewer that she would no longer give interviews to female journalists because 'I don't trust other women in these situations. They establish a sisterhood with you and then betray it every time.' But actually I found her chatty, friendly, good humoured."

"On the very rare occasion when they don't all jump up out of their seats I'm always mortified."

"My dad always told me that perseverance furthers. He was right."

"If you’re a serious actor, you wouldn’t put yourself up for one of those shows in case you got bumped off the first week and all your colleagues saw it."

"Learn to take rejection, keep fit and work only with the best in your field."

"I did miss the music a bit - but only in the wings, when I was waiting to go on. It seemed dreadfully quiet, rather unnerving. But the wonderful thing was that one didn't have to be quite so obsessive about one's health, and one's voice."

"My first singing role was as Susanna in a school production in a shortened form of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. I loved to sing and I was given lots of encouragement by a wonderful music teacher Mrs Ann Hill and by my parents who suggested I go to drama school."

"I have been fortunate to play some fantastic roles in musicals and I find it difficult to say which is my favourite. It's generally whichever I am playing at the time. However playing Eva Peron in Evita will always be particularly special to me. Being chosen to originate the role in the premiere of a much sought after and what became a ground-breaking, award-winning musical which launched my career was a great challenge and it gave me the opportunity to play more great roles in the future."

"Oh, it was awful, and I vowed to myself I would never, ever push myself to the edge that much again. It was really frightening. Because absolutely everything seemed to be impossible to deal with, just little things became major - noise, if someone had a radio on, or even the sound of traffic, or being in someone's company for longer than 10 minutes - I started to find it all too much."

"Actors already striving in the theatre wouldn't dream of putting themselves on these shows; it means that only about 10% of the talent out there is being auditioned for parts."

"It did something to me. I thought it was the most glorious melody."