Ian Brady

"I believe the term ‘serial killer’ is highly misleading, in that it implicitly suggests to the general public that murder is the paramount object or motivating urge in the mind of the killer … They naturally attribute this motivation partly because they value human life above all else, and partly because, as their endless fascination with the subject suggests, they have a vague conception of murder as being somehow mystical, highly dramatic, or even a nebulously romantic experience, replete with unimaginable connotations of eroticism. And guilt for it must be paid for in full."

"[Churchill's wartime menus] show him slurping bottles of whisky, champagne [and] brandy with every sumptuous meal, while the underclass fought and starved for the privilege of poverty and unemployment. Thankfully, the Germans bombed Glasgow back to full employment. Even in the 1960s Earl Mountbatten was prosecuted for adding water to the milk on his farm so you can imagine how the landed gentry 'rationed' themselves during the war."

"Trivia and pettiness consume mankind, surely the most pretentious creation of all."

"It's the theatricality, Wuthering Heights, Hound of the Baskervilles."

"I can't stand feeble, robotic psychiatrists. They give you false drugs and turn you into a zombie."

"You're just a package. You're in a cage and people poke you with a stick."

"In a captive environment, paranoia is unavoidable. Only the prison authorities call it paranoia; prisoners call it sensible precautions."

"Most prisoners are perfectly mentally healthy compared with the paranoia of prison officials."