Actors From England

"[Answering "What made you step up to making your own record?"] I felt like I may not get opportunities to do this ever again, so it’s about time—it’s a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you’re ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There’s almost no such thing as ready. There’s only now. And you may as well do it now. I mean, I say that confidently as if I’m about to go bungee jumping or something—I’m not. I’m not a crazed risk taker. But I do think that, generally speaking, now is as good a time as any."

"This was the tricky bit. The really tricky bit, trickiness cubed."

"O'Neal had uttered three words: 'Conspiracy to murder.' The correct word for me to repeat in an incredulous tone of voice would have been 'murder'; a very small, and psychiatrically disturbed, section of the population might have opted for the 'to'; but the one word out of the three I most definitely should not have chosen to repeat was 'conspiracy'."

"There’s an undeniable pleasure in stepping into an open-top sports car driven by a beautiful woman. It feels like you’re climbing into a metaphor."

"The first item was fighting under the name ‘Crostini of Mealed Tarroce, with Benatore Potatoes’ and weighed in at an impressive twelve pounds sixty-five. The Ralph Lauren blonde came over and asked me if I needed any help with the menu, and I asked her to explain what potatoes were. She didn’t laugh."

"Death and disaster are at our shoulders every second of our lives, trying to get at us. Missing, a lot of the time. A lot of miles on the motorway without a front wheel blow-out. A lot of viruses that slither through our bodies without snagging. A lot of pianos that fall a minute after we've passed. Or a month, it makes no difference. So unless were going to get down on our knees and give thanks every time disaster misses, it makes no sense to moan when it strikes."

"We were walking through Hyde Park, going nowhere in particular, holding hands for a bit, then letting go as if holding hands wasn't one of life's big deals."

"People talk about nightfall, or night falling, or dusk falling, and it's never seemed right to me. Perhaps they once meant befalling. As in night befalls. As in night happens. Perhaps they, whoever they were, thought of a falling sun. That might be it, except that that ought to give us dayfall. Day fell on Rupert the Bear. And we know, if we've ever read a book, that day doesn't fall or rise. It breaks. In books, day breaks, and night falls. In life, night rises from the ground. The day hangs on for as long as it can, bright and eager, absolutely and positively the last guest to leave the party, while the ground darkens, oozing night around your ankles, swallowing for ever that dropped contact lens, making you miss that low catch in the gully on the last ball of the last over."

"I was definitely getting the hang of this skating thing. I'd started to copy a fancy cross-over turn from a German girl in front of me, and it was working pretty well. I was just about keeping up with her too, which was pleasing. She must have been about six."

"I found a cab eventually, and told the driver in fluent English that I wanted Wenceslas Square. This request, I now know, is phonically identical to the Czech phrase for ‘I am an air-brained tourist, please take everything I have’."

"Inside there was a wall three feet away. And between the wall and the door, in this unbelievably tiny space, a girl in a lemon-coloured shirt sat at a desk, with word processor, potted plant, mug of pencils, furry gonk, and wadges of orange paper. It was incredible that anyone or anything could function in such a space. It was like suddenly discovering a family of otters in one of your shoes."

"They said it was a sitting-room, but I don’t know why they’d decided to confine its purpose just to sitting. Obviously, sitting was one of the things you could do in a room this size; but you could also stage operas, hold cycling races, and have an absolutely cracking game of frisbee, all at the same time, without having to move any of the furniture. It could rain in a room this big."

"It is the middle of December now, and we are about to travel to Switzerland - where we plan to ski a little, relax a little, and shoot a Dutch politician a little."

"It was a beautiful afternoon; one to make you realise that God really can be very good sometimes with weather and scenery."

"Dawn was definitely pulling into the station by now, and the snow had begun to throb with an electric, new-fallen whiteness. It climbed the inside of my trousers, and clung, squeakily, to the soles of my boots, and the bit just in front seemed to say ‘don’t walk on me, please don’t walk . . . oh.’"

"I always felt with Hugh that there was a secret waiting to be let out. He thinks a great deal. He is not good at selling himself. Of course, he's terrific at comedy, playing the amiables and idiots, but those who know him well, and not that many do, know that as well as doubt and insecurity he has great inner strength, huge depth and thoughtfulness."

"He's the real thing. Gifted, phenomenally intelligent, and wise."

"I've always thought of Hugh as a panda, probably because he's not naturally aggressive. Either a panda or an Opel Kadett."

"He is one of those rare people who manages to be lugubriously sexy - like a well-hung eel."

"The thing you have to realise about Hugh is that he was born prematurely disillusioned."

"Now they've found me, At last they've found me. It's hard to run From a starving family. Now they've found me. Well I won't run; I'm tired of hearing There goes a well-known gun."

"Holy Moses I have been deceived. Now the wind has changed direction and I'll have to leave. Won't you please excuse my frankness, but it's not my cup of tea. Holy Moses I have been deceived."

"Through a glass eye your throne Is the one danger zone. Take me to the pilot for control; Take me to the pilot of your soul."

"And you can tell everybody, this is your song. It may be quite simple but now that it's done, I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind That I put down in words How wonderful life is while you're in the world."

"For this dark and lonely room Projects a shadow cast in gloom. And my eyes are mirrors Of the world outside. Thinking of the way That the wind can turn the tide. And these shadows turn From purple into grey."

"Goodbye England's rose, May you ever grow in our hearts. You were the grace that placed itself Where lives were torn apart.You called out to our country, And you whispered to those in pain. Now you belong to Heaven, And the stars spell out your name.And it seems to me you lived your life Like a candle in the wind, Never fading with the sunset, When the rain set in."

"Don't go breaking my heart. I couldn't if I tried. Honey if I get restless... Baby you're not that kind.Don't go breaking my heart. You take the weight off me. Honey when you knock on my door, I gave you my key."

"`Cause I live and breathe Philadelphia freedom. From the day that I was born I've waved the flag. Philadelphia freedom took me knee-high to a man. Yeah gave me peace of mind my daddy never had.Oh Philadelphia freedom shine on me, I love you. Shine a light through the eyes of the ones left behind. Shine a light, shine a light Shine a light, won't you shine a light. Philadelphia freedom, I love you, yes I do."

"That record she did with Peter Gabriel saved my life. That record helped me get sober. So she played a big part in my actual downfall and kind of "rebirth'" as it were. That record helped me so much. I never told her that, but it did."

""Wuthering Heights" was not your normal type song — but that's why it was so brilliant. It was something out the norm. When something like that comes along, they don’t come along that often. When does the next Kate Bush come along, after Kate Bush? There hasn’t been one."

"They're not "normal" songs. None of her songs have been "normal." She's just who she is, she's unique. She's — a mystery. She's the most beautiful mystery. … Let me tell you a story: when I had my civil partnership, nine years ago, in 2005, and Kate — we invited Kate, we didn't think she'd come but she came, she came with her husband Danny, and there were a lot of very famous people in that room, there were like 600 people — and all anybody wanted to meet was Kate Bush. I mean, musician, anybody — they couldn't believe Kate Bush was there. She's kind of an enigma."

"You and your oven are capable of great things, Remember, no two ovens are the same."

"There just aren't many people in the world with balls that big and talent that awesome."

"He is Mr Piano Man, I am Miss Piano Man."

"Sometimes when I'm flying over the Alps I think, 'that's like all the cocaine I sniffed."

"It's very important to have two tiaras when you're on the road, you never know when you'll be invited to something really formal."

"People should be very free with sex, but they should draw the line at goats."

"Music has healing power. It has the ability to take people out of themselves for a few hours."

"Chefs aren't celebrities: they're chefs."

"Welcome to the world of bullshit, my dear. You have arrived."

"The internet has stopped people from going out and being with each other, creating stuff. Instead they sit at home and make their own records, which is sometimes OK but it doesn’t bode well for long-term artistic vision. It’s just a means to an end. We’re talking about things that are going to change the world and change the way people listen to music and that’s not going to happen with people blogging on the internet. I mean, get out there, communicate. Hopefully the next movement in music will tear down the internet. Let’s get out in the streets and march and protest instead of sitting at home and blogging. I do think it would be an incredible experiment to shut down the whole internet for five years and see what sort of art is produced over that span. There’s too much technology available. I’m sure, as far as music goes, it would be much more interesting than it is today."

"If you’ve never heard his music then, well... who are we kidding? Everybody has heard him. His voice has changed over the years, but his piano playing has remained rollicking, rocking and resounding. He helped to solidify the piano’s place in rock and roll just as synthesizers were making their presence known."

"I have been a Pariah in academia but to all those who sought my destruction I always had one answer: "I'm Still Standing." The hymn from Sir Elton John is the best description of how I feel about my survival and triumph over a system that should not be called part of the Humanities since it is hardly humane in its treatment of difference. I have also found deplorable the treatment of students in academia. My former students are the people I miss the most about teaching. But, as one of my former students told me once and I have found it to be true: "You will always have students." So we bring this compendium to you: the totality of a life of poetry. May you feel an embrace from me as you read them. To everyone who reads these pages: I'm Still Standing! Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!"

"And every one of us has to face that day; Do you cross the bridge or do you fade away? And every one of us that ever came to play Has to cross the bridge or fade away."

"You may not believe it, But I don't believe in miracles anymore. And when I think about it, I don't believe I ever did for sure. All the things I've said in songs, All the purple prose you bought from me. Reality's just black and white. The sentimental things I'd write Never meant that much to me."

"A dream will fly The moment that you open up your eyes. A dream is just a riddle, Ghosts from every corner of your life."

"Spare your heart, save your soul. Don't drag your love across the coals. Find your feet and your fortune can be told. Release, relax, let go, And hey now let's recover your soul."

"There was a time, I was everything and nothing all in one. When you found me, I was feeling like a cloud across the sun."

"I believe in love, it's all we got. Love has no boundaries, no borders to cross. Love is simple, hate breeds. Those who think difference is the child of disease. Father and son make love and guns, Families together kill someone. Without love, I believe in love."

"Things we never said come together, The hidden truth no longer haunting me. Tonight we touched on the things that were never spoken, That kind of understanding sets me free."