I very much enjoyed my career in science. I didn't leave science because I was disillusioned but felt I'd done my bit for it after about twenty-five years.

I don't think there's a date minimum or maximum. I don't get the whole 'All right you've got to wait three days to call after the date.' If I got a number from a girl I'd call that night. There's no science to it for me. You just do what it is that you feel like doing.

Before a war military science seems a real science like astronomy but after a war it seems more like astrology.

Just after World War II this country led the world in science by every way you could measure it yet the number of scientists was a tiny proportion of what it is now.

After all science is essentially international and it is only through lack of the historical sense that national qualities have been attributed to it.

The most watched programme on the BBC after the news is probably 'Doctor Who.' What has happened is that science fiction has been subsumed into modern literature. There are grandparents out there who speak Klingon who are quite capable of holding down a job. No one would think twice now about a parallel universe.

This world after all our science and sciences is still a miracle wonderful inscrutable magical and more to whosoever will think of it.

Each problem that I solved became a rule which served afterwards to solve other problems.

Once I was checking to hotel and a couple saw my ring with Blues on it. They said 'You play blues. That music is so sad.' I gave them tickets to the show and they came up afterwards and said 'You didn't play one sad song.'

Film-makers are always going to be interested in making movies that plug into society around them. That's what a vibrant artistically alert community should be doing. After all it would be sad if we only made films about alien robots.

I found out about reviews early on. They're mostly written by sad men on bad afternoons. That's probably why I'm less angry than some writers who are so narcissistic they consider every line of every review even a thoughtful one as major treason.

I mean I was just one of the ones who got exposed and because of the position I was in where I was in my life it went mainstream. A lot of people got out of it after my situation not because I went to prison but because it was sad for them to see me go through something that was so pointless that could have been avoided.

I felt sad because everyday I had to wake up early to practice before going to school. After school I had to go back to tennis again and then after tennis I had homework. I didn't have time to play.

I am an optimist unrepentant and militant. After all in order not to be a fool an optimist must know how sad a place the world can be. It is only the pessimist who finds this out anew every day.

We look before and after And pine for what is not Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.

After these three novels I gave up writing novels for a time I was dissatisfied with romantic doom yet didn't see much way around it.

Is that romantic fantasy real? Um after kids no. Take the kids away I don't know. Depends.

People expect me to be dark and gloomy then write that I'm a jolly chap and after all that is what I am. I think it's a case of an absolute romantic naivety that there should be a parallel between the work and the artist.

The essence of romantic love is that wonderful beginning after which sadness and impossibility may become the rule.

I said 'Brian no one is going to respect me as a mother after this.' He said 'oh no yes they will this is a movie don't worry about it.' But they're not.

I respect the people who buy my records and come to my concerts. It's only fair that I always try to give them the very best that's in me. After all I need them more than they need me.

It's not easy to retire at 31. In one respect I was glad I was done. But after a few years of having fun I got a little restless. When you're 33 34 and you don't have a focus you can get kind of lost. As a man you feel a little bit unfulfilled.

Nonetheless do I have respect for people who believe in the hereafter? Of course I do. I might add perhaps even a touch of envy too because of the solace.

To live your life well and have respect for what came before or after - there's a strong respect for that in African culture.