I think women want to take care of themselves and I think having a voice in how that is done is very important.

The fact that the church is convinced of not having the right to confer priestly ordination on women is now considered by some as irreconcilable with the European Constitution.

After all what is your host's purpose in having a party? Surely not for you to enjoy yourself if that were their sole purpose they'd have simply sent champagne and women over to your place by taxi.

I see a wiser person than when I was younger: having babies and passing 30 were the turning points. What women in their 40s - I am 39 - lack in gorgeousness they make up for in wisdom. I love ageing despite the drawbacks - thinner drier skin.

The stupidity of people comes from having an answer for everything. The wisdom of the novel comes from having a question for everything.

I always envisioned myself having a traditional and elegant wedding.

I had a 2-week courtship with a fellow student in the fiction workshop in Iowa and a 5-minute wedding in a lawyer's office above the coffee shop where we'd been having lunch that day. And so I sent a cable to my father saying 'By the time you get this Daddy I'll already be Mrs. Blaise!'

After I had the Caesarean I was told I had really strong stomach muscles and so would heal very quickly. And I did. I was up walking about within three hours. Six days after having her I was out shopping and shortly after that I made it to David Walliams' wedding.

There is nothing worth having that can he obtained by nuclear war - nothing material or ideological - no tradition that it can defend. It is utterly self-defeating.

The whole point of being in the Army is wanting to get killed wanting to test yourself to the limits. Now you have to fly 15 000ft above the war zone to avoid getting hit. I don't think there is any point in having wars if that's how you're going to behave. It's pathetic. All this whining!

I couldn't be happier that President Bush has stood up for having served in the National Guard because I can finally put an end to all those who questioned my motives for enlisting in the Army Reserve at the height of the Vietnam War.

A lot of journalism wants to have what they call objectivity without them having a commitment to pursuing the truth but that doesn't work. Objectivity requires belief in and a commitment toward pursuing the truth - having an object outside of our personal point of view.

Of all liars the most arrogant are biographers: those who would have us believe having surveyed a few boxes full of letters diaries bank statements and photographs that they can play at the recording angel and tell the whole truth about another human life.

Friendless. Having no favors to bestow. Destitute of fortune. Addicted to utterance of truth and common sense.

A lot of people are afraid to tell the truth to say no. That's where toughness comes into play. Toughness is not being a bully. It's having backbone.

The problem with not having a camera is that one must trust the analysis of a reporter who's telling you what occurred in the courtroom. You have to take into consideration the filtering effect of that person's own biases.

Having been given that public trust we have a responsibility to share with the public.

Spending when the math's not there and the numbers aren't there and if they look in the social security trust fund it's filled with IOUs because the government's been pilfering it for years on end. We have to do something. We have to start having this discussion.

When it comes to locations I'm one of those crazy authors who has to see it touch it taste it before I trust myself to recreate it for my readers. Having said that visiting a locked-down pediatric psych ward was the most intimidating research I've ever done - and I've visited maximum security prisons shooting galleries bone collections etc.

I worked with creative people who were very demanding of me and they helped me reach performances that I never could have gotten on my own without being pushed and having trust in them. And so I know the best way to get the best performance of an actor and that's not to coddle them or to baby them. It's to help them it's to push them.

I tend not to trust people who live in very tidy houses. I know that on the surface there is nothing wrong with a person being well-ordered and disciplined. Nothing except that it leaves the impression of that person having lived in the confines of a stark institution which although he or she has long since left remains within.

I feel I do my best work when it's all there on the page and I feel that the character is very vivid as I read the script and I'm not having to create stuff and trying to cobble together something. If I have to do that then I don't entirely trust what I'm doing.

The cyberspace earnings I get from Linux come in the format of having a Network of people that know me and trust me and that I can depend on in return.

I've considered having my nose fixed. But I didn't trust anyone enough. If I could do it myself with a mirror.