The age thing really bugs me. Do people have more of a right to not like what I say because I'm 19?

My habit would have been to veer towards the dark - to prove I was something edgy or maybe to prove that I was cognisant of the dark side. Now with age and confidence I can say yeah that's true but I am cognisant of the fact that people can do things well. And can be more loving than you expect.

When I was younger my whole sense of self-worth was based on whether or not I was working which was awful. And I had a baby at 20 years old so it wasn't just about me. At around the age of 30 there was a stretch where I wasn't working - certainly not on anything I liked anyway - and I started to do other things.

Maybe it is something to do with age but I have become fonder of poetry than of prose.

There's no way to approach anything in an objective way. We're completely subjective our view of the world is completely controlled by who we are as human beings as men or women by our age our history our profession by the state of the world.

As a precocious teen I dreamed of being Graham Greene. Well as it turned out I never wrote a great novel sadly and I never converted to Catholicism happily but I did do one thing he did. That is in middle age I moved to a seaside town and got into a right barney with the local powers-that-be.

I am firmly of the opinion that women who make a lot of effort to hang onto their looks in middle age (unless they are beauties entertainers or prostitutes) are rather sad as one should surely have something more substantial to recommend one by this time such as kindness or cleverness.

I hate the idea that you shouldn't wear something just because you're a certain age.

You hit a certain age and - especially because of TV - the young cooks coming up say 'You're a sellout because you're doing something other than what you should be doing.' 'Top Chef' is a double-edged sword for me: There's a whole group of people who will not come to the restaurants because they assume I'm not in them anymore all I do is TV.

I am happy being able to play roles with people my age because once you do something really mature there is no turning back.

When I write about a 15-year old I jump I return to the days when I was that age. It's like a time machine. I can remember everything. I can feel the wind. I can smell the air. Very actually. Very vividly.

I never took guitar lessons. I took classical piano lessons from the age of six when we lived in Holland. And when we moved to America it was just the typical thing except I was really good at it so was my brother.

I think you can't really escape any kind of spiritual education as a child whether it's New Age or Judaism or Buddhism or whatever it is. You can't escape it even if you completely disagree with it you still have it as a foundation that you base things off of.

American Idol transcends age gender ethnicity everything.

I love things that age well - things that don't date that stand the test of time and that become living examples of the absolute best.

It's the kind of clothes that mothers and daughters can wear in terms of concept... It's not about age. It's about taste and it's about lifestyle. I believe women of all ages can wear anything.

The reason for the sadness of this modern age and the men who live in it is that it looks for the truth in everything and finds it.

With the song 'This Christmas' I wanted to do something that was kind of different. I mean Donny Hathaway is an amazing artist. So I wanted to bring my flavor to the song so when people over the age of 45 or 50 hear it they'll be like 'OK he did his thing with that record.' It's like I can appeal to everybody and not just a younger demographic.

I love my kids and the moments I have with them and it's kind of weird it's such an age old cliche but the way that my sons the way they make me feel when I look at them the way they say things no one else would probably react to them but it's a special thing for me.

It's not the normal way to look at things but I experienced death at a really young age and because of that it's been part of my mental landscape that death is really very possible.

I wanted to do two things when I was growing up about your age. I wanted to play in the NBA and I wanted to be a businessman after my basketball career was over and that is what I am doing now.

I want to be part of the resurgence of things that are tangible beautiful and soulful rather than just give in to the digital age. But when I talk to people about this they just say 'Yeah I know what you mean ' and stare at their mobiles.

One of the many pleasures of old age is giving things up.

You have to be desirable. And that's why so many woman of my age or even younger are pushed to Botox and plastic surgery all the things that people say 'Why do women do this?' Where do you go in your 50s in your career?