The medieval university looked backwards it professed to be a storehouse of old knowledge. The modern university looks forward and is a factory of new knowledge.

The Bush administration also was not straightforward about the intelligence it had releasing tenuous information that fit its goal of attacking Iraq. I feel deceived.

The hypothesis of surviving intelligence and personality - not only surviving but anxious and able with difficulty to communicate - is the simplest and most straightforward and the only one that fits all the facts.

If you have the guts to keep making mistakes your wisdom and intelligence leap forward with huge momentum.

People know that they're going to see something which is entertaining but challenging as well because of the form it's in. It's dance theatre and it requires you to use your imagination - it's not straight forward.

I don't necessarily start with the beginning of the book. I just start with the part of the story that's most vivid in my imagination and work forward and backward from there.

I look back into past history the stored experiences or products of the imagination. I look no further forward than the evening.

It's great to be able to connect parents with children both emotionally and through humor. I look forward to exploring family entertainment once again and examining the specifics of our day-to-day lives against the backdrop of an extraordinary adventure.

I've had nine of my books adapted to film and almost all were enjoyable. I've been very lucky with Hollywood and look forward to more movies being adapted. But I don't get involved in that process. I know nothing about making movies and I stay away from it and hope for the best.

I hope that at the end of the seven years people will say that I have been of some inspirational value to them at home in terms of inclusiveness and abroad I look forward to representing Ireland.