If you are going to achieve excellence in big things you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception it is a prevailing attitude.

When science art literature and philosophy are simply the manifestation of personality they are on a level where glorious and dazzling achievements are possible which can make a man's name live for thousands of years.

Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.

It is no great art to say something briefly when like Tacitus one has something to say when one has nothing to say however and none the less writes a whole book and makes truth into a liar - that I call an achievement.

The artist who aims at perfection in everything achieves it in nothing.

It's my goal to make a building as immaterial as possible. Architecture is a very material thing. It takes a lot of resources so why not eliminate what you don't need as long as you're able to achieve the same result?

If you give people nothingness they can ponder what can be achieved from that nothingness.

I feel there should have been some recognition of the Spice Girls at this year's 25th anniversary. We flew the flag for Britain around the globe in the 1990s and we achieved a hell of a lot.

But on second thought after I decreed the state of emergency I came to the conclusion that that was impossible to achieve without bloodshed because the street protesters were full of anger and nearly out of control. This is why I thought we needed to find another way out.

On banks I make no apology for attacking spivs and gamblers who did more harm to the British economy than Bob Crow could achieve in his wildest Trotskyite fantasies while paying themselves outrageous bonuses underwritten by the taxpayer. There is much public anger about banks and it is well deserved.