“His speech failed to rouse an enthusiastic cheer, but no one dared contradict him.”

“I was lying, but I wanted to rouse him. I have an inborn urge to contradict; my whole life has been a mere chain of sad and futile opposition to the dictates of either heart or reason. The presence of an enthusiast makes me as cold as a midwinter's day, and, I believe, frequent association with a listless phlegmatic would make me an impassioned dreamer.”

“I'm getting used to this planet and to this curious human culture which is as cheerfully enthusiastic as it is cheerfully crue”

“I always love to quote Albert Einstein because nobody dares contradict him.”

“To be an artist is to fail, as no other dare to fail... failure is his world and the shrink from it desertion”

“She realises that if she is to save the show she is going to have to improvise a rousing speech, one of the many Henry V moments that make up her working life.”