However my parents - both of whom came from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing quirk that would never pay a mortgage or secure a pension.

Pope John Paul II brought hope to all corners of the world to people of all faiths and backgrounds with his powerful belief in the human spirit.

I wish I got a little bit more time at home. I am away a lot and being around my loved ones and friends is good for me. It grounds me. It's something I need to make more time for. I think I need a little more balance.

To the extent that the judicial profession becomes the daily routine of deciding cases on the most secure precedents and the narrowest grounds available the judicial mind atrophies and its perspective shrinks.

Man is a credulous animal and must believe something in the absence of good grounds for belief he will be satisfied with bad ones.

Family life was wonderful. The streets were bleak. The playgrounds were bleak. But home was always warm. My mother and father had a great relationship. I always felt 'safe' there.

It's really important to say this. Often the faith schools were founded before the state provided education. I want good education in this country so I'm not going to slag off faith schools. I think that it's important that people of different backgrounds and different faiths go to school together and many faith schools do that.

All that I say is examine inquire. Look into the nature of things. Search out the grounds of your opinions the for and against. Know why you believe understand what you believe and possess a reason for the faith that is in you.

The Tories and the Lib Dems talk about social mobility but short of winning the lottery the only way to guarantee young people from all backgrounds the opportunity to do better and to raise aspirations is through education.

I've hung out at dozens of playgrounds bored out of my mind with not even a look of comfort from disapproving mothers all around me. Either they think I'm a pedophile or a deadbeat dad. That's what I get for being a single dad - suspicious looks at the playground.

I influenced the BG style by not being able to draw perspective. The BG artists developed cool graphic painting styles to make my bad backgrounds look like they were that way on purpose.

It's that I don't like white paper backgrounds. A woman does not live in front of white paper. She lives on the street in a motor car in a hotel room.

I was raised in Chicago and I guess that was one of the special breeding grounds for gangsters of all colors. That was the Detroit of the gangster world. The car industry was thugs.

The Senator from Massachusetts has given us ample grounds to doubt the judgment and the attitude he brings to bear on vital issues of national security.

I was friends with all different people and all different groups. And that led me to being friends with a few people who didn't even go to my school. Now I have the most amazing collection of friends of all ethnic backgrounds and upbringing and financial backgrounds.