"When an actor comes to me and wants to discuss his character, I say, 'It's in the script.' If he says, 'But what's my motivation?,' I say, 'Your salary.'"

"I'm a writer and, therefore, automatically a suspicious character."

"There is nothing so good as a burial at sea. It is simple, tidy, and not very incriminating."

"I try to avoid clichés."

"I am scared of getting into any difficulties somebody once said to me what is your idea of happiness. I said a clear Horizon. not even that Horizon with a tiny Cloud no bigger than a man's fist."