I cherish the creation of public space and service...

When I look at my daughter, who's 24, she is much more confident than I ever was and her expectations are higher. But I worry that there is a backlash brewing against progress on equality.

It is not natural or inevitable that half the world goes hungry that the freedom of markets trumps protection of the planet or that citizens' rights come second to those of corporations.

The TUC's new slogan 'a future that works' sets a profound challenge. Austerity and rapid deficit reduction is failing in its own terms, but even at its best it is short-sighted, muddle-through politics with no vision of a new economic model.

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.

Education is the best provision for old age.

Why should society feel responsible only for the education of children, and not for the education of all adults of every age?

After you're older, two things are possibly more important than any others: health and money.

You end up as you deserve. In old age you must put up with the face, the friends, the health, and the children you have earned.

Talk is by far the most accessible of pleasures. It costs nothing in money, it is all profit, it completes our education, founds and fosters our friendships, and can be enjoyed at any age and in almost any state of health.

My age and health will never allow me to realize the dream of art I've been pursuing all my life.