I fell in love with Italian. It was a calling, a desire. Desires, generally speaking, are seldom motivated by utility. Their origins are not rational. But Italian is useful to me, in that it is the language in which I feel absolutely happy, inspired, free.

INDIAN-AMERICAN AUTHOR JHUMPA LAHIRI, who has written a new book in Italian

You see enough movies like that you start to think, 'Well, I guess I'm not really part of this world.' There is a parallel world that's actually not my world. It's very alienating.

DIRECTOR REBECCA MILLER on how few women there are in the Best Picture Oscar nominee The Big Short

I realised recently that all the things that have gone wrong are just as important as all the things that went right.

SINGER JAMES BAY on his past