Alain de Botton

All tours are filled with humiliation. My publisher once hired a private jet to fly me to a venue where 1,000 people were waiting. It almost bankrupted him.

We may seek a fortune for no greater reason than to secure the respect and attention of people who would otherwise look straight through us.

I assemble my ideas in pieces on a computer file, then gradually find a place for them on a piece of scaffolding I erect.

One Moment in Time because I think it describes me as a person and how I felt about being on the show.

Doubt is part of all religion. All the religious thinkers were doubters.

I like villains because there's something so attractive about a committed person - they have a plan, an ideology, no matter how twisted. They're motivated.