The Buddha would calmly invite Mara to have tea, demonstrating the importance of befriending what's difficult. The key is learning how to have tea with Mara and embrace even the most intense energies.

Todays' politicians can't lead public opinion, because they're frightened of it – and we're so consumed by constitutional crises, that there's just no real chance that politicians can give these issues sufficient thought.

Cinema also exists within a framework of genre- and that can be challenging as genre can often flatten storytelling. It can also be a strength- when you play inside a genre- take the case of John le Carre for instance, he's a great novelist but works within the genre of spy-fiction, and transcends the usual narratives.

Seeing the Earth framed through the shuttle's small windows versus seeing it from outside was like the difference between looking at fish in an aquarium versus scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef… I was really out there, floating in it, swimming in it. I felt like a real spaceman…

Some of the most valuable lessons are not from seeing how they've dealt with success, but how they've dealt with failure and come back stronger and more determined to succeed.