I did learn eventually - perhaps far too late - to respect the talent I have. For a lot of years out there, I was just bashing on to the next thing and not really thinking about it too much. That's what we do. But I'm learning to appreciate the moment.

Instead of receding, the past actually becomes more important. That's what will happen to you. It sounds unlikely, but the past actually changes complexion as you get older.

My idea of heaven is a place where the Tyne meets the Delta, where folk music meets the blues.

While I was into many different types of music, and played with many different local groups, I really didn't have a band to call my own until Dire Straits was formed in 1977.

The mere imparting of information is not education.

Documentaries are the first line of education, and the second line of education is dramatization, such as 'The Pacific'.

Politics and government have been a terrible place to invest; education has been a terrible place to invest, but that is because the entrenched interests make it a terrible place to invest. The way you invest in those sectors is you go against the entrenched interests; you try and disrupt the entrenched interests, not to service them.

The long arc of history that recounts the Catholic Church's embrace of people of all faiths and none in providing health, education, and welfare in society is as incontestable as it is impressive.