I'm the most gregarious of men and love good company, but never less alone when alone.

My favorite food from my homeland is Guinness. My second choice in Guinness. My third choice - would have to be Guinness.

I've not cooked Christmas dinner since 1982.

I'm an ambassador for Medical Detection dogs.

I inherited my weight problem from my mum. She was always on diets. If there was a box of chocolates in the house, she'd eat half a chocolate, then put the other half back. She loved me, but she did encourage me to diet in my teens.

In 1984, when I was a rookie member of the House, there was a bill introduced to make Martin Luther King's birthday a state holiday. It didn't have a chance. As time passed, though, more and more states adopted the holiday. Finally, after about five years, we passed it and, I think, almost unanimously. As I said, change is slow and hard.

Quite often I can be in a bookshop, standing beneath a great big picture of myself and paying for a book with a credit card clearly marked John Grisham, yet no one recognises me. I often say I'm a famous author in a country where no one reads.

I always try to tell a good story, one with a compelling plot that will keep the pages turning. That is my first and primary goal. Sometimes I can tackle an issue-homelessness, tobacco litigation, insurance fraud, the death penalty-and wrap a good story around it.

More than 100 people have been sent to death row who were later exonerated because they weren't guilty or fairly tried. Most criminal defendants do not get adequate representation because there are not enough public defenders to represent them. There is a lot that is wrong.

Sometimes I can tackle an issue -homelessness, tobacco litigation, insurance fraud, the death penalty - and wrap a good story around it. These are the best books, the ones with a story and a message.

I'm not in favor of the death penalty. But I'm in favor of locking these people away in maximum security units where they can never get out. They can never escape. They can never be paroled. Lock the bad ones away. But you gotta rethink everybody else.

I sat down with a yellow legal pad and began writing 'A Time to Kill.' Had no idea what I was doing. It became, over a period of several years, a secret little hobby nobody knew about except my wife, because she was reading chapter by chapter.

Nobody wants to read about the honest lawyer down the street who does real estate loans and wills. If you want to sell books, you have to write about the interesting lawyers - the guys who steal all the money and take off. That's the fun stuff.

I just travel all the time. And I was just looking at the schedules now and starting the first week of October I will be every weekend with somebody at tournaments through Christmas. So it gets very difficult to just go away and not do that.

People may say I developed an iron will, but what really happened is that I made myself much fitter. I think an iron will is always supported by fitness.

There I am, watching Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of my favourite actors in the world, walk into the room dressed up as Father Christmas, being hilarious, and I'm suddenly thinking, 'Where am I?'

Mental health is such a complex thing and so difficult to diagnose. What is a mental problem? Who does have mental problems? What's the difference between mental problems and depression and sadness?

I'm actually a perpetual 13-year-old. I've never advanced beyond 13. Every day, tomorrow is my 14th birthday. That's my kind of humor.

I love the urban comedies, because they keep you famous, keep you having fun, and keep you in love with the business. Those are my roots. I'll always love doing those.

It wasn't until after I became famous that people noticed I played in the NFL. I kind of snuck in!

I just read 'The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work.' To be married 25 years, you have to put as much energy as I put into being an actor or being a great football player into being a better husband and a better father.

I call myself the Amusement Park. That's because I'm funny and scary at the same time.

You get better at working by working. And if you don't work, you're not getting better.

I was a sports nut. I stayed after school probably three hours every day - from fall, to winter, to spring. I went from football to basketball to track, and it started all over again. I loved all of it. I just loved being an athlete and all that it entailed. It really accounts for who I am today and even how I think today.

I enjoy sports movies that don't sugarcoat. One thing that irritates me about sports movies is that they're like, 'The magic of the ball,' and 'The magic of the stadium.' It ain't that magical. When you get hit coming across the middle at 25 miles per hour, the magic's over.

You can't do sports for the rest of your life; I don't care how good you are. You can be the best ever, but it's still going to go away.

My fondest memories are generally the day after Thanksgiving. I get the total decorating Christmas itch.

Christmas is a time of year that's so romantic.

Just before my 16th birthday, Natalie Dormer said to me, 'As soon as you turn 16, you're going to work adult hours. People will try take advantage of you, so it's important not to be a pushover.'

You've got to be happy when you play a sad character; otherwise, you just get depressed. Make your real life as fun as possible.

I will be able to look back on my teen years as spent on a television set just having the biggest bunch of fun.

I think that you form the way that you act from others around you; it's a kind of an environmental thing.

Once every lunar eclipse, you should be able to see me smile!

Fans talk to me about how 'Country Christmas' has become a holiday tradition for them and that they all watch to start their holiday season. To be a part of people's holiday traditions is a real joy.

If someone is genuine, compassionate and kind, that is a turn-on. A sense of humor is a huge turn on, and that goes hand in hand with intelligence.

People tattoo for different reasons. I use a tattoo as a marker of time, to be reminded of a time in my life. It is something special and personal.

About 50 percent of the songs on the radio are like, 'Live like tomorrow doesn't exist. Like it's my birthday. Like it's the last day of my life'... Such a large percentage of pop music is really about party time.

I'm just trying to work out a way to be a singer and to create cool content. I'm willing to do that as an entertainer. But I'm not willing to give up my actual self.

I liked myself much more before I got famous. I was much friendlier and had more energy.

I'll be the songwriter for pop stars and then they can be the front person and I don't have to be famous.

When I was 10, my parents really valued success in the arts, and I thought if I was a famous 'something artistic,' that they would love me more.

I appreciate my music is famous, but I'd rather my face wasn't so that I can just live a normal life.

If anyone besides famous people knew what it was like to be a famous person, they would never want to be famous.

I got a little bit famous. I didn't like it.

I don't want to be famous or recognizable. I don't want to be critiqued about the way that I look on the Internet... I've been writing pop songs for pop stars for a couple years and see what their lives are like, and that's just not something I want.

I don't really even go out that much now, except to walk my dogs, because I don't want to be recognised. I used to be a really friendly person, and now I just want to be invisible. I liked myself much more before I got famous. I was much friendlier and had more energy.

I used to be addicted to 'Reader's Digest' growing up. I would read the stories about love, and I guess that's where I became a hopeless romantic. I draw from that a lot.

This is a sick business. It's so sad.

I started dating JD Samson from Le Tigre, and suddenly I was listening to more up-tempo music and old dance music, like ESG and Gang of Four, and I thought, 'Wow. This is fun.'

I have big dreams. I want to keep songwriting. Direct films. Be a parent.