Sleep has to be, by far, the most underrated aspect of good health. I think sleeping less & working more is glorified. Life is like a marathon; if you run too fast and don't pace yourself, you can burn out, and you probably won't be able to finish strong.

Now according to me, and this is my cosmology scheme, which I'm having trouble persuading the cosmologists about, is that when the universe is rid of pretty well all its matter, it in a certain sense forgets how big it is. Now that's a crazy idea, but you see if you don't have any mass around you don't have any way of scaling the size of the universe, and so it in effect becomes the big bang of the next aeon as I'm calling it – A E O N. So according to my scheme, the universe as we currently understand it, which is from big bang, and then there's this inflationary phase which I don't believe in, which is supposed to take place very, very early on, and then the universe has this more sedate expansion, and then it has another exponential expansion, and that's it. According to me, that's not it. It morphs into the next big bang.

You know that sickening feeling of inadequacy and over-exposure you feel when you look upon your own empurpled prose? Relax into the awareness that this ghastly sensation will never, ever leave you, no matter how successful and publicly lauded you become. It is intrinsic to the real business of writing and should be cherished.

Well, I'm proud of my gender. I think, you know, and I've said this to my Berkeley colleagues this morning, but my feeling is that I think among women and girls that, you know, sometimes there's a sense that no matter what they do that their work will not be recognised the way it would be if they were a man. And I just … I hope that this prize and this recognition changes that at least a little bit, and that it's encouraging to other women who are in science, or even in other fields, to realise that, you know, their work can be honoured and that their work can have a real impact.

Anything new that’s got chemicals involved and radically alters your body, I’m not a fan. We should just love ourselves in whatever shape we are. Also, what about the poor people with diabetes who can’t get it now because all these fucking actors are shooting up?

Being hit on the head with a brick, and like a bowl of hearty soup.

I really love structure and I think that one of the things I like so much about the theater is the routine. I’m looking forward to this play I’m going to do in London with Daniel Radcliffe, and just the idea that I’ll go to work at the same time every night and I know what I’ll be doing for the next few months. That’s so pleasing to me. I think everyone needs routine and structure in your life.

The power of positive thinking.

The Cumming fragrance line. the soap, Cumming in a bar (still available at alancumming.com) is my favorite ever pun on my name.

It’s a gut thing. There’s no rhyme or reason to it.