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'Ageism,' or whatever you want to call it, is a very English phenomenon. You don't get it too much in many other cultures. And no one says it about authors or poets or filmmakers. 'Oh, they're too old to make films or write books.'

Men take much more notice of older women in France, so I might move there. I think I'm a good bet.

France has lived a long time - eight or nine centuries - and yet art in France, too, was derivative up until the 19th Century.

It's really a drag to sit around when you're old, and think, 'Ah, gee, I never went to France.' Go to France. Life is very short; you've got to pack it all in there.

It's true that French are not very sophisticated in the sense that they don't dress up for dinners. They are not like Americans, where they are always perfect - the girls are not very sporty; they don't take care of themselves as much as Americans, who always have very white teeth and are so fit.

Incidentally, one of the most worrying problems in the impact of Western modernity on traditional culture is that it quite rapidly communicates its own indifference or anxiety or even hostility about age and ageing.

Ageing doesn't mean giving up on style and individuality; it doesn't mean abandoning fashion and living in comfy slippers and flannel knickers.

Ageing is inevitable, and the idea that we can be eternally youthful is the pitfall of our society.

In Europe, we admire grown-up women; I think men revere older women.

France can never accept that it is no longer a dominating power in the world of culture. This is true both of the French right and the French left. They keep thinking that Americans are primitive cowboys or farmers who do not understand anything.