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I tell my daughter Nyssa, 'You should respect my work, and I will also respect yours when you grow up.' 'Work is worship' is what I have told her.

When I asked my mother why crowds shouted my name and said 'We love you,' she would dust it off by saying, 'Your work makes them happy.' She never let it go to my head.

My name is more important than myself.

Work creates an enormous sense of self and I saw that in my mother. She was an enormous, towering figure to me in the best possible way. I picked up a lot of things from her in the way that I work... I also picked up a lot of the failings of when your father doesn't have those things and that results in a house that turns into a minefield.

I hate it when everybody thinks I'm a... what's the word, a marauding mother! It's bigger than that.

My last name has the word 'big' in it. It seems like a logical progression that if you shed away the Bir and the lia, I'll just be Big.

The longer the title, the less important the job.

And that's my honour, that's what my goal is, to always keep my mum's name ringing, because I know what sacrifices she went through for me.

It's not how big your pencil is; it's how you write your name.

I would rather make my name than inherit it.