Ian Hislop quotes:

You end up with this succession of periods when everything was marvellous - from King Arthur to the medieval times, Ivanhoe, chivalry, Henry VIII, Merry England, the Blitz

My mother was a terrific force in my life. Wartime-generation woman, hadn't gone to university but should have done. Was very funny, very verbal, very clever, very witty.

This job certainly doesn't win you a huge amount of friends, I accept that, but it is very enjoyable, and deep down I think it's probably quite a worthwhile job.

I've seen the Pokemon movie, which is probably the worst movie ever made on any subject ever.

It is no longer acceptable in British politics to be fat or eccentric or religious.

They may well say not only is this not true, but I will put in an injunction to prevent publication. No, stories don't go in unless I'm convinced by the people who write them that they're true. And if I'm wrong, then so be it.

All the libel lawyers will tell you there's no libel any more, that everyone's given up.

The best comedy is where you attack the strong, not the weak.

In Britian we have a free press. It's not a pretty press, but it's free. The people who can't bear the Daily Mail, they say: 'you should ban it'. No no, no no, you don't ban it... you don't buy it.

Modest about our national pride - and inordinately proud of our national modesty.

I've got a very peculiar sort of fame, based on being on the telly. It doesn't mean you have the lifestyle people expect.

I do have a residual belief that, if at all possible, you should try not to mock the weak

I'm often accused of being prudish, but the opposite is true.

There's an awful lot of terrible television which I could do, but I mostly stick to Have I Got News for You.

You have a huge amount of confidence when you're younger, which slowly ebbs away for the rest of your life. You think: 'No problem. I can do that. Why shouldn't I do it?'

Internet journalism is not a world we know very well at all. It's conducted more on the screen and less in bars, which makes it rather less useful for getting stories about people throwing up over one another, which is what one's after.

I like making films about old people because they are repositories of amazing stories that they tell well. And they're incredibly good telly.

I get paid to do what I enjoy, not that common a condition.

No, there are no hard and fast rules about sources, no printed booklet to help journalists through.