Supersize quotations to go

I'm not particularly one given for sayings or quotations, but a few have stuck in my head for years now. Quite a few from that great philosopher Lemmy, and quite a few from ordinary people, you know, what Naomi Campbell might call 'civilians'.

One of them is 'When you're alive you ride in buses, when you're dead, you ride in a Rolls Royce.' Which I've never fully worked out - I guess it means something along the lines of being thought of better dead than alive - but I've always kind of liked it.

Another one was said to me when I passed my driving test: 'It's the hardest thing to get and the easiest thing to lose', which is true.

One sticks in my mind more than all the others though, which is: 'Why eat out at McDonald's when you can have steak at home?'. That was told to me by one of my cousin's husbands (I always liked him, growing up in 1970s Leicester he'd seen just about all my favourite bands at the De Montfort Hall at one time or another, and he had great pleasure in telling me about it), and it really struck a chord, I thought it was probably one of the most profound, and true things I'd ever heard. Imagine my dismay, then, when I found out yesterday that it was Paul Newman who said it first. And it was a piece of advice my cousin's husband never really believed, as five years ago he was exposed as having an affair with a member of his staff and left my cousin.

Anyway, I was on the old iPod shuffle yesterday and the following song came up by one of my favourite nineties bands (largely forgotten now, more's the pity. How come the decent bands never reform?). I think it was written about the music industry, but could just have easily been written about the current banking meltdown and sub-prime debacle.

We think you are stupid

We give you money 'cos our assets are fluid yeah

We'll sell you down the river

Just remember that we said we'd deliver

Sign on the line and we'll give you the money