Robbie Williams

"I have only one ambition, which is to be famous."

"I spent a lot of my twenties wanting a maid, really. I thought I wanted a relationship, but I just wanted somebody to fix and nurse me, and I'd take her hostage for six months. When you're 23, 24, you want to be in a relationship because they look brilliant - you've heard all the songs about it and seen all the movies and it looks great."

"I want a hit. I don't think anybody spends 12 months writing and recording an album, making something cool, and says, 'Great, I hope this doesn't sell.' I don't understand that mind-set. I want hits: a big bunch of them."

"I'm constantly doing new stuff, and I want it to be received really well. Who knows what's ego, what's business, what's artistic. It all shifts on a day-to-day basis."

"I've been asked many times if I considered myself a narcissist, so I looked up the real meaning of the word, and I came to the conclusion that indeed I am one. I think of myself as better than other people, not every person, but many, unique and talented, and I aim to success."

"It's success, not fame, that is quite addictive. I'm addicted to a lot of things and, as it happens, success is one of them."

"My dad sent Frank Sinatra a dollar bill to autograph, and when it came back, signed, he had it framed: it was always up on the wall in whatever flat we were in."

"On an emotional level, success in America would be terrible for me; it would be insane. I really, seriously, never want to be famous here."

"There aren't many great adverts for marriage or parenthood. It always looks so stressful, and that's what I've been scared of. What you don't realise is how much you're going to get back."

"When people come out of rehab, they usually go to secondary rehab for another six months and then enter back into society gradually. But I came out and did Top Of The Pops straight away!"

"You've got a beautiful country with so many beautiful people and so many beautiful things happening and stuff like that lets it down. I feel sad for them."