Quotes from Sandi Toksvig

Women are not allowed to be polymaths; we're only allowed to do single maths.

I'd love to retire in terms of not having to go to work anymore and earn a living.

I would not be able to keep going at the pace that I do if I had continued at the weight that I was. I feel so much better; I eat better. I sleep better. I actually enjoy exercise.

I went to a physiotherapist, and she said something to me no one has ever said: 'Sandi, you have plantar fasciitis, because you're fat.' I left and sat in my car shaking. She'd told me the truth, which no one else had. It was painful, but I needed to hear it.

When people say, 'There aren't enough women on panel shows,' the answer is to make the host a woman.

I decided that instead of making jokes about politics, I need to take part in it, and therefore, I can't make jokes and participate.

I always wanted to get married. I was very drawn to the idea of a partner with whom you went through life, a mate who was always in your corner.

Social media, to me, has got out of hand. Why can't we all be nice to each other?

A lot of what we think of as history is actually just a version of events which may or may not be true.

What I think is if the world is in some difficulty - about climate change, about economics - then we had better make sure that 100 per cent of every brain available on the planet is working at full pelt to try to sort these things out.

I'm absolutely obsessed with boxing.

The secret to my success is to work seven days a week. It's as disappointing an answer as the one about how to lose weight. Eat less. Sleep less. Very boring.

I know we don't all follow in the family footsteps, but you are, I suppose, more likely to consider becoming a butcher if you have spent your childhood watching a parent debone a pig.

Do you know there were two pilots made for 'Have I Got News For You' before the series started two decades ago: one hosted by Angus Deayton and one hosted by me. But I was told that they couldn't have a woman in charge of the news.

For three months, when I was 23 years old, I worked as a clerk at Wandsworth Sewer.

I think communication should be fun and that we should all worry less about how we say things and more about what we say.

You can't complain or have a say if you don't vote.

I cannot lie on the beach or by a swimming pool. I think I'm too Nordic to like a lot of relentless sun.

I love 'Teach Yourself' books. I bought an old weaving loom and had no time for classes, but one 'Teach Yourself' later, and my bobbin is flying.

Oh my God, don't ever start a political party. It's exhausting.

I'm ashamed to say, I've done hideous pen portraits of people I don't like in my novels. And they'll say, 'Oh, that person was hideous,' and I'm nodding, and I'm thinking, 'It's you, you fool!'

Because of my fighting for LGBT rights, I have seen the possibility of change. And that gives me heart to believe that it is possible to effect change.

'QI' is exactly what the best TV ought to be - you learn something, but you are also crying with laughter.

I am 5 ft. tall myself, and it is rare that I meet someone new who doesn't comment on my height.