"It was nice to have people trust me after 15 years of raising hell. It's a profession where if you work hard enough, you can get a second chance." — Mickey Rourke, Best Actor in a Drama winner for The Wrestler

"At least I'm old enough to drink and stay up past 10 p.m." — Anna Paquin, comparing her win for Best Actress in a Drama for True Blood with her 1994 Oscar win for The Piano, when she was 11

"Keeping my sh-- together." — Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical Colin Farrell (In Bruges), when asked what he's working on now

"I had a speech worked out, which worked well in the bathroom this morning, but then I got terribly flustered. It's much more unsettling than you think it's going to be, particularly when you see Clint Eastwood and Bruce Springsteen sitting there. If you screw up, they might come beat you up." — Best Supporting Actor winner Tom Wilkinson (John Adams)

"It's amazing; it's exploded my head, to say the least." — Best Comedy Actress Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky)

"Be thinner than me." — Presenter Ricky Gervais' advice on how to get through the red-carpet gauntlet

"If it wasn't for John Adams, this would be the BAFTAs [the British film awards]... it would be taking place in Blatsworth-on-Twixby or something." — Tom Hanks, executive producer of Best Miniseries winner John Adams

"This is the first time I've been at the winning table. I've always been next to the winning table." — Winner Laura Linney, on the John Adams sweep

"Unfortunately, the film is always relevant. But I am very optimistic; that's why I made it." — Ari Folman, who directed Best Foreign Language Film Waltz with Bashir

"How do you stay looking so fit?" — John Adams' Paul Giamatti, who won Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie, when asked what he'd say to Brad and Angelina if he met them

"Sometimes I have the impulse to sign on and answer, and that's when you know you are a crazy person." — Multiple winner Tina Fey, on how she deals with online critics

"I have a lot of feelings about this, but this isn't the venue to express them, thanks." — Cecil B. DeMille Award Steven Spielberg, on his investments with Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff

"My fantasy press conference from my childhood was you asking me that question." — Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner, when celebrity gossip vet Rona Barrett asked him how it feels to have a created a hit television show "I love that Matt had a 'fantasy press conference' as a child. — Mad Men star Jon Hamm

"My relationship with literature is mostly based on animal noises and silly voices for my children." — Kate Winslet, who won Best Actress for Revolutionary Road and Best Supporting Actress for The Reader, when asked about "her relationship with literature"

"There's an Indian expression, in Hindi it's dil se — it means 'from the heart' — and this film was made dil se." — Best Director winner Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)