Golden Globes: In quotes

The Golden Globes ceremony is often seen as a less formal, more relaxed cousin to the Oscars - as evidenced in the night's speeches.

Here are some of the highlights from the stage at the 2013 ceremony, including Jodie Foster's enigmatic acceptance of the lifetime achievement award.

AMY POEHLER and TINA FEY - opening monologue

Fey (l) was Globe nominated for her role in 30 Rock while Poehler was nominated for Parks and Recreation

Fey: "Tonight we honour the television shows that have entertained us all year, as well as the films that have only been in theatres for two days."

Poehler: "That's what makes tonight so special. Only at the Golden Globes, do the beautiful people of film rub shoulders with the rat-faced people of television."

Poehler: "It was a great year for women in film. Kathryn Bigelow [is] nominated tonight. I haven't really been following the controversy over Zero Dark Thirty, but when it comes to torture, I trust the lady who spent three years married to James Cameron."

Fey: "The Hunger Games was one of the biggest films of the year and also what I call the six weeks it took me to get into this dress."

Poehler: "Ang Lee's been nominated for Life of Pi which is what I'm going to call the six weeks after I take this dress off."

ADELE - receiving the best song award

Adele is also nominated for an Oscar for the title track from the latest Bond adventure

"Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh My God!

"Honestly, I have come out for a night out with my friend Ida - we're new mums - we've literally come for a night out. Thank you so much. Oh God!

"It's very strange to be here. Thank you so much for letting me be a part of your world for a night. We've been pissing ourselves laughing at all of it.

"I'd like to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press, I never thought I'd say that. Sony pictures; MGM; Sam Mendes; Paul Epworth, who I did the song with; Daniel Craig for being such a wonderful Bond.

"And this is for my boyfriend, Simon, who convinced me to do it, and my lovely son."

WILL FERRELL and KRISTEN WIIG

The former Saturday Night Live comedians said they had been asked to watch the shortlisted films in the best actress category. "Which I did," lied Ferrell. "I totally watched them."

Will Ferrell: "Judi Dench! Where did she come from? Unknown. She used to be a police officer and this is her first movie, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. And she comes into town...

Kristen Wiig: "...And she's on that tractor and there are marigolds everywhere, in her hair."

Will Ferrell: "And that one scene, she looks at the town people and she says, 'you... you... you... Get out of here!"

BEN AFFLECK - receiving the best director award

Affleck has also been nominated for a Bafta for his award-winning movie

Affleck received his prize from Halle Berry who, moments before, had announced the names of the five nominees, including Kathryn Bigelow, Ang Lee, Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino.

"Look, I don't care what the award is. When they put your name next to the names that she just read out, it's an extraordinary thing in your life.

"These nominees are exceptional talents. I truly to God never thought I would be in the same breath as them.

"I gotta thank my agent Patrick Whitesell who was with me when I was like a nobody, then when I was somebody, then when I was in a little bit of trouble. He stuck with me then, too, and we tried to put it back together."

SACHA BARON COHEN

"Fellow actors, what a bloody marvellous year it's been for motion pictures. Let's all clap ourselves... Not you, Daniel Day-Lewis. Anyone can grow a bloody beard.

"Now, in one of the many films in which I starred this year, Les Miserables, my junior cast members went to quite extraordinary lengths to secure their nominations. Russell Crowe had four months of singing lessons. That was money well spent.

JODIE FOSTER - Cecil B DeMille award for lifetime achievement

Foster's first starring role was as an underage prostitute opposite Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver

"Trust me, 47 years in the film business is a long time. You just ask those Golden Globies, because you crazy kids, you've been around here forever... It is the most fun party of the year, and tonight I feel like the prom queen.

"Thank you. Looking at all those clips, you know, the hairdos and the freaky platform shoes, it's like a home-movie nightmare that just won't end, and all of these people sitting here at these tables, they're my family of sorts, you know. Fathers mostly. Executives, producers, the directors, my fellow actors out there. We've giggled through love scenes, we've punched and cried and spit and vomited and blown snot all over one another — and those are just the co-stars I liked.

"But, you know, more than anyone else I share my most special memories with members of the crew. Blood-shaking friendships, brothers and sisters. We made movies together, and you can't get more intimate than that.

"So while I'm here being all confessional, I guess I have a sudden urge to say something that I've never really been able to air in public. So, a declaration that I'm a little nervous about but maybe not quite as nervous as my publicist right now, huh Jennifer? But I'm just going to put it out there, right? Loud and proud, right? So I'm going to need your support on this.

"I am... single.

"Yes I am, I am single. No, I'm kidding — but I mean I'm not really kidding, but I'm kind of kidding. I mean, thank you for the enthusiasm. Can I get a wolf whistle or something?

"I hope that you're not disappointed that there won't be a big coming-out speech tonight because I already did my coming out about a thousand years ago back in the Stone Age. Those very quaint days when a fragile young girl would open up to trusted friends and family and co-workers and then gradually, proudly to everyone who knew her, to everyone she actually met.

"But now, apparently, I'm told that every celebrity is expected to honour the details of their private life with a press conference, a fragrance and a prime-time reality show.

"And you guys might be surprised, but I am not Honey Boo Boo Child. No, I'm sorry, that's just not me. It never was and it never will be. But please don't cry because my reality show would be so boring. I would have to make out with Marion Cotillard or I'd have to spank Daniel Craig's bottom just to stay on the air. It's not bad work if you can get it, though.

"But seriously, if you had been a public figure from the time that you were a toddler, if you'd had to fight for a life that felt real and honest and normal against all odds, then maybe you too might value privacy above all else. Privacy. Some day, in the future, people will look back and remember how beautiful it once was.

"I have given everything up there from the time that I was three years old. That's reality show enough, don't you think?

Foster has won two previous Globes from seven nominations

"There are a few secrets to keeping your psyche intact over such a long career. The first: Love people and stay beside them. That table over there, 222, way out in Idaho, Paris, Stockholm, that one, next to the bathroom with all the unfamous faces, the very same faces for all these years. My acting agent, Joe Funicello — Joe, do you believe it, 38 years we've been working together? Even though he doesn't count the first eight.

"Matt Saver, Pat Kingsley, Jennifer Allen, Grant Niman and his uncle Jerry Borack, may he rest in peace. Lifers. My family and friends here tonight and at home, and of course, Mel Gibson. You know you save me too.

"There is no way I could ever stand here without acknowledging one of the deepest loves of my life, my heroic co-parent, my ex-partner in love but righteous soul sister in life, my confessor, ski buddy, consigliere, most beloved BFF of 20 years, Cydney Bernard. Thank you, Cyd.

"I am so proud of our modern family. Our amazing sons, Charlie and Kit, who are my reason to breathe and to evolve, my blood and soul. And boys, in case you didn't know it, this song, all of this, this song is for you.

"This brings me to the greatest influence of my life, my amazing mother, Evelyn. Mom, I know you're inside those blue eyes somewhere and that there are so many things that you won't understand tonight. But this is the only important one to take in: I love you, I love you, I love you. And I hope that if I say this three times, it will magically and perfectly enter into your soul, fill you with grace and the joy of knowing that you did good in this life. You're a great mom. Please take that with you when you're finally OK to go.

"You see, Charlie and Kit, sometimes mom, your mom loses it too. And I can't help but get moony, you know. This feels like the end of one era and the beginning of something else. Scary and exciting and now what?

"Well, I may never be up on this stage again, on any stage for that matter. Change, you gotta love it. I will continue to tell stories, to move people by being moved - the greatest job in the world. It's just that from now on, I may be holding a different talking stick. And maybe it won't be as sparkly, maybe it won't open on 3,000 screens, maybe it will be so quiet and delicate that only dogs can hear it whistle. But it will be my writing on the wall: Jodie Foster was here, I still am, and I want to be seen, to be understood deeply and to be not so very lonely.

"Thank you, all of you, for the company. Here's to the next 50 years."

BILL CLINTON - introducing Lincoln as a best film nominee

The former president was referred to by co-host Poehler as "Hillary Clinton's husband"

The former US president flew in to California just as the Golden Globes ceremony began. Although he was officially visiting the state for another event, regarding his charity work, he stopped by the Golden Globes to endorse Steven Spielberg's biopic of Abraham Lincoln.

He described the film's plot as: "A tough fight to push a bill through a bitterly divided House of Representatives.

"Winning it required the president to make a lot of unsavoury deals that had nothing to do with the big issue. I wouldn't know anything about that.

"President Lincoln's struggle to abolish slavery reminds us that enduring progress is forged in a cauldron of both principle and compromise. This brilliant film shows us how we did it, and gives us hope that we can do it again.

"In Lincoln, we see a man more interesting than the legend, and a far better guide for future presidents. Every hard-fought effort to protect our union has demanded the same combination of steely resolve and necessary compromises that Lincoln mastered to preserve the union and end slavery. We're all here tonight because he did."

JENNIFER LAWRENCE - receiving the best actress award

Lawrence has also been nominated for an Oscar

As Lawrence took to the stage, she read the inscription on her trophy and said: "What does it say? 'I beat Meryl!'"

The comment garnered criticism on Twitter, from people who thought she was making a dig at fellow nominee Meryl Streep.

In fact, she was referencing the 1996 film First Wives Club, in which Bette Midler tells Goldie Hawn's character: "Once you were a terrific actress. You even got an Oscar to prove it... 'I beat Meryl.' That's what it says."

Lawrence's speech continued with praise for her Silver Linings Playbook director David O Russell and co-star Bradley Cooper.

"I am so honoured to be part of a film like this. David, thank you for believing in me and giving me a chance. There's a reason why so many actors have thanked you from this stage, you are simply the best.

"Bradley, you're incredible and you made me better every single day.

"Harvey [Weinstein, producer] thank you for killing whoever you had to kill to get me up here."