Above all, a query letter is a sales pitch and it is the single most

important page an unpublished writer will ever write. It's the first impression and will either open the door or close it. It's that important, so don't mess it up. Mine took 17 drafts and two weeks to write.
Nicholas Sparks

Authority is not a quality one person 'has', in the sense that he has property or physical qualities. Authority refers to an interpersonal relation in which one person looks upon another as somebody superior to him.
Erich Fromm

An absolutely necessary part of a writer's equipment, almost as necessary as talent, is the ability to stand up under punishment, both the punishment the world hands out and the punishment he inflicts upon himself.
Irwin Shaw

Besides, wouldn't it be wonderful if no one ever had to worry about the random cruelty of fatal illness or the woes of old age attacking them or their loved ones?
Joan D. Vinge

For me, singing sad songs often has a way of healing a situation. It gets the hurt out in the open into the light, out of the darkness.
Reba McEntire

If I wasn't an actor, I'd be a secret agent.
Thornton Wilder

If you make a treaty first with the United States and settle the matter of the opium trade, England cannot change this, though she should desire to do so.
Townsend Harris

Working overseas is more difficult in that it's much more complicated to get people to open their hearts to you and to tell you information.
John Pomfret

From labour health, from health contentment spring; contentment opes the source of every joy.
James Beattie

Gemeoss

Web searching and cellphone use both flourish in the wee hours. Before the dawn of

the web, I would stay up watching television. But there is something soporific about television: I would often nod off. Not so when I'm online. As technologies expand, these problems may only worsen. Sendhil Mullainathan To our critical eyes, the threads of which the past is woven are, by nature, endless and indivisible. Scientifically speaking, we cannot grasp the absolute beginning of anything: everything extends backwards to be prolonged by something else. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin I'm the kind of person who likes to create the environment and mindset - not because I do it deliberately, but because that's how I like to live - where, from catering to makeup to hair to wardrobe, electricians, camera department lighting, sound, you know, it's our movie; we're together, and we have that camaraderie and that closeness. Steven Rodney McQueen There are examples of fraternal dictatorships, or one, anyway: the passing of power from Fidel to Raul Castro. Elliott...

IBM's long-standing mantra is 'Think.' What has always made IBM a fascinating and compelling place

for me, is the passion of the company, and its people, to apply technology and scientific thinking to major societal issues. Ginni Rometty I am going to get political on you. Because I am the most shallow person in the world, my mission is to see men's formal wear change a little bit. It is too rigid! Everybody looks like a penguin! Steven Cojocaru I was able to get operated on four days after I was diagnosed. It was just a matter of getting this baseball-sized tumor out of me. I reflect now on how lucky I was to be in the situation where I could get the best possible help and treatment. Eric Davis If it's time to party, it's time for hip hop. I love Drake, Jay-Z, Kanye. If I'm chilling at home though, I'm listening to Massive Attack, Thievery Corporation, Radiohead, DJ Shadow. I also listen to a lot of classical. Alexis Knapp Indulging in unrestrained and immoderate laughter is a sign of intemperance, of a want of control over one's emotions, and of...

I think everyone starts in the mailroom at some point! It's a right of passage.

Your boss has to throw something at you and order you around for at least two years. Michael B. Jordan I wouldn't say my mother was my best friend, because that sounds odd, but we have a really tight bond and she is my friend on Facebook. Although she only goes on it to check up on me and sometimes we argue about it. Dionne Bromfield I like to get people talking. I am a provocateur, and I do like getting on Twitter and riling people up. You know what, after a while some sane dialogue and sane conclusions come of that kind of thing. Roseanne Barr They shaved my head, eyebrows. This is not a sci-fi picture. It's not a fantasy picture. You're dealing with something that's supposed to be in reality. But we had a genius makeup artist. Rick Yune So long as peace is not attained by law (so argue the advocates of armaments) the military protection of a country must not be undermined, and until such is the case disarmament is impossible. Ludwig Quidde I grew up, a...

There's nobody who loves being around actors working more than David Mamet, especially actors bringing

his tremendous dialogue to life. I've never seen a movie director who was happier to be directing a movie than Dave. Clark Gregg You could say I'm a character actress. Or maybe a character actress who does peculiar, interesting lead roles. Imelda Staunton Broadband gives small businesses the opportunity to broaden their customer base and reduce their overheads through e-commerce platforms. Hamadoun Toure True security is based on people's welfare - on a thriving economy, on strong public health and education programmes, and on fundamental respect for our common humanity. Development, peace, disarmament, reconciliation and justice are not separate from security; they help to underpin it. Ban Ki-moon We have a company, Geometric Software, which is into engineering services software. We have a company called Nature's Basket, which is into gourmet retailing. Both are specialized companies. Adi Godrej I've been reading a lot of books on history, and watchi...

The Microsoft actions announced today are exactly the kinds of industry initiatives we need. Microsoft

is using its resources to bring real privacy protection to Internet users by creating incentives for more websites to provide strong privacy protection. William M. Daley I've always thought that it's good to watch the news to find out what everybody else is looking at and believing, if only because that's how consensus is constructed. Barbara Kruger To a teacher of languages there comes a time when the world is but a place of many words and man appears a mere talking animal not much more wonderful than a parrot. Joseph Conrad When a book raises your spirit, and inspires you with noble and manly thoughts, seek for no other test of its excellence. It is good, and made by a good workman. Jean de la Bruyere I am committed to strengthening our agricultural economy by protecting the unique interests of small and medium size family farms so that they can continue to operate. Sue Kelly It is in self-limitation that a master first shows himself. Johann Wolfgang von G...

Art is based on very clear, mathematical principles like proportion and harmony. At the same

time, physicists need to be inventive, to have ideas, to have some fantasy. Fabiola Gianotti Any business today that embraces the status quo as an operating principle is going to be on a death march. Howard Schultz With the variety of fields within economics, broadly conceived and the increasing specialization of scholarly world, the award of a Nobel Memorial Prize honors not only the individual scholar but, implicitly, also a special field or a distinctive method. Simon Kuznets I think of 'Mommy' as very simplistic or not simplistic, but I wish for the style to actually work with what you see onscreen and what you feel in that very moment. I hope we did not disrespect the characters by being too flamboyant when it's not necessary. Xavier Dolan Pakistan is rich in sporting talent, but the only thing needed is to have sincere and honest administrators who should be held accountable by the government. Pakistan should be recognised as a sporting nation and not as a...

I would never take part in one of those Eighties nostalgia tours, although I've been

asked many times, because it's like admitting you have nothing new to offer. As long as I can keep making music I'm happy with, and people want to come to my gigs to hear it, I'll carry on. Gary Numan The script was always the most important thing to me and I loved the script. For one thing, I've always admired trees. I just worship them. Think what trees have witnessed, what history, such as living through the Civil War, yet they still survive. Kim Novak If you're suddenly doing something you don't want to do for four years, just so you've got something to fall back on, by the time you come out you don't have that 16-year-old drive any more and you'll spend your life doing something you never wanted to do in the first place. Ewan McGregor Even in making objects, as soon as you start to get the feeling that some form of craft is coming into place, you realize that everything is wrong. Because craft is really just a fetish. It is wasted energ...

I am fascinated by storytelling glue. Anytime I see someone who's good at it, I

stop and wonder, 'How'd they 'do this? Why can't I tear myself away? Robert Krulwich Readers and viewers will differ about what's totally standalone, what's totally serially dependent, and what's merely enriched by reading/viewing in a particular order. Edward M. Lerner 'Match of the Day' is a great programme to be on. It's a programme I used to be allowed to stay up and watch from the age of 10, so to think that one day I'd actually appear on it was great. Mark Lawrenson Racism, unfortunately, is part of the fabric of America's society. David Scott Our party, I can tell you, is very transparent; we believe in our credentials. Our credentials are our only credibility; we are not going to compromise on that; we are the commoners. Mamata Banerjee America can take man to the moon, and America can take men to Mars - and beyond. Buzz Aldrin We had a black bear on the 'Hunger Games' set, and that was a little scary. L...

Economics is uncertain because its fundamental subject matter is not money but human action. That's

why economics is not the dismal science, it's no science at all. Julian Baggini Gay marriage will be universally accepted in time. But if I may be so bold as to say to gays and lesbians, don't wait for that time to arrive. Just as my father and his generation did not 'wait' for their civil rights, nor should you. The toothpaste ain't going back in the tube. The tide has turned. John Ridley At the time of my second marriage, my husband was in his early 50s, I was in my mid-40s, and we each had two kids. We maintained our individual accounts and opened one for the house. We each kick the same percentage of our incomes into the house account and have a joint credit card. But we pay for our children separately. Jean Chatzky It sounds so negative of me to say, but I don't feel like there were many coming-of-age films when I was growing up. I think that when I was a teenager, I felt really misrepresented in the teenage roles that I was watching onscreen. Espe...

Total physical and mental inertia are highly agreeable, much more so than we allow ourselves

to imagine. A beach not only permits such inertia but enforces it, thus neatly eliminating all problems of guilt. It is now the only place in our overly active world that does. John Kenneth Galbraith When I'm out on the stage, it gives me this rush and anything that's on my mind and everything I'm going through is forgotten about. Fantasia Barrino The more I like me, the less I want to pretend to be other people. Jamie Lee Curtis Honestly, I didn't know I was a role model. Treat Williams I never thought much of the courage of a lion tamer. Inside the cage he is at least safe from people. George Bernard Shaw