For a while, I was saying 'no' way too often. I turned down 'An Officer

and A Gentleman,' 'Splash' and 'Midnight Express.' I could name you tons more. I would go off and experience life instead of working - I was learning to fly jets, went on an African safari, sailed the Caribbean - which wasn't necessarily bad.
John Travolta

Every real thought on every real subject knocks the wind out of somebody or other.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Dream in a pragmatic way.
Aldous Huxley

Men take only their needs into consideration - never their abilities.
Napoleon Bonaparte

From the cradle to the coffin underwear comes first.
Bertolt Brecht

Nothing could be more insulting to me than the concept of civil rights. It means perpetual second-class citizenship for me and my kind.
James Meredith

When you're fighting with a stunt person, your intent is to miss.
Victoria Pratt

It should be possible to explain the laws of physics to a barmaid.
Albert Einstein

If you develop rules, never have more than ten.
Donald Rumsfeld

Gemeoss

I find that on serialized television it's wiser to hit the ground and look forward,

and take the cues from the writers and the events happening, otherwise you just tie yourself in knots. Dallas Roberts I approach 'Fast & Furious 6' the same way I would approach a Sidney Lumet film. Getting into character's getting into character. Vin Diesel I don't think there's any better education than learning the intimate details of the lives of people who you most admire. Brandon Stanton Being bad at stuff is hard, and we all deal with it every day because we're all bad at stuff. Graham Moore I am fine playing 'Law & Order' and even the 'Jurassic' movies to be straight up, as far as the characters being portrayed there, but I never want to stay in straight-up land too long. I always wanted to do something where the character's world gets to be explored. B. D. Wong Mental health is such a complex thing and so difficult to diagnose. What is a mental problem? Who does have mental problems? What's the difference b

Today mythical thinking has fallen into disrepute; we often dismiss it as irrational and self-indulgent.

But the imagination is also the faculty that has enabled scientists to bring new knowledge to light and to invent technology that has made us immeasurably more effective. Karen Armstrong I am extremely devoted to Amazon Prime - which offers speedier free deliveries, free movie streaming and other benefits for an annual fee - but I don't think it is great for groceries. Emily Oster It was all that stuff about taking your parents' car when you're 13, sneaking booze into rock shows and ditching school with your friends. I could relate to that as a former teenager, rather than as a present parent. Donal Logue Creative thinking - in terms of idea creativity - is not a mystical talent. It is a skill that can be practised and nurtured. Edward de Bono In antiquity the sage kings recognized that men's nature is bad and that their tendencies were not being corrected and their lawlessness controlled. Xun Kuang I was lucky enough to get a very good agent at the age o

Our most important task is to transform our consciousness so that violence is no longer

an option for us in our personal lives, that understanding that a world of peace is possible only if we relate to each other as peaceful beings, one individual at a time. Deepak Chopra I went to live on a kibbutz, and I'd idealized the world of collective, agrarian work, where everyone was equal, everyone contributed, that all this awful European intellectual stuff just fell away. Tony Judt I don't teach writing classes anymore, and I'm really glad I don't, because I would feel very strange about telling people, 'Go out there and be a writer, and make a living from it.' Ursula K. Le Guin I have a horror of people who speak about the beautiful. What is the beautiful? One must speak of problems in painting! Pablo Picasso What kind of moron would go to work for half the amount of money, when they could sit at home and collect what's written in a contract? Bill Goldberg I currently spend a lot of time thinking about orchestration and every detail

I created this picture of this character who would play the guitar effortlessly, who had

no limitations, performing beautiful music, and he moved around with great acrobatic skills, just capturing the audience and being a great entertainer. Steve Vai From about eight years old I was always making things on the sewing machine. Friends would see me making dresses and costumes, and I'd use difficult fabrics such as Lycra and elastic. But you know, my dad was creative and my brother is inventive too. Melissa George I starred in a Broadway play that was Sidney Poitier's first directing job and the cast was Lou Gossett, Cicely Tyson, Diana Ladd and I played a Jewish kid who offered himself as a slave to two Columbia University students as reparations. David Steinberg I did the traditional thing with falling in love with words, reading books and underlining lines I liked and words I didn't know. It was something I always did. Carrie Fisher I know in my soul when something feels like a sell out and I think for me, I knew that if I did the Jane's Addicti

It is by God's grace and provision that Hobby Lobby has endured. Therefore, we seek

to honor God by operating the company in a manner consistent with biblical principles. David Green Even spiritually advanced people are often confused. They feel an inner ecstasy which comes from the vital world, and they think this is the real delight. But it is not so. Real delight comes from the highest world to the soul, and from the soul it saturates the whole being. Sri Chinmoy I love discussing the ins and outs of the collaborative nature of writing. Jim Rash If you step back and take a holistic look, I think any reasonable person would say Android is innovating at a pretty fast pace and getting it to users. Sundar Pichai Reducing caloric intake is the only proven method of extending life. If caloric intake is reduced to 20 percent below maintenance, you can extend your lifespan considerably. S. Jay Olshansky Now, learning how to make a movie is something you can figure out in about an afternoon. The physics of it, the marks, the lights, etc. What's hard to do

The point is, the political reporters are the ones who no longer understand the ritual

they are covering. They keep searching for political meanings in the tepid events when a convention is now essentially a human drama and only that. William Greider Shields were generally made of wood, covered with leather, or some similar substance. To secure them, in some sort, from being cut through by the sword, they were surrounded with a hoop of metal. Thomas Bulfinch When you give an artist a canvas, you shouldn't tell him exactly how much paint to put on it, or exactly how sharp the images should be. You should let the artist get going. Reed Hundt There are a lot of stars I've worked with - big stars - who, when they walk on set, the energy just changes. Kathleen Robertson I played with so many musicians and some of the musicians would have something I want. I steal a lot of them, and I mash it up, I mash it up into my chords. David Edwards When I finally decided that my only hope was to go to college, I took an acting class, and once I walked onstage, I j

By and large, I'm in the same boat as other inventors. If we're lucky, of

the 10 or 15 items we do a year, maybe one or two of them wind up with a licensing agreement. Ralph H. Baer Keep the faith; work hard: practice does make you perfect. Do what you can, and meet the right people to make it work. Christina Milian Many people don't understand ring control. They think they do until they're against someone who really understands how to set traps, how to create holes in the octagon that they fall into. Conor McGregor I assisted on a lot of films outside my dad's company. I only did two of his films. Arjun Kapoor A tapper sticks to existing routines. Whereas hoofing... a hoofer pushes the art form. Savion Glover You don't want to hear about how much money I donate to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America or to AIDS awareness or to give out scholarships. You don't want to hear about that. Allen Iverson Animals need to understand other species, if only to prey on them or escape from them. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas For me, r

The thing that strikes you most about being a soldier in a war zone and

in action to the small extent that I was, when actually people start shooting, which happened to me a couple of times, everything goes on automatic and there's a feeling of tremendous elevation and even elation. Mark Helprin I was raised on the brothers Grimm, but my favorite fairy tales in the world are Oscar Wilde's - 'The Nightingale and the Rose,' 'The Selfish Giant.' The latter is probably my all-time favorite. Denis O'Hare When I came to Berkeley, I met all these Nobel laureates and I got to know that they were regular people. They were very smart and very motivated and worked very hard, but they were still humans, whereas before they were kind of mythical creatures to me. George Smoot I think they are paying a lot more attention to news now, by the way, in part because of national-security issues. A lot of young people have friends or family in the military today. Tom Brokaw But when I was twelve years old I caught my first strong glimpse

Show business has been really, really good to me because I can work and take

a lot of time off, and I'm extremely undisciplined person. Meryl Streep In one way, I suppose, I have been 'in denial' for some time, knowingly burning the candle at both ends and finding that it often gives a lovely light. Christopher Hitchens I'm a kid that went to theater school. I thought I was going to be making my living doing plays regionally or in New York or on Broadway, and maybe if I got lucky I would do a movie here or there. Matt Bomer As you get older it's more confusing. Suddenly, there's more pressure to fit in to your assigned gender. Chaz Bono I just want to be remembered as a person who loved God, who served others more than he served himself, who was trying to grow in maturity and stability. Mike Yaconelli The theory in great families was 'why work if you don't have to.' Being a public figure was reserved for movie stars. Jacqueline de Ribes There's no such thing as a healthy tan, and that's what people n

Certain things can't be approximated, so I'm always interested in getting in another way, one

which makes the reader bend in closer to the scene even if that scene, especially if that scene, is painful... Brutal language isn't necessarily the most truthful way of describing a brutal moment. Anne Michaels The function of the novelist... is to comment upon life as he sees it. Frank Norris But I've got more to learn, too. I don't feel like I'm done or I know it all. Gary Sinise Man is the only animal that laughs and has a state legislature. Samuel Butler If its not done ethically, advertising won't be trusted. If consumers don't trust it, advertising is pointless. Jef I. Richards Simplicity does not precede complexity, but follows it. Alan Perlis There is always strength in numbers. The more individuals or organizations that you can rally to your cause, the better. Mark Shields If ye despise the human race, and mortal arms, yet remember that there is a God who is mindful of right and wrong. Virgil Had we but world enough, and time, t