I live in New York and got a call from my agent saying there was

this new role on 'Mad Men,' it might be recurring and they're seeing people tomorrow. I said, 'OK, this is one of those things where you hedge your bets, use your miles and get on a plane.' I flew out Tuesday morning and got the job on a Wednesday. Cara Buono

I've never had any close male friends. The most important relationships in my life have always been with women. Willem Dafoe

I am a very bottom-up thinker. Ken Thompson

Privacy is one of the biggest problems in this new electronic age. Andy Grove

We must see what in the Israeli identity - in the Israeli - we can give to other people rather than speaking so often of taking, expanding territory. A. B. Yehoshua

I basically think that I'm a fairly nice, normal person with just a few eccentricities. Heather Graham

I get very homesick, but otherwise it's a great privilege to get to travel for work. Jesse Eisenberg

People want a result. Immigrant voters aren't stupid, and they're going to know who's on their side. Tom Snyder

I'm massively talented, and very, very beautiful in person; the public don't really realise that. Julie Walters

You usually can't tell what's inspiring until you look back on it. Carly Simon

Gemeoss

I love a well-plotted story. But I'm just not that kind of writer, and it's

not necessarily by choice. When I manipulate plot, I feel I lose authenticity. Alice McDermott I made three short films of my own which I wrote, produced, directed... you did everything in those days. My favourite one was something I shot on VHS... a little documentary. Asif Kapadia Everything comes out in blues music: joy, pain, struggle. Blues is affirmation with absolute elegance. It's about a man and a woman. So the pain and the struggle in the blues is that universal pain that comes from having your heart broken. Most blues songs are not about social statements. Wynton Marsalis There's still a lot I'm angry about, a lot of human behaviour that's appalling and despicable, but you choose what you can fight against. I always thought if I could just put something in words perfectly enough, people would get the idea and it would change things. Neil Peart I'm not specifically attached to anything other than trying to, in my personal life, fight against wh...

I would have to say the most challenging thing about directing is the sheer stamina

because... as a director, you're always doing something. Someone always needs to talk to you. There are always decisions to be made and every day for as long as the movie goes on. So it's a marathon... You don't have to look nice, but it's all day every day. Michael Urie It's been a joy to be a part of other people's journey, to be able to inspire and be a part of new singers coming up in this business. Christina Aguilera It wasn't that I got pinned against my locker, but I was intensely aware that the things I valued weren't shared by anyone. Girls didn't like me, and I had few friends. Josh Groban We must also win really sufficient and, above all, practical, guarantees for the freedom of the seas and for the further fulfilment of our economic and political tasks throughout the world. Bernhard von Bulow For thugs from the ghetto, violence is a way of life - it's what helps you survive. Suge Knight Now we are using the body scanner to s...

That's my personal view I would say most in my caucus agree with that but

there are some who don't and I've always said that on these kinds of moral issues, people have the right to their own opinions. Stephen Harper When you're not blond and thin, you come up with a personality real quick. Kathy Najimy The first ingredient in conversation is truth, the next good sense, the third good humor, and the fourth wit. William Temple I would hope they would be our fellow artists, rather than trying to emulate or idolize clowns like us. Maynard James Keenan Let me give you a definition of ethics: It is good to maintain and further life it is bad to damage and destroy life. Albert Schweitzer The disappearance of a sense of responsibility is the most far-reaching consequence of submission to authority. Stanley Milgram Life is not over because you have diabetes. Make the most of what you have, be grateful. Dale Evans I am certainly not an intellectual relativist, nor a moral relativist. Edward Tufte

All my graduation money went to paying for bartending classes so I could

have a side gig. I bartended for two months before I was supposed to move to New York and then two months later I got the job as an understudy in 'Sister Act' and haven't looked back since. Patina Miller Potentially significant, by the way, because we don't know exactly what's in Matt Cooper's notes, and we don't know - and we don't still know the answer to the crucial question of whether it was Rove or somebody else that revealed Valerie Plame's name to him. Michael Isikoff I was playing little league baseball when Bruce Jenner was winning the gold, but I don't think I was really paying attention at that time. It wasn't until 1980 - I think I was 12 years old - that I thought, 'Wow that's what I want to do. I want to be on the Olympic team.' Dan O'Brien A corporation is organized as a system - it has this department, that department, that department... they don't have any meaning separately; they only can functio...

I love the idea that we put in jokes the kids don't get. And that

later, when they grow up and read a few books and go to college and watch the show again, they can get it on a completely different level. Matt Groening Brainy folks were also present in Lyndon Johnson's administration, especially in the Pentagon, where Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara's brilliant 'whiz kids' tried to micro-manage the Vietnam war, with disastrous results. Thomas Sowell The most interesting guy I've ever played with was King Hassan of Morocco. I went over there on a trip in the early 1970s, and the King and I played five holes. I've never been that nervous in my life. Lee Trevino George Martin is an incredible writer. Peter Dinklage I do come from a strong family. Arlen Specter I think any cancer patient, if you dig not too deeply, they want to live. Charles Jencks We believe in personal choice, rather than society dictating how we must live our lives. Mike Peters Yeah, I've only been acting since I was 18 out of high...

I love the way this sport has evolved and impacted every segment of society.

Now you have cross training and weight training in every sport and from middle school kids to senior citizens. Lee Haney People make a mistake thinking that two people with identical mindset gel well. Gautam Gambhir If money is tight, or you're on a limited budget, then consider DIY or used gifts. DIY could be something like baked goods for your friends, family, and neighbors. Plus, if you have children, it's a great activity to do with them during the holidays. John Rampton The custom of clasping hands is thought to date back thousands of years, as proof of not holding any weapons. Faith Salie I believe in term limits. I believe the country would be hugely better off if we had more turnover in Congress. Bill Flores When we demand Woman Suffrage, we can only do so on the ground, not that it should be a right attached to the possession of a certain amount of property, but that it should be inherent in the woman herself. Clara Zetkin I stopped acting a long time ago and my prim...

When my parents got divorced, I wanted to spend my time laying in the garage

listening to the washer and dryer. Loud, immersive, changing. It was music to me. Brian Reitzell A friend of mine encouraged me to try rapping, so I started experimenting with it, writing verses, seeing if I could fit an extra word or syllable into each line without tripping myself up. K. Flay The sleeplessness is proven; it eradicates your memory. Gaby Hoffmann I was a science fiction geek. That lets you know that they come in all sizes and styles, right? Mae Jemison Most middle-aged white men probably don't know about little old Stormzy from London. Stormzy I have some very dear friends I stalk consistently when I come home. Kim Rhodes When we finished 'Stop Making Sense,' we went right to the San Francisco Film Festival for the world premiere, and people swarmed the stage and started dancing before the first song was even finished. Jonathan Demme I wouldn't be where I am without Evolve. Rafael dos Anjos It has been a great working experience with Sreenu Vaitla. Ram...

I remember when I was in third grade, I was in a classroom, and the teacher said,

'What do you want to do when you get older?' We were going around the room. I said, 'I want to be a professional basketball player.' She's like, 'That's not realistic.' I thought to myself, 'OK, watch.' Zach LaVine Professional wrestling is my first love, and I will continue to do that, but if I get a good offer for a film or a show, I would love to take it up. Sangram Singh I had this dream in my head of, if I got hired by 'SNL, what that moment would be like. And I dreamed that I would, like, collapse on the sidewalk and cry to the heavens. I got this call, and it didn't happen naturally. But I did it anyway because I wanted to have that moment. So I did collapse. Kate McKinnon It's funny: I don't feel like I have any particular privileged feeling for the Fifties. Todd Haynes Stock market goes up or down, and you can't adjust your portfolio based on the whims of the market, so you have to have a strategy in a position and s...

I saw my dad doing it and thought to myself, 'I can do that.' I would be backstage

watching him and running around the country with him singing to children. He would sing songs that taught children really good morals: like, 'Teaching Peace' was a song he used to sing to kids a lot. Andy Grammer I wanted to be an attorney all the way up until I was 17. Mark Foster I am not bothered about if my role in a film is small or big. Because if the character I am offered is sensible, I would do it even if it is small. Nithya Menen He's known as Sting. I have my own personal name for him, but that shall remain a personal name. Trudie Styler I wanted to play for United; I wanted to play at Old Trafford. It was always my goal. Bastian Schweinsteiger I grew up in a very middle-class life. I'm grateful for it - it has given me a lot of stability. Carrie-Anne Moss I am a human being: sometimes I am happy, but sometimes I am not feeling that great or not in a mood. Shaheer Sheikh The first time I heard the Mars Volta, I had a feeling I was experiencing something that...

The rap against Tesla has always been of the 'yes, but' variety. Yes, it's a fine

artisanal designer and manufacturer of electric cars, and its CEO is one of the few business leaders alive for whom the label 'visionary' isn't hyperbolic. Adam Lashinsky I did 'Christmas Carol' off and on through my teenage years, so I always had that dialect and that sound in my ear, which was so helpful. It became second nature. Dan Amboyer I grew up around electronic instruments. To me, the turntable is an electronic device. At the same time, I had access to drum machines and keyboards through my uncle; then track recorders into computers. At an early age, I was messing with computers more than most hip-hop musicians. Ali Shaheed Muhammad When I graduated from Brown, I had a very limited conception of jobs, careers, and what I wanted to do. Basically, I figured I should do some kind of thought work that paid well, but I wasn't sure what. Andrew Yang From day one, we've always gotten backlash for certain outlandish ideas that we've had and presented...