It's possible that the 2012 general-election race will be the least overtly religious one since

1972, the last campaign before Roe v. Wade and the rise of Jimmy Carter brought evangelicalism into the political mainstream. That's because faith remains a complicated issue for Obama, who is still wrongly thought to be a Muslim in some quarters.
Jon Meacham

Things changed with the discovery of neutron stars and black holes - objects with gravitational fields so intense that dramatic space and time-warping effects occur.
Paul Davies

By recognizing that the chemical atom is composed of single separable electric quanta, humanity has taken a great step forward in the investigation of the natural world.
Johannes Stark

I am going to do everything I can to clear my name.
Michael Irvin

Rationality is not one of this industry's attributes.
Scott Hamilton

There are those who want to believe but can't, and there are those who believe as children and it's no problem for them at all.
Max von Sydow

An unclean person is universally a slothful one.
Henry David Thoreau

Cinema reflects culture and there is no harm in adapting technology, but not at the cost of losing your originality.
Jackie Chan

My parents would always trace the sign of the cross on our foreheads before they kissed us goodnight.
Vincent Nichols

Gemeoss

The pleasure of work is open to anyone who can develop some specialised skill, provided

that he can get satisfaction from the exercise of his skill without demanding universal applause. Bertrand Russell You don't go to your 9 to 5 and share every story with your coworkers, and in the same way, not every YouTuber shares every story with their audience. Tyler Oakley You might have noticed Harry Reid is a little upset with Americans for Prosperity. Let me tell you, when the Democrat leader is complaining about you on the Senate floor, you know you are doing something right. Marsha Blackburn It's such a paradox. You come from this place where you want fame; you don't want to be bourgeois, but you want to be successful. You want to be accepted, but you also want to be going against the grain. You want to be on the outside, but you want to be on the inside. Dan Colen Walking the floor at a con dressed as Chewbacca, you might as well be Bono. I mean it's ridiculous. People just walk up and grab you and hold you, because they love Chewbacca so much. A...

When you're writing, you're only a brain and some fingers, but drumming, you're involving all

four limbs, and you're hearing stuff and you're converting your ideas into physical motions, getting physical feedback from things you are touching - it's pretty cool. It's a really a nice contrast to writing. Michael Azerrad The work of artists is to find what's humanly possible - possibility's furthest reaches. Tony Kushner If you look at the way people behave at shows, icons are now musicians; they are the people that we worship. Grimes As much as I long for a sort of security and consistency sometimes, I do enjoy sort of being busted around. I really don't know what's happening sometimes next week, let alone this year. Matthew Macfadyen On Wall Street, fraudulent schemes tend to thrive during economic booms, and to blow up when times turn tough. James Surowiecki I want a guy who can clean my gutters and kill my spiders - who's simple yet layered. Kelli Garner Politics is the art of controlling your environment. Hunter S. Thomps...

A 5-acre school each in Noida and Gurgaon is what we have; it costs Rs.

50 crore to buy the land and another Rs. 50 crore to build the property. That's the capital cost alone.Shiv Nadar What is it like to get in someone's head and hunt them from inside their eyes? That's so freaky to me.Brian J. Smith I fell in love with L.A. To me, it is the most quintessentially American city.Jeremy Scott I don't understand how those old bands did it. We worked out early on that if we did three gigs in a row and went out afterwards, we'd lose our voices. We know our limits.Winston Marshall Coos Bay is a sports-minded town. You had to be an athlete to be somebody.Steve Prefontaine When I was in desperate trouble for maybe eight or nine years, I went to a neuropsychiatrist.Gene Wilder The digitisation of money, the rapid expansion of internet access and, of course, the adoption of mobile phones have created the perfect conditions to make it easier, secure, and affordable to save, spend, give, and borrow.Dan Schulman Playing football...

When 'The Dark Side of the Moon' was a new album in 1973, a friend

of mine walked into my room where I was working with a copy in his hand and said, 'You really have to do a play about this album.' Tom Stoppard I realised success as an actor alone wouldn't make me happy. I needed to explore my spiritual side in more depth. Linus Roache I think 'lunch' is one of the funniest words in the world. Stephen Sondheim Because there's no structural barrier to joining 4chan, the community is really dynamic; for every five people that leave, five new people join, bringing their perspective and culture. A lot of other communities get set in their ways. Christopher Poole Money has never been my drive. I have never seen the shortage of money in my life, so for me, I don't want to buy a silk pillow or a private jet... My drive is to achieve more than what my grandfather achieved; my drive is to make a name for myself, get rid of this 'star son' tag that has been attached to me. Ranbir Kapoor I used to work as a volu...

For Russians, to whom Pushkin's poem 'Eugene Onegin' is sacred text, the ballet's

story and personae are as familiar and filled with meaning as, for instance, 'Romeo' and 'Hamlet' are for us. Russians know whole stretches of it by heart, the way we know Shakespeare and Italians know Dante. Robert Gottlieb I can't even imagine life without music! Manika There's a bookstore in New York where you could buy scripts, and I got addicted to them because they were easy, quick reads... and the pictures were so vivid. Robbie Robertson I've spent my whole life in airports. I don't come home but every two and a half months, which is pretty crazy. Alison Mosshart I grew up as an athlete doing judo, so I didn't really have a conventional, feminine body type. Ronda Rousey People tend to comment on my feet a lot. In daily life. Toks Olagundoye I do try to stay open and stay as present as you can be. Rhea Seehorn I like being an editor, and I know how to make a magazine. Roberto Civita When I was growing up, Forest Park was...

Go out and find a copy of 'The Shrinking Of Treehorn' and its sequel, 'Treehorn's

Treasure.' Written by Florence Parry Heide and illustrated by the great Edward Gorey, master of the gothic and the macabre, these books are small masterpieces. Chris Riddell When I set up my first restaurant, I was so inspired by Wolfgang Puck, who is also based in L.A. and is now a good friend of mine, and the way he would engage with his customers and greet them personally. Nobu Matsuhisa A perfect weekend in London has to start on Friday night, by going to the theatre, the Donmar or the National. It's a cliche for an actor, but I enjoy going as much as possible. Helen McCrory I suppose most crime writing is urban. There's not a lot... certainly not in Australia, people don't often set books in the countryside. Peter Temple 'Revolutionary Road' is a fascinating study of the human condition of a fragmenting marriage and the torment that these two people put themselves through in their efforts to try and find happiness and try and stay together, actu...

In metros, girls are very independent, conscious and aware. But in the interiors of our

country, where education is not given importance, they continue to be oppressed. But it is important for every woman to acknowledge what she wants from herself rather than going for what people expect from her. Kangana Ranaut I start from one point and go as far as possible. But, unfortunately, I never lose my way. I 'localize,' which is to say that I think always in a given space. I rarely think of the whole of a solo, and only very briefly. I always return to the small part of the solo that I was in the process of playing. John Coltrane I like the Open Window Fresh WetJet scent; it smells pretty good as you are using it. I like fresh and clean smells, so it makes sense that I would also be partnered with Swiffer because that is what they are all about: making your house all fresh and clean. Eric Stonestreet The good news is that I've already outlived two Brontes, Keats, and Stephen Crane. The bad news is that I haven't written anything. Paul Kalanithi I...

The really successful work in England tends to be working-class writers telling working-class

stories. The film industry has been slow to wake up to that, for a variety of reasons. It still shocks me how few films are written or made in England about working-class life, given that those are the people who go to movies. Stephen Daldry This is a very screwed-up business. Record labels don't sign a lot of bands these days. We just want to find a home and stay there and make records and do our thing and not have to look over our shoulder. Andy Taylor I don't see a lot of films. I'm quite choosy, but there's certain films that stick out. Christopher Eccleston I vote and I do jury duty. Christopher Hitchens It has to do with the fact that Ford, for all his greatness, is an Irish egomaniac, as anyone who knows him will say. Henry Fonda I no longer care about the financial system. I gave them my roadmap. OK? Thanks, bye. I've no idea what's going on. I'm disconnected. I'm totally disengaged. Nassim Nicholas Taleb In 10 years, I'd lo...

I have a great liking for the Chamba folk music, which depicts the beauty of

women and the mountains with a touch of Indian classical music. Mohit Chauhan I think in any profession, in general, you always imagine yourself at the top of it. And I'm not trying to say I'm at the top of my profession, but I've seen what the top people do and what the top people live like. And that's definitely something I want to be a part of. Jacob Batalon On the artist side, we made a significant investment in very young artists from the very beginning of their careers and helped them become global superstars. Troy Carter I'm addicted to 'Game Of Thrones.' Melvyn Bragg Congress created Fannie Mae in 1938 and Freddie Mac in 1970. For many years, these institutions prudently pursued their core mission of enhancing the availability of credit for housing. Jerome Powell I'm a very ambitious person. I've been like this from a very young age. As early as 12 years old, I used to have panic attacks because I needed to know my life plan. ...

When I was four or five years old, my grandfather showed me how to build

things, paint, saw. Through years of fixing bikes, repairing lawn mowers, I learned how things work. Tony Fadell I believe if religion brings you to a sense of peace, that's beautiful. But I also believe if religion's not your thing, that's fine, too, just so long as you're a good person and you find that one thing that leads you to peace and teaches you to have harmony with yourself and other people around you. Michelle Phan A common criticism of establishment journalists entails comparing them to stenographers, on the ground that most of them do little more than mindlessly write down and uncritically repeat what government officials say. Glenn Greenwald Women account for about 70% of Africa's food production and manage a large proportion of small enterprises. They are also increasingly represented in legislative and executive leadership positions. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala I used to go around the country performing. I was in my 20s; I had no fear. But then I...