Let's get right to it: On page 5 of Paul Murray's dazzling new novel, 'Skippy

Dies,'... Skippy dies. If killing your protagonist with more than 600 pages to go sounds audacious, it's nothing compared with the literary feats Murray pulls off in this hilarious, moving and wise book. Jess Walter

My mother is a professor of early childhood education. When I was two she would say she knew I was going to be an actor. Matt Damon

Gary Speed was honourable, trustworthy and a joy to manage. He was honest, he was a role model and he was a great bloke. An avid learner, he recognised responsibility and he was always fully committed. Howard Wilkinson

I think people can have a panic attack where your heart is racing, you get shakes and jitters. But you can also feel disconnected. You know what I mean? I can feel depressed. Vinny Guadagnino

I would never consent to a lame publicity stunt at a time when I already want to hide. Diablo Cody

I'm leery of legislative solutions to what is morality. Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.

If a decision-making process is flawed and dysfunctional, decisions will go awry. Carly Fiorina

There are wonderfully talented actresses. It's a really rich field. There isn't as rich a field of material. Meryl Streep

Architecture is about public space held by buildings. Richard Rogers

Gemeoss

This battle for 'common-sense' gun control laws pits emotion and passion against logic and reason.

All too often in such a contest, logic loses. So, expect more meaningless, if not harmful, 'gun control' legislation. Good news - if you're a crook. Larry Elder I drive a lot. Just for pleasure. Sometimes I'll get in the Cadillac and drive around the city or the country, kind of trying to get lost basically. Y'know, just see where roads lead. Frank Black You and I will meet again, When we're least expecting it, One day in some far off place, I will recognize your face, I won't say goodbye my friend, For you and I will meet again. Tom Petty We must dare to think 'unthinkable' thoughts. We must learn to explore all the options and possibilities that confront us in a complex and rapidly changing world. J. William Fulbright Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose - a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye. Mary Shelley Never make friends with people who are above or below you in status. Such fr...

There's this wonderful first assistant and he'll be saying, 'Now Harry goes down among the

dragons.' You have to hold yourself together. Because if you lose it for a second then you're sunk. Maggie Smith We believe we've got the skill base and the techniques to supply the chips that really enable the end manufacturers to develop exciting, innovative products themselves. David Milne Oscar Wilde said the rich and the poor are equal - they can both sleep under the bridge. Right? Do they have a right? You're damn right they have a right! Al Lewis If we'd have said we were not upset, they would have thought we were so rich it meant nothing to us, and if we say we're upset about it, they'll say money is all we care about. John Bonham We... are not really free if we can't control our own government and its policies. And we will never do that if we remain ignorant. Charley Reese Our universities and museums are respected around the country. Jane Byrne George W. Bush bought the election - period. End of story. There is no argument. Yo...

It's a different thing playing in a smaller venue where you can actually see people's

faces and reactions. It's so much more intimate. You walk away with a more personal experience. Jann Klose I love the theater. I love being on stage; I love the live audience. I also love dressing up and all of the make-believe. Nicole Ari Parker This is sort of not expected, but I would love to produce a record for Missy Elliott. It would be totally different, but she makes party music. 'Lose Control' was my favorite song when I was in 5th or 6th grade. Ansel Elgort I sculpted for four or five years. Mostly for my own amusement, I decided to do a picture book, and that was kind of a turning point. Chris Van Allsburg Circumstances in life often take us places that we never intended to go. We visit some places of beauty, others of pain and desolation. Kristin Armstrong I like John McCain. He can always be counted on for a good quote. Ted Cruz Practices such as arranged marriages and restrictions on girls attending school have deep roots, and changing them i...

It's not just the kid who's spent every penny from his job to upgrade his

car to tell the world he cares about sports cars, it's also the person driving around in a fuel-conscious hybrid electric car, because it's more a message to the world than an effective means of saving fuel, to be quite honest. Richard Hammond Praise the bridge that carried you over. George Colman The power of an air force is terrific when there is nothing to oppose it. Winston Churchill 'A collected poems' is either a gravestone or a testimonial to survival. Al Purdy Hardship makes the world obscure. Don DeLillo I have a weird life because I live on songwriting royalties, which are a strange income. Sometimes it rains, sometimes it doesn't. Joe Strummer Girls we love for what they are; young men for what they promise to be. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Always be smarter than the people who hire you. Lena Horne In the middle ages people were tourists because of their religion, whereas now they are tourists because tourism is their religion. Ro...

Just because I am a chef doesn't mean I don't rely on fast

recipes. Indeed, we all have moments when, pressed for time, we'll use a can of tuna and a tomato for a first course. It's a question of choosing the right recipes for the rest of the menu. Jacques Pepin Words are not as satisfactory as we should like them to be, but, like our neighbours, we have got to live with them and must make the best and not the worst of them. Samuel Butler Success in life is founded upon attention to the small things rather than to the large things; to the every day things nearest to us rather than to the things that are remote and uncommon. Booker T. Washington People who wear fur smell like a wet dog if they're in the rain. And they look fat and gross. Pamela Anderson Everybody thinks if you do one thing, you can't do something else. So I like the fact that I can be versatile if I want to. Denise Van Outen I don't ever want to be hugely famous because I had a little taste of it after 'East Is East' and 'Bend It....

The reason why parents mistreat their children has less to do with character

and temperament than with the fact that they were mistreated themselves and were not permitted to defend themselves. Alice Miller There are two kinds of terrorism. Rational terrorism such as Palestinian terrorism and apocalyptic terrorism like Sept. 11. You have to distinguish between the two. Alan Dershowitz Lacey said if he wanted to read a daily or regular critiques of the Bush administration, he would read the New York Times, and that's not what he wanted in the Village Voice. Sydney Schanberg I urge people to learn from the mistakes of others. Please drink responsibly and it's never acceptable to drink and drive! Kim Kardashian Television preachers extract money from the poor to live in a style and to indulge in shameful acts which equal or outdo the worst of the Renaissance Popes. J. Irwin Miller Convent - a place of retirement for women who wish for leisure to meditate upon the sin of idleness. Ambrose Bierce If you have debt I'm willing to bet that...

A short exposure to the convention convinced me that the Internet may save the Democracy

in that it is a way for the people, for the citizens, to have some direct influence on the government. John Jay Hooker I don't want to do panel games or adverts. I really like challenges. I always get roles as an art teacher or a photographer. In the future I want to play something like a mugger/assassin/pastry chef. Dylan Moran I try to be careful about wording. One of the things I've tried to combat in my blog is the notion that journalists are arrogant and unconcerned with the readership. Nicholas D. Kristof My belief is that I wasn't born into Judaism by accident, and so I needed to find ways to honor that. Ram Dass I'm not sure the risks I take are any different from what other writers take, since we all serve at the pleasure of the reader. Stewart O'Nan NASA has spin-offs, and it's a huge and very impressive list, including accurate and affordable LASIK eye surgery. Neil deGrasse Tyson I think back to the old people I knew when I was grow...

I would like to say how much I resent people who say of the Islamic

Republic that this is our culture - as if women like to be stoned to death, or as if they like to be married at the age of nine. Azar Nafisi One thing I really want to do is - I spent ten years in New York doing theater before I moved to L.A. to do TV and film. I'd really like to go to back New York and do some theater. Rainn Wilson I've learnt that if I tell myself I'm not allowed something, I binge on it later. So if I want chocolate, I have chocolate. If I want biscuits, I have biscuits. I love cake. I just love cake. Geri Halliwell Women like signs of money and education - things that indicate that not only is this guy going to have some resources, but he's also willing to share them. Helen Fisher I've had Susan Sarandon play my mom, and now Lesley Ann Warren has played my mom, so if I could have Debra Winger play my mom, then I would have the trifecta of my favorite actresses playing my mother. Jenna Fischer When people start asking you to do the...

Many interviewers when they come to talk to me, think they're being progressive by not

mentioning in their stories any longer that I'm black. I tell them, 'Don't stop now. If I shot somebody you'd mention it.' Colin Powell 'I don't want to grow up', Tom Waits said it. I live it. I put myself in a position to be a kid as long as I want to. I play loud music and scream for a living. Jason Newsted To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness. Confucius There is also an epidemic of infertility in this country. There are more women who have put off child-bearing in favor of their professional lives. For them, the only way they are going to have a family is to adopt from China. Iris Chang It is of practical value to learn to like yourself. Since you must spend so much time with yourself you might as well get some satisfaction out of the relationship. Norman Vincent Peale You will find my last words in the blue folder. M...

I went into umpiring at age 16. I got into officiating because of the fact

that I could not stand the referees that worked our basketball games. Doug Harvey Every time I've had to do journalistic investigations, I've cursed, but later I discovered that it had helped me enormously with writing fiction. It's the one thing that can save me from becoming an academic writer. Italo Calvino I'm expressing myself by acting. I'm learning about myself and making a living. I hope to do much more of it, so I can contribute my share to the world. James Remar When China fails to live up to its obligations, we push back - sort of. We accept arguments from Chinese leaders that they are a developing country that needs time to reform. Sherrod Brown I can remember somebody once saying to me that they thought my life must be less real than these other people that they were writing about, which I found a very peculiar thing 'cos all our lives are equally real, and it's just a matter of depicting them and talking about them. Ronald Frame ...