The character I created, 'Commissario Brunetti,' who appears in all my books, shares similar reading,

artistic and musical tastes with me. Subconsciously, I knew that if I was to spend however long it would take to write this book with him, this man would have to be someone I'd like to have dinner with.
Donna Leon

I have pushed virtue to outright brutality.
Jean Racine

I see music as one language. If one musical form eats its own tail, it dies. So it needs to be a mongrel, it needs to be hybridised.
Sting

When something's painful, you just avoid it. Why bother dredging up the past if it's nothing but bad stuff?
Shane Koyczan

It's better to be skinny than to be fat.
Natalia Vodianova

There can be no rise in the value of labour without a fall of profits.
David Ricardo

The written word can be powerful and beautiful - but films transport us to another place in a way that even the most evocative words never can.
Saoirse Ronan

I do a couple of hundred press-ups a day but I haven't been to a gym in years.
Simon Cowell

The difficulty of writing a second novel is directly proportional to how successful the first novel was, it seems.
Khaled Hosseini

Gemeoss

When I was 17, I worked in a mentoring program in Harlem designed to improve

the community. That's when I first gained an appreciation of the Harlem Renaissance, a time when African-Americans rose to prominence in American culture. For the first time, they were taken seriously as artists, musicians, writers, athletes, and as political thinkers. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar I only make movies that are interesting to me. Brian Grazer I wouldn't say I was organised at all. I just have to prioritise. Is it more important for them to be organised, or to have their dinner, do you know what I mean? Jo Brand The courage in journalism is sticking up for the unpopular, not the popular. Geraldo Rivera A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy dare live. Bertrand Russell I think Mick Jagger would be astounded and amazed if he realized that to many people he is not a sex symbol, but a mother image. David Bowie I enjoy my job as long as I can create a character, otherwise it's boring. Jav...

All I've been a part of has been thanks to the Disney company: the job,

experience, travel, opportunities have come thanks to Disney. Working for Disney was not part of my original plan, but it was part of God's, and it shows that God is still moving. Jodi Benson It almost goes without saying that when you are a startup, one of the first things you do is you start setting aside money to defend yourself from patent lawsuits, because any successful company, even moderately successful, is going to get hit by a patent lawsuit from someone who's just trying to look for a payout. Charles Duhigg People always ask me about 'Girls' with this kind of hesitation. What do I think of it? I love it. It's awesome. I get a lot of Where do you come down on this? I come down on the side of 'Yay, Lena Dunham. Congratulations. I'm jealous.' She's doing something so fantastic. Maybe it's not for everybody, but it certainly is for me. Callie Khouri I've never really understood the term 'Post-Impressionism' as more tha...

Given Pounds and five years, and an ordinary man can in the ordinary course, without

any undue haste or putting any pressure upon his taste, surround himself with books, all in his own language, and thence forward have at least one place in the world. Augustine Birrell Everyone should know that most cancer research is largely a fraud, and that the major cancer research organizations are derelict in their duties to the people who support them. Linus Pauling A Bush Administration will, I believe, enjoy a better relationship with the new Congress, although President-elect Bush will be faced with real challenges in getting along with the Congress. Richard V. Allen I once thought that I was the only man that persevered to be the friend of the white man, but since they have come and cleaned out our lodges, horses, and everything else, it is hard for to believe the white man any more. Black Kettle When you finish a poem, it clicks shut like the top of a jewel box, but prose is endless. I haven't experienced an awful lot of clicking shut! Kenneth Koch I thin...

As a Midlander and a big walker, I'd always loved ridge and furrow

fields, the plough-marked land as it was when it was enclosed. It is the landscape giving you a story of lives that ended with the arrival of sheep. Jim Crace I think it's really rare to see women on television who are brilliant, selfish, vain, fallible - and I feel like I have all those capacities in myself, so it's good to see people in the media representing all of those things. Kerry Bishe I never went after fame. It fell into my lap. Caitlyn Jenner My mom and dad were actors when they were younger and had a horrible experience of it. My dad became a literary agent and my mom a casting director. Daniel Radcliffe I have this idea of trying to catalog all the genes on the planet. Craig Venter The wind from the Kingdom of Heaven has blown all over the world, and shall blow for centuries yet. George William Russell I always said if I played a drag queen, I'd want to create a template with the realness they talk about in 'Paris Is Burning.' Billy P...

I don't like the idea of being eaten by a shark. I like to swim

in the ocean, and I think much more about sharks than anyone should. I really resent the fact that my oceangoing experiences are ruined by 'Jaws.' David Duchovny It needs to be said, over and over again, that Stan the Man was voted by 'The Sporting News' as the best baseball player of the postwar decade, from 1946 through 1955. George Vecsey We don't take anything when we pass away, and we need to do with the sense of responsibility. Carlos Slim No-one has ever called me a cool dude. I'm somewhere between geek and normal. Linus Torvalds I think in any relationship, even in the healthiest of relationships, we are all parents to each other at times. I think that's a normal, healthy sort of relationship. I think there are times when we're each a mother and a father when we need to be. Christopher Stanley I don't know if I can prepare for what's to come because I don't know what will. Daisy Ridley If you've got a camera, go ...

Financial Aid Office (FAO) administrators are scrambling to educate students on repaying loans, but a

disparity in knowledge persists. David Fahrenthold We in the small developing countries are beginning to understand that our own citizens share a common fate requiring the active role of government to ensure that every citizen has a chance and means to participate productively within the society and to curb society's dangerous encroachment on the physical environment. Said Musa There's competition everywhere. Amy Jackson I'm not super-polite or civil - I try to be civil, but I'm not into Seattle's niceties, and I'm not hugely wired into Seattle's natural beauty. David Shields I lived in the library with my grandmother as a child. I still love the smell of books; the library card is still my friend. Dawn Richard At the end of the day, before basketball, before anything, I'm a man. Draymond Green You win football games by first getting possession and then running 3- and 5-yard plays. Not by Hail Mary passes. Common sense, elbow grease, an...

I have never insulted man or woman in my life, but if you knew what

a wholesome regard I have for damn liars and rascals, they would be liable to keep out of my way. Wild Bill Hickok Broadway is the same as Hollywood. Every few years we say we reached the mountaintop, then we take two steps back. Kenny Leon I love playing ping pong. Kristaps Porzingis I want to negotiate what I'm worth. I want to put my analytics forward, man-to-man, and to be like, 'This is what I'm owed now. Pay me.' And then we can talk. Conor McGregor Because of my grey hair and glasses, people think I'm Phil Donahue. Jeff MacNelly The people of Iraq have suffered greatly. John Chilcot Congress should... at least keep pace with technological advances. Suzan DelBene Part of me worries about upsetting people, because we all have perceptions about Olympic champions. Bradley Wiggins In my humble opinion, the ages 22 to about 27 are the most critical years of your adult life. It's your time to gestate in the cocoon of becoming. Mahershala...

If I wrote a musical it wouldn't be about me. Although I do some magic,

so it would probably be about a magician who appeared and re-appeared all over the place. Neil Patrick Harris The majority of people in Angola were not provided with any kind of schooling and were completely illiterate, very badly paid, and treated almost as slaves. Louis Leakey Most enlightened men now recognize that General Jackson is not fitted to fill the office of President; his limited experience of anything to do with civil government and his great age make him incompetent. Jared Sparks I honestly, sincerely love what I do. Mary Hart I still believe that at any time the no-talent police will come and arrest me. Mike Myers We are like boxers, one never knows how much longer one has. Clint Eastwood George Martin, he's very good at a very sort of lush, sweet arrangement. Paul McCartney I approve of anyone wearing what the establishment says you must not wear. Florynce Kennedy I toyed with the idea of pursuing a career as a lawyer just because I like to a...

Waiting is so unusual that many of us can't stand in a queue for 30

seconds without getting out our phones to check for messages or to Google something. Julian Baggini All these Lil' rappers, I'm just kind of getting real irritated by it. I said, 'You know what? Drop the Lil'. Forget it. I'm Bow Wow. Bow Wow When you really study espionage movies, or spy movies, the beginnings are really set up to have, like, an amazing bit of action, but at the moment you're watching it, you have no idea why or what it's about. John Lasseter I didn't study dance. I had some ballet lessons because I needed it for posture and for my arms, mostly. My skating coach said I really needed it, from the belly button up, as opposed to the footwork. In skating, the shoes don't move. Dorothy Hamill I love the history of popular music. I love to know what people are listening to, even if I don't like it. Tim Rice The first rule of world-building is available physics, which basically means that if you want it to feel real, it h...

Of course I party. Of course I go chase girls. Again, for me, balance is

important. One hundred per cent, my work goes first. Martin Garrix is my main priority. But to maintain Martin Garrix, I have to enjoy my downtime. Martin Garrix If Obama's enormous symbolic power draws primarily from being the country's first black president, it also draws from his membership in hip-hop's foundational generation. Ta-Nehisi Coates I did not grow up singing Yiddish. Mandy Patinkin We were, as Arabs in Israel, educated not to leave our villages, in order to protect our identity. Sayed Kashua I went to 17 different schools when I was a kid. Every time I went to school, no matter what I talked like, it was always from the wrong place. David Carradine I love being around people. Chelsea Manning People can be incredibly proprietary about Superman. They think that the character belongs to them. Elvis Mitchell I can't see myself doing anything else. I feel like I can touch more people with music. Trevor Jackson I remember watching 'T...