You have record companies that sign acts that they think are great, and then they

never do anything. Acts that they don't think are really going to do much end up having a career. I don't think anyone really knows what it is that drives somebody to get on their computer and want to download a song. Jason Aldean

Grant that I may not pray alone with the mouth; help me that I may pray from the depths of my heart. Martin Luther

Art is difficult. It's not entertainment. Anselm Kiefer

For a long time I wanted to be a comic strip artist but when I started doing them in my teens they were getting really elaborate with tons of poses and a lot of information. Craig McCracken

I didn't realise I was going to be fighting the whole world. Robert Atkins

Most entertainment is trying to get you. It's tested, like toothpaste. Albert Brooks

If a song is longer than three and a half minutes, it'll need something to keep you entertained. Jake Bugg

My mom was a seamstress, and I wish I'd learned to sew because I'm obsessed with 'Project Runway!' Carmen Electra

If you find something to tell, tell it to your truest, though that make little to tell; the truer you speak, the more you will know to tell. Laura Riding

I build a wall around myself. I'm hard to get to know. Any trait you have, it gets worse as you go along. Diane Keaton

Gemeoss

Real science is the greatest, most exciting springboard I have available to me as

a writer, and I don't feel the least bit constrained by it. Mark Waid I said I reject any form of bigotry, bigotry of all kinds. Steve Scalise I'm trying to enjoy my time at home and be around my kids. Rey Mysterio The thing that I love about 'Scandal' is every character, it's not clear if they're good or bad. Everyone is both good and bad. Nazanin Boniadi Many of the basic lessons of business, such as the critical value of customer service or measuring risk against reward when investing capital, have essential application in government, but not in a vacuum. John Hickenlooper I grew up in London, one of four children. We were a very loud family, not a lot of listening, plenty of talking. My mum was a hearth mother: she loved to gather us all around her - Sunday lunches were a big thing. She was very good at thinking on her feet - people used to say she should go into politics. Damian Lewis When you're an independent artist, you need as much play or promotio...

There is constant talk about the intermarriage crisis: who is a Jew and how

we define a Jew. That doesn't go over well with young Jews trying to figure out whether they want to be a part of this thing or not. Tahl Raz I've been studying voice for quite a while, especially opera, for at least seven or eight years. Shelly Burch Like anything, I remember who I work for. You work for the people who sent you to office. Darryl Glenn For the bourgeoisie, the main danger against which it had to be protected, that which had to be avoided at all costs, was armed uprising, was the armed people, was the workers taking to the streets in an assault against the government. Michel Foucault My grandmother is a huge part of my life. She's just a great woman: a woman of the church. Chance The Rapper I don't think we can fix poverty without fixing housing, and I don't think we can address housing without understanding landlords. Matthew Desmond One of my best friends since I was eleven years old is a gay man, and I knew his struggle. It was a tough life, you ...

I love being in the studio, and I am a huge fan of live music.

Without writing good stuff in the studio, you have nothing to play live. Anthony Hamilton I purposely don't talk about money, because people are already skeptical about TV preachers. But I do say that I want you to be blessed. To me, prosperity is having health, having great children, having peace, good relationships. It's not about the money. Joel Osteen When I was between 2 and 3 years old, I got to know my first non-human being. The non-human was a cocker spaniel named Baba. We weren't friends, Baba and I, nor enemies. He wasn't my dog. He belonged to the people my mother worked for, and he lived in the house with them and us. Octavia E. Butler I was considered the luckiest of all the female gypsies since I landed the job as social secretary to Ambassador and Mrs. David Bruce at the American Embassy. Letitia Baldrige Some musicians like to decorate their walls with discs saying: '1 million records sold in America.' I prefer to put up discs marking...

Persuasiveness is really just about getting your ideas across without being forceful.

It's a skill that can be learned and is useful for anyone who works in a team environment. Amanda de Cadenet I was an extra in a Tia Carrere music video. Adam Scott When people start to think they're figuring out 'The Vampire Diaries,' it switches on you. Kat Graham It's a huge blessing to know you've done something that has affected people the way 'The Matrix' has. It's like, there's 'Star Wars,' and then there's 'The Matrix.' It's cool to be a part of that. Laurence Fishburne Voters aren't asking to be pandered to and aren't asking to be tricked. Jason Kander I'm a pretty controlled and disciplined person, but my real vice is buying plants and food shopping. Zac Posen Barack Obama was a president who understood not only how technology could transform the way government services worked but also technology itself. He got it. Steven Levy Positivity, confidence, and persistence are key in life, so never give up...

I never planned to be a model at all. I moved to Paris to study

art, and I was there working as an artist, taking classes, and I had a little sick dog that I was using up all of my money to try and heal. It was right at that point that this photographer, Errol Sawyer, saw me at the phoning office and convinced me to let him take my photo. Christie Brinkley In academia in general, there's this push toward using comics as an educational tool. Gene Luen Yang Writers divide into those who write biting their nails and those who don't. Some writers write licking their finger. Italo Calvino In addition to my cousin, there were 30 or 40 guys I grew up with who became firefighters as well. So, I've been around firefighters all my life. Denis Leary For me, it's important to stay healthy more than it is to have one good victory. Lukas Rosol Some things in literature are inexplicable. Halldor Laxness Sometimes your parents are the ones with the biggest mouths of all time. Dakota Johnson The World Bank can only survive if it...

As to the differences between game work and novel writing, well, obviously the

former is a lot less lonely - you're in and out of meetings all the time, bouncing stuff back and forth with the level designers, the art department, the animation team, so forth. Richard K. Morgan Curating, in the modern sense, is something I gravitate to. Taking different ideas from a bunch of different places and putting them into one place or space, a story that makes sense or a new idea. Everything is remixed and taken from other things to make something new. Petra Collins Pool swimmers are very slim, and they're stronger. Marathon swimmers have to train an awful lot, and they end up losing a bit of muscle mass. So we need to have a bit more fat, though that's not the case with me. Many swimmers have a little bit of extra fat though, so that they can deal with the cold and get through what is an exhausting event. Poliana Okimoto I think I'm constantly trying to grow as a pitcher. You start going out there, you're learning stuff, you're finding different w...

This country owes them all a debt of gratitude. The down payment on that debt

is making sure that we live up to Lincoln's charge: to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan. Dave Obey This may be done by grafting, by confining the roots, withholding water, bending the branches, or in a hundred other ways which all proceed upon the same principle. Robert Fortune Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive - the risk to be alive and express what we really are. Don Miguel Ruiz I like to be able to play a character and act out a lot of things which I can't or don't do in my normal everyday life. Leonardo DiCaprio The whole idea that what is not normal should be kept secret - that's really distasteful to me. Dan Farmer That tv box has a tremendous capacity to reach people. Clint Walker In Australia, not reading poetry is the national pastime. Phyllis McGinley

I've been doing this 17 years but I can tell you I have more websites

now than I have ever had devoted to me or my past career or my character. When I got this show, I think I had two fans out there that had created websites on my behalf. Robert Patrick You were there all day long, 12 hours a day. So there was none of this, 'I'm going back to my trailer, my trailer's bigger than your trailer,' that kind of Hollywood nonsense. John C. Reilly I used to get some flack from my agents because I wouldn't even audition for parts where the hero uses violent force to be a hero. Mackenzie Astin Socialism must come down from the brain and reach the heart. Jules Renard Judges are appointed often through the political process. Stephen Breyer Good things happen to those who hustle. Chuck Noll If the Cowboys and Titans ain't playing, I'm not interested. Tanya Tucker

I spent a lot of money and time at pizza places. Golf and Stuff in Ventura, right

off the 101, was my hangout. Skating Plus, right behind it, always had a good selection of games. That was the place to be when you were from Oxnard back in the '80s. Rich Moore It was tough to quit football. But after I was injured, I didn't want people paying money to see only half a John Matuszak. John Matuszak I do feel like the media is one of the biggest problems. If you look at all these rolling news channels, they sensationalize the story, they focus on gossip, and they don't actually tell the full story. Finn Jones It's easier to get into controlling relationships when you're young because you're much more eager to please, and controlling men pick up on that. If they like to make decisions for you at the start of a relationship, it can be a warning sign. Sarah Pinborough For any child, boy or girl, a father is both Jedi and Sith: Obi-Wan Kenobi - gentle and calming and good - and Vader, fierce and terrifying. Cass Sunstein I always carry my phone with ...

I've created several musical trends, really. That's not because I'm so far out and fabulous.

It's because most bands have no ideas of their own. They're so desperate they'll grab at any old straw. John Lydon When I audition, I understand what it takes and the insecurities that come with it. If I do anything, I put actors at ease. I used to tell directors who weren't actors, the best thing they could do was take an acting class for a couple of months. Just to understand. Albert Brooks What is supposed to be the very essence of Judaism - which is the notion that it is by study that you make yourself a holy people - is nowhere present in Hebrew tradition before the end of the first or the beginning of the second century of the Common Era. Harold Bloom If a person studies too much and exhausts his reflective powers, he will be confused, and will not be able to apprehend even that which had been within the power of his apprehension. For the powers of the body are all alike in this respect. Maimonides Now, when I came on to Washington to begin my job, I w...