People don't understand rural America. Sixteen percent of our population is rural, but

40 percent of our military is rural. I don't believe that's because of a lack of opportunity in rural America. I believe that's because if you grow up in rural America, you know you can't just keep taking from the land. You've got to give something back.
Tom Vilsack

I want to prove that you don't have to come from Oxford University or Rada - and you don't have to have parents that support you - to succeed.
Samantha Morton

I don't want to replace anyone, especially Charlie Sheen.
John Stamos

Companies and leaders are role models - not just with the business community - but in the broader world.
Chip Conley

Democracies can't handle austerity measures very well.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb

And this is one way to do technology forecasting; get a sense of where technology is, and then anticipate the next upturn.
Chris Anderson

People think I'm strong as hard as I look. But I've a very sensitive side and need to be loved by everyone.
Brigitte Nielsen

Everyone in Hollywood thinks like a Republican fiscally by leaving town to shoot everything; they just don't vote that way.
Adam Carolla

I brought a lot of my own pieces of clothes to the design room when I first met with the design team just so they could see what my style was like.
Nastia Liukin

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...

It had to happen to me sometime: sooner or later, I would have to lose

sight of the cutting edge. That moment every technical person fears - the fall into knowledge exhaustion, obsolescence, techno-fuddy-duddyism - there was no reason to think I could escape it forever. Ellen Ullman Innovation and its allure can be dangerous. It can draw you away from the user, from the intended outcome, and may be the ultimate demise of otherwise great intentions. Mark Brand My voice is different, but I don't think I'm the only one with a different take on pop music. Charli XCX In South Africa, we drive on the left-hand side, and most of the cars are standard, so I learned with a full-gear transmission with a clutch and hill starts. I've never driven an automatic until I came to Canada. Jodi Balfour Mexico has 44 treaties with other countries that make it very advantageous to do international shipping from Mexico rather than from the United States. Wilbur Ross Winning HOYS set me up for the future and prepared me for riding in front of lots of ...

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...

We've got fifty people at Gitmo that are too dangerous to be let go that

will never go through a normal criminal trial. Let's create a new legal system, so they'll have their day in court. Lindsey Graham I am a living illustration of Bosnian mixing and converting. My grandparents lived in eastern Herzegovina. Very poor. The Turks came and brought Islam. There were three brothers in the family. One was Orthodox Christian. The other two took Islam to survive. Emir Kusturica I was a typical farm boy. I liked the farm. I enjoyed the things that you do on a farm, go down to the drainage ditch and fish, and look at the crawfish and pick a little cotton. Sam Donaldson You always have certain strengths and certain weaknesses, and you want to compensate for your weaknesses... I have a real duty to earn the trust of the faculty. I don't just deserve it. I have to earn it. Erskine Bowles The report of this made me exceedingly angry, for I could not see why information which a middle-class woman could get from her doctor should be withheld from ...

I left Mainz after 18 years and thought, 'Next time, I will work with a

little less of my heart.' I said that because we all cried for a week. The city gave us a goodbye party, and it lasted a week. Jurgen Klopp When I'm in sneakers, it changes my body carriage. I feel more in my own skin. Justin Peck Making a film - particularly what I think is a good film - is the result of a team of people, and the end result has many, many hands on it. Haskell Wexler People call me Swimone more than Simone now.... Not quite used to that yet! Simone Manuel I have an Indian father, and when you grow up in a house with an Indian father, culturally, that's what becomes dominant in the house. So that's the tradition we grew up with. Sarita Choudhury Phryne Fisher could walk down the red carpet; Essie Davis is something else. Essie Davis Sexual orientation, color, background - that's what I want people to take away: Anyone can be anything. Ashley Thomas A lot of times, if you stay in the present and focus on getting the most out of yo...

I was really interested in the way in which poverty and economic stagnation were

transforming and corrupting the American narrative. Lynn Nottage Different cultures produce a different 'cool.' And your perception of 'cool' changes depending on where you are. Labrinth I am trying every genre. Nawazuddin Siddiqui I want to expand jazz; I don't want to keep the audience limited. I want to reach people who have never come to a jazz concert before. One way to do that is by making records that have a lot of different kinds of music on them. Charlie Haden The first year I started liking the Dolphins was Super Bowl VI, which they lost to the Cowboys. I was 5. My whole family was pulling for the Cowboys, so I rooted for the Dolphins. They lost, and I cried. Darius Rucker I will work for Tina Fey forever. Tituss Burgess As a single guy, the baseline of what I needed was so low. I just needed an air mattress, food, and rent money. Hasan Minhaj I'm a small dog guy. I don't want to be pattin' with the big Rottweiler or Great Dane. I like those ...

I like characters like Ignatius Reilly in 'A Confederacy of Dunces' and Ricky Gervais's character

in 'The Office.' They think one thing about themselves, but the truth is as far from that as it can be. So I began to think about how to put that kind of character in a book for kids. Stephan Pastis Our Father and Our God, unto thee, O Lord we lift our souls. William Pennington A first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting. Abraham Maslow Achievements, seldom credited to their source, are the result of unspeakable drudgery and worries. Richard Wagner I have always said and felt that true enjoyment can not be described. Jean-Jacques Rousseau Designs in connection with postage stamps and coinage may be described, I think, as the silent ambassadors on national taste. William Butler Yeats I'm an expert at kissing girls necks, they love it. Girls say I'm quite sensitive, but I'm hyperactive too. Lee Ryan Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. Barry Goldwater There is ...

To do stories that I love, scripts that I love, and work with people who

are passionate about them and passionate about projects - whether that's on stage or television or film, that's the kind of environment I want to work in. Colin Morgan Even when I get dressed up to go out, I never use too much makeup. Ana Ivanovic I signed 'Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon' only for a year. But the producer requested me to stay on, as the show had just started to make money. I carried on, and in the process, the character became very popular. When I finally gave up, changing the actor for that character was difficult, so the show ended. Barun Sobti A lot of rappers don't have to go through what I had to go through as a singer. I was always in a bubble that they put me in, but I was always punching out. It was a tough line to walk. Mariah Carey I like trying different foods. I've done vegetarian stuff, and I've gone through meat phases, and then I do no bread, and then I eat bread. I'm really all over the place in the way a lot of a...