In the last five or six thousand years, empires one after another have arisen, waxed

powerful by wars of conquest, and fallen by internal revolution or attack from without.
John Boyd Orr

It's perfectly okay if you don't understand every single one of them. For one thing, I make a lot of corny jokes, and you have to be 40 years old to get some of them.
Brian P. Cleary

Well, Freddie Mercury is a really huge rock star in my head. I've always thought he was just so tough and such an amazing entertainer, really a contradiction in many ways as well. So he was incredible.
Karen O

Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.
Abraham Lincoln

A person who learns to juggle six balls will be more skilled than the person who never tries to juggle more than three.
Marilyn vos Savant

I deal with guys in their 20s and early 30s who are presidents of companies, who are movie directors.
Peter Criss

When I began, I thought that the way one should work was to do all the research and then write the book.
David McCullough

Inequality of any kind, once considered a normal, natural part of human existence, came to be seen in the course of the twentieth century as increasingly illegitimate.
Michael Mandelbaum

The Communists automatically violated the daily practices of democracy to which I was accustomed.
Elia Kazan

In reality there is no such thing as an inflation of prices, relatively to gold. There is such a thing as a depreciated paper currency.
Lysander Spooner

Gemeoss

That's what I think our jobs as parents are, to educate as much as possible...

I tell them to follow their bliss. The people who follow their bliss in this world tend to be the more happier people. Art Alexakis The only time I waste is time I spend doing something that, in my gut, I know I shouldn't. If I choose to spend time playing video games or sleeping in, then it's time well spent, because I chose to do it. I did it for a reason - to relax, to decompress or to feel good, and that was what I wanted to do. Simon Sinek Meat workers may have been looked down upon socially, but at least they were well-paid and were a fit and lively bunch as a result of hard, honest physical work. Michael Leunig I decided that I wanted a farm back in 1940 when I was with the Dodgers. I tried to find one within commuting distance of New York. Larry MacPhail Oh God, are you supposed to collect things? I don't collect things. I like throwing things away. Caitlin Moran My first phone was two tin cans tied together with string, and it worked pretty good. Do...

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...

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...

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...

Mother always said that even when I was 3, I used to get the 6- and 7-year-old kids on

the block and punch them and say, 'Listen to me.' Shirley Chisholm One thing that has become abundantly clear to me as I have advocated for the health and well-being of girls and women over the years is the innate power we each have within us to establish deep connection with one another and heal ourselves simply by sharing our stories. Christy Turlington I'd go into the woods to look for the witches, the mythical beings. Anya Taylor-Joy The league is changing, and we don't have many back-to-the-basket players. We now have a game that requires skill and versatility. A lot of that is about being able to think. It makes all the difference in the world to have a player in there with a high basketball IQ who can make the right decision. Jerry West My parents came from working-class, small-peasant, farm-labourer backgrounds and had made the grade during the fascist years; my father came out of the army as a captain. W. G. Sebald The peasant must always be helped technicall...

I object to the actual phrase 'Follow me.' You've gotta be kidding! Why would I

want to follow anybody else? Nor do I want them to follow me. The machinations of my life, the banalities - they're mine. They belong to me. Holly Hunter I think it's important to say that I am genuinely thankful for the time at Bellator. Eddie Alvarez The future of screens isn't about the iPad. It's much, much bigger. Mary Lou Jepsen When you are a kid, you are beset by fears, and you think, 'I'll solve the fear by living forever and becoming a movie star.' William Hurt We share a common planet, and the world has learned the hard way that we have to get along and work together. We have learned, too, that cooperation can benefit all. Joseph Stiglitz I love the process of making a movie so much as an actor that I can only imagine I would love the process of being the director. Tom Holland To win the nomination, you speak to people who vote in Republican primaries. And they tend not to be millennials or minorities... When I win the nomination...

Man, anytime the ball goes through the basket. It doesn't matter if it's a jumper

or a drive. Any time the ball goes through the basket, and it's going through consistently, it's demoralizing for any opponent. Dwyane Wade When taxpayers are subsidizing low wages, people should be aware of that. We're subsidizing an economy. We're not subsidizing people. They are doing a hard day's work. When we're not rewarding work actively, there's something wrong with the system. Nancy Pelosi When a writer makes something, it's theirs forever. That is the magic for me. Ellen Gallagher Mayors of New York have been elected not because of their party label, but because of their philosophy and their approach overall, and that has been since time immemorial in New York, that people are not party-oriented in New York. Joe Lhota I'm personally attracted to great writing - that's what turns me on the most. Michael Mando Music is the medium that has taken me around the world, and I would be lying if I said I could live without music. ...

The class has become over the years fairly large, running to three hundred or more,

but I always insist upon reading all the student folklore collections myself. Although this is a tall order, I look forward to it because I learn so much from it. Alan Dundes I'd like to thank the BBC for allowing me to work here. And I'd like to thank the wife and kids for making it necessary. Les Dawson Many slaves on this continent are oppressed, and their cries have reached the ears of the Most High. Such are the purity and certainty of his judgments, that he cannot be partial in our favor. John Woolman A talent somewhat above mediocrity, shrewd and not too sensitive, is more likely to rise in the world than genius. Charles Horton Cooley I didn't really want to act. Gerard Depardieu discovered me when I was 14 and asked if I wanted to make movies and I said, 'Why not?' Melanie Laurent People think when you have a, quote, 'bank failure,' that that is the end of the bank. And it isn't necessarily. Michele Bachmann Some broad themes br...