The strategy of my coach and me was that we looked at pictures

of all the best pole vaulters from around the world, and we took the best parts from them, and we created a person that had never existed. We then started to work toward being such a person.
Sergei Bubka

I have a completely addictive personality. Diet Coke is my last - God, I know people counting days off Diet Coke; I'm such a Diet Cokehead. Now I won't let myself buy it.
Mary Karr

Take a random selection of photographs of America in 2012 and 2002 and 1992 and, except for the skinny jeans and the porkpie hats, you'll be hard-pressed to tell the years in which the pictures were taken.
Graydon Carter

Trust me, I did not set out to establish three pen names and, for the record, I do not recommend it as a career strategy. The idea back at the start was that I would stick with the name that proved most successful.
Jayne Ann Krentz

I remember when I thought of singing as the bit that went between the guitar playing - something I couldn't wait to get out of the way. Singing was originally like a chore that I didn't really enjoy.
Eric Clapton

And for a very special group of people, we've provided their only job. I'm speaking of course of the disabled. They have stated they don't want a hand out just a hand. We are happy to give them one.
Carl Karcher

I don't spend that much time being introspective, believe it or not. All I know is that I grew up not questioning God because that's how you are. God was there like the birds and the wind.
Jane Goodall

Great leaders understand that historical success tends to produce stable and inwardly focused organizations, and these outfits, in turn, reinforce a feeling of contentment with the status quo.
John P. Kotter

I think documentaries are the greatest way to educate an entire generation that doesn't often look back to learn anything about the history that provided a safe haven for so many of us today.
Steven Spielberg

Gemeoss

Many believe - and I believe - that I have been designated for this work

by God. In spite of my old age, I do not want to give it up; I work out of love for God and I put all my hope in Him. Michelangelo The greatest problem all around the world today, whether in America, Japan, China Russia, India or anywhere else in the world, is that people are not in peace. People want peace. Prem Rawat Through selfless work, love of God grows in the heart. Then through his grace one realize him in course of time. God can be seen. One can talk to him as I am talking to you. Ramakrishna A wartime Minister of Information is compelled, in the national interest, to such continuous acts of duplicity that even his natural hair must grow to resemble a wig. Claud Cockburn I think she said I should seek help. Something like that, but it was in much cruder terms. And that I had a fascination with things coming out of people's mouths. Sam Raimi You know, if you're lucky enough to have two smash hit shows, the traffic of the world goes through your dressing r...

Early investment in the lives of disadvantaged children will help reduce inequality, in both the

short and the long run. James Heckman A lot of people, sometimes they're so stuck on, 'I gotta get married, I gotta get married.' They forget that the really important thing is to have a healthy home, a healthy family, a healthy environment for your kids and to have everything going in a good, peaceful way. Camila Alves There's no first impressions anymore. You go to a job interview, and they'll probably Google you. It's a shame - people should play it a little closer to the chest as far as what information they release to the world. If I'm angry about something, I'm not going to take to my Twitter. Patrick Stump I've always loved short stories. Even before I was a writer, I was reading short stories - there were certain writers where I just felt like they could do in a short story what so many writers needed a whole novel to do, and that was really inspiring to me. Molly Antopol I can't work all day and then go home and hang out with...

You know, we live in a time when if somebody wants to kill you, they're

going to kill you, and you can either go in a hole and, you know, pull the roof in over you, or you just continue putting one foot in front of the other and hope that you're doing some good in the world. Gene Robinson I grew up watching 'Superman.' As a child, when I first learned to dive into a swimming pool, I wasn't diving, I was flying, like Superman. I used to dream of rescuing a girl I had a crush on from a playground bully. Tom Hiddleston Honestly, when I had the idea to make 'An Inconvenient Truth,' and I was going out and raising the money, and I said, 'I want to make a movie about Al Gore's slide show, will you give me a million dollars?' People thought I was insane, looked at me cross-eyed. Lawrence Bender I came up from growing up with a lot of Catholic guilt, a lot of punk rock, hipster guilt in the later years where I think people have thrown a lot of things on me. Where I always felt like I'm not supposed to tell the horn ...

It's nice coming to Nashville, and we have four-bedroom house and a dog, and we

go swimming a lot. We get down here and spread out a lot, and I miss my sweet tea and my cornbread and my good southern cooking - but I'm down here eating pretty for two weeks and I'm ready to go back to New York City. Justin Townes Earle I hope everybody will go back to the negotiating table. I've always said this is the only way forward. Mohamed ElBaradei I'm the type of artist who touches people, that's the type of artist that I am. Jacob Lusk Writing is a fine therapy for people who are perpetually scared of nameless threats... for jittery people. William Styron Comedy wasn't something I chose - it chose me. Pauly Shore When I heard Aretha, I could feel her emotional delivery so clearly. It came from down deep within. That's what I wanted to do. Whitney Houston When I see old photos of me on the beach I don't look too bad... but it's hard trying to breathe in for such a long time when I spot the photographers! Gary Lineker St...

I think of basset hounds whenever I turn on my computer because I have photos

of them. And if I'm lucky, and I see one on the street, I know it's going to be a good day. They really are like a four-leaf clover. Julie Klausner The reason that Americans have not been able to see the great strategic benefit that could accrue from a closer relationship with Iran is emotion. Stephen Kinzer I love rings, but I can't wear them. I mean, look at my knuckles. My fingers and joints are so swollen from years of playing. That means no wedding band, either. Luckily, I have a very understanding wife. Justin Tuck Many objects of our three-dimensional perceptual world are not only chiral but appear in nature in two versions, related at least ideally, as a chiral object and its mirror image. Vladimir Prelog You can't underestimate rest. Sometimes in tennis we don't realize that to rest your body is as important as it is to practice. We are traveling so much, all year, in different conditions, different courts, different surfaces, different balls - ...

When I was 14, in Cuba, I met Fidel Castro with my dad, and it

was really impressive. And on a totally different level, I met Justin Timberlake! Dylan Penn I have family members that are bipolar. Trai Byers I'm a reluctant writer of non-fiction, in part because I don't really feel qualified. William Gibson The mark of all good art is not that the thing done is done exactly or finely, for machinery may do as much, but that it is worked out with the head and the workman's heart. Oscar Wilde I became fascinated by the fact that people write to give away rather than write to be read. It's the difference between playwrights and novelists. David Suchet People sometimes ask me to name the greatest coach in NFL history. George Halas may have set the standard, but Don Shula has won more games than anyone, and he has done it in the most competitive era. He had an incomparable ability to evaluate players, to motivate them, and to teach them the game of football. Marv Levy I just believe if you don't believe in God, then ...

Dancers use their bodies in extraordinary ways, so we are chronically pre-arthritic, because of how

we use our muscles and our bones. Judith Jamison I have always admired women that have a strong sense of self, complemented by femininity. I especially appreciate the presence of these women in traditionally male-dominated industries, such as real estate. Ivanka Trump They're trying to put data centers in cold environments because they're actually generating so much heat now; they're using up so much electricity. Rick Smolan We're all used to seeing pretty people. I want to see real people. Amy Sedaris The type of thing that one person would get mad at, another person would laugh at, is a good kind of zone to be in. Nathan Fielder I love performing in front of people, no matter where they come from or what language they speak. Juanes My father has always been interested in discarding the past. He's never much liked China or the whole idea behind China or Chinese ways of thinking. He's always been much more attracted to American ways of thinking...

Certain people are just saying, 'Look, I'm a businessperson and I have to run a

business effectively and I want people who are going to do the job, who have the training and the education and the personality traits - the soft skills.' William Julius Wilson I keep two sentimental mementos on my desk to remind me of two favorite men. There is an inkwell that my Uncle Seymour made, a brass grotesque he mounted on a marble base. And my grandfather's shaving cup is there, used to store pencils and pens. Scott Turow I kept on buying records and listening to them. Finally, I was able to hear the relationship between the jazz improvisers' solos and the underlying structure that it's based on, the chord progression. That was pretty easy to do in the swing era, y'know, when jazz was, like, pop music, you know. It had made the charts and everything like that. Harvey Pekar Anytime there is a new, interesting space that comes along, there are a bunch of companies that enter the market. Trip Adler There's no way in the world that the United S...

The writing is really important in books that affect me. I read for

the writing. The story is usually of less interest to me. It's the words that break your heart. James Salter Every view, and every object I studied attentively, by viewing them again and again on every side, for I was anxious to make a lasting impression of it on my imagination. Karl Philipp Moritz Some people come alive at night. I'm hopeless by 9 p.m. Coffee and Cadbury buy me an extra half hour. Often I can't get my clothes off I'm so far gone. Emily Mortimer People who say, 'Let the chips fall where they may,' usually figure they will not be hit by a chip. Bernard Williams In America today, the percentage of children and adolescents who are defined as overweight is more than double what it was in the early 1970s. Lois Capps Life is not about making dough or how many movies you can make in a year. It's about finding someone that you can share things with. Freddie Prinze, Jr. Cinematography is infinite in its possibilities... much more so...

I'm always amazed when a pitcher becomes angry at a hitter for hitting a home

run off him. When I strike out, I don't get angry at the pitcher, I get angry at myself. I would think that if a pitcher threw up a home run ball, he should be angry at himself. Willie Stargell All the world wondered as they witnessed... a people lift themselves from humiliation to the greatest pride. Corazon Aquino Man alone is born crying, lives complaining, and dies disappointed. Samuel Johnson How is the world ruled and led to war? Diplomats lie to journalists and believe these lies when they see them in print. Karl Kraus I am not drinking now but I cannot guarantee tomorrow. Kelly McGillis