Most fourth graders can't say why Abraham Lincoln is an important historical figure? Wow. This

is far more distressing than if the news had been that fourth graders were bad at reciting multiplication tables, because you can, in fact, Google that.
Susan Orlean

Some months ago, while I was preparing a new work, I told a young cinema executive my intention of including in a soundtrack two themes from Bach. But when he asked me which has been the last hit from that Bach?, then I knew that I had no longer place in cinema.
Maurice Jarre

I was, like, forty at birth. When I wasn't even a year old, I spoke, I was potty trained, I walked and talked. That was it. Then I started school and drove everybody crazy because they realized I had popped out as an adult. I had adult questions and wanted adult answers.
Sharon Stone

I really want it to have an impact on the world. I want to be in a town on the other side of the world, and somebody walks up and says, 'That music you made in Glasgow, I listened to it every day, and it moved me.'
Alex Kapranos

I'm old enough, by a long shot, to remember going to the library and spending days researching. If I was looking for a line from a poem or something else I needed, that would be the trip I would have to take.
Charlie Kaufman

Whether you're an opera singer, a legislator or customer service operator, there is a way that we can find common ground with our audience - be they young or old, Democrats or Republicans, rich or poor, religious or secular.
Charity Sunshine Tillemann-Dick

The greatest fear that haunts this city is a suitcase bomb, nuclear or germ. Many people carry small gas masks. The masses here seem to be resigned to the inevitable, believing an attack of major proportions will happen.
David Wilkerson

Gemeoss

When my grandfather was born, there was no healthcare. There were no airplanes.

There were no boats. There were no trains. There were no communications. No Internet. No widespread knowledge. It will be a completely different world but a much better place in a hundred years. Jamie Dimon This is sports. In sports, you win and you lose. That's the nature of sports. You can't get away from that part of it. And if you get too hung up on the losing part, then you miss the boat. The competition part, a game like that, is why you play sports. That is as good as it gets. David Robinson Climate change is a global crisis - one the international community and private sector must tackle together if we have any hope of averting the worst impacts on our health, our economies, and our communities. Tom Steyer I'm set in my own ways. I like to do the things I want to do when I want to do them. Dennis Farina I don't imagine myself, my work, or my life, fitting into any kind of standardized path. In fact, the idea of there even being a standard freaks me out a lot. ...

I love the way this sport has evolved and impacted every segment of society.

Now you have cross training and weight training in every sport and from middle school kids to senior citizens. Lee Haney People make a mistake thinking that two people with identical mindset gel well. Gautam Gambhir If money is tight, or you're on a limited budget, then consider DIY or used gifts. DIY could be something like baked goods for your friends, family, and neighbors. Plus, if you have children, it's a great activity to do with them during the holidays. John Rampton The custom of clasping hands is thought to date back thousands of years, as proof of not holding any weapons. Faith Salie I believe in term limits. I believe the country would be hugely better off if we had more turnover in Congress. Bill Flores When we demand Woman Suffrage, we can only do so on the ground, not that it should be a right attached to the possession of a certain amount of property, but that it should be inherent in the woman herself. Clara Zetkin I stopped acting a long time ago and my prim...

Having kids has been great for me. I have two beautiful step- kids, as well

as my own new daughter. They've really helped me to keep my feet firmly on the ground, and life is good. I feel like I'm the luckiest guy here. Matt LeBlanc I think playing somebody who's schizophrenic is such a lesson as an actor. It gets you totally out of your comfort zone, because you can't rely on your technique, your external stuff. You've really gotta look inward, in a way. Matt Dillon I grew up in the Methodist church and taught Sunday school, and one of my favorite passages of scripture is, 'in as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.' Matthew 25:40. Elizabeth Warren Every actor I ever meet goes, 'Ultimately I plan on having my own company and write and direct,' but yes, I too would love to write and direct a movie. I want to do a play, too. I want to do it all. Jason Schwartzman If the people in the audience are talking, you're being ignored. If the people are gazing at ...

We were asked to believe that the variety and the novelty of even the crude

films of the early days would provide a means of entertainment which would cut out the stage. Ivor Novello Clearly, programming courses should teach methods of design and construction, and the selected examples should be such that a gradual development can be nicely demonstrated. Niklaus Wirth Why do you have to translate and decode things? Just let the image be. It will have a special kind of reality that it won't once it's decoded. Laurie Anderson Science, for hundreds of years, has spanned the differences between cultures and between countries. Laurel Clark Whatever I write, no matter how gray or dark the subject matter, it's still going to be a comic novel. John Irving I've never done an action show, really. On 'Jericho,' other people got to ride horses and shoot guns, but I never did. Sprague Grayden I'm obviously not a rapper, and I don't have any claims to be one, really. Al Yankovic I love the fact that I can go out there on ...

In open range fires it is about picking a spot and hoping it is the

right location. At the head of the fire you have to worry about wind and humidity and a number of other factors. John Glover I'd rather make an interesting film that gets people talking, that maybe some people hate, than make the kind of 'entertaining' film that everyone feels ambivalent about. Emily Browning Canon is basically a very aggressive company. Our company works on competitive principles. It does not treat people equally, but it does treat them fairly. Fujio Mitarai I didn't have any success in show business until I was 30 to 31 years of age. Adam Carolla I very much faced my mother's death with hard, arduous and time-consuming labor. The more I would do, the less I would feel. Rufus Wainwright You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions. Naguib Mahfouz Let there be no mistake. A gay man alone could never begin to replicate the inner workings of the female mind. Michael Patrick...

The high point was that the people are really nice - despite the crazy politics

- and I loved being there. The hardest part was knowing some of the things I was probably going to write about Texas would make those nice people very unhappy. Gail Collins When Shakespeare begins his exposition thus he generally at first makes people talk about the hero, but keeps the hero himself for some time out of sight, so that we await his entrance with curiosity, and sometimes with anxiety. Andrew Coyle Bradley No, I tell you what I like is having the play close after a decent run and looking back on it and saying, yes, I did that, and wasn't it wonderful? Because while you're doing it, it is really tough. It is so hard. Mary Tyler Moore My upbringing was middle-class but my parents' families were both working-class so I had this odd combination of working-class background but in a privileged position. Denise Mina I think I come from a time when all the artists I grew up with and I loved always used to try and push the boundaries, and there doesn't s...

I served seven years as the chair of the Princeton economics department where I had

responsibility for major policy decisions, such as whether to serve bagels or doughnuts at the department coffee hour. Ben Bernanke Head Start is designed to ensure that all children - regardless of their family's income, race, or ethnic background - are able to enter kindergarten ready to learn. Lucille Roybal-Allard There was a time when meanings were focused and reality could be fixed; when that sort of belief disappeared, things became uncertain and open to interpretation. Bridget Riley The big risk to British lives in 2013 is in Afghanistan. Our troops, diplomats and aid workers have made a big contribution there. But while there is an end date for Western engagement, 2014, there isn't a proper end game. David Miliband Every president becomes a caricature. The press, partisans, late-night shows, and other arbiters of our culture these days boil down complicated and multi-faceted personalities into one-dimensional punchlines. Mark McKinnon My chefs don't ...

Came to acting pretty late. It looked wonderful, but I guess I was intimidated by my father.

I look a bit like him, and he was so much bigger than life and so great, it took me a bit longer than most people to have enough confidence in myself. Miguel Ferrer The mind starts to do things that you didn't even realize it could do. I suppose it's the manipulation. I suppose it's the sense of power, the center of attention, and the me-ism. And performers have to have that. Johnny Carson Consumer behaviour changes in a glacial fashion. John Quelch The Singaporean speculative tradition is different. Singapore doesn't conceive itself as the centre of the world or the one country that's going to save the world, so there's a different tone that comes out in the way speculative fiction is done. That's refreshing to read. Ken Liu In whatever guise - our own daily nightmares of war, intolerance, inhumanity or the struggles of an Assistant Pig-Keeper against the Lord of Death - the problems are agonizingly familiar. And an openness to compassion, love, and mercy...

I certainly didn't say while writing 'Gossip Girl,' 'Oh this is going to

be big!' It was really like, 'Oh god, everyone's gong to hate these people! They're so bratty!' But I actually think what is so appealing about them is the humor in them. Cecily von Ziegesar I've had meetings with Fidel Castro. I've had meetings with Kim Il-Sung. I've had meetings with other dictators. I've met with the Butcher of Beijing. You know, I think it's important to hear, you know, each other's perspective. Gary Ackerman I've had over a dozen models come in and pose fro me live for these new Cirque pieces. Cirque is a world-wide phenomenon and they are just incredible athletes. I've been to all the performances and am really fascinated by all of their productions. Richard MacDonald I wasn't the best in my class at the Royal Academy. There was a really good soprano and baritone who were technically better and are doing really well in opera now. But I was definitely the best mezzo-soprano in my class, because I was...