A common defense among obituary-fanciers such as myself is that the obit is not about

death at all. It is about life. This is true since an article about the condition of deadness would make for turgid reading at best.
Tom Rachman

The thing about being an outsider... is that it teaches you to hear what people are thinking because you're constantly looking for the people who just don't give a damn.
Mike Nichols

Do it, do it right, pay close attention to the product, and over time, you will win.
Mickey Drexler

Labor has a proud history of tackling discrimination and introducing important social reform.
Lara Giddings

When I was a child, it was cool to be a scientist.
Michio Kaku

I have always loved blizzards, if only because of the driving experience - which is definitely an acquired taste.
Hunter S. Thompson

If you just, pretty much, take a random 15-month-old, just sit and watch them for 10 minutes and count out how many experiments, how much thinking you see going on, and it will put the most brilliant scientist to shame.
Alison Gopnik

Chemistry is so important and so unpredictable. Sometimes you get in a room with someone where aesthetically you make perfect sense as a couple, and then you read, and you're both kind of sitting there like, 'This isn't working for some strange reason; it just doesn't really pop.'
Margot Robbie

For many years, we have repeated that the direct-to-consumer channel is growing and capturing a larger share of our customers' wallet.
Richard Hayne

I wasn't predicted to be anything. I just followed an inner spirit, and it put me in the right place and the right time. I didn't want to be the mayor of Atlanta. I didn't want to run for Congress. I didn't want to work for Martin Luther King Jr. I wanted to work close to him and be a writer and write about the movement.
Andrew Young

Gemeoss

Sisters are always drying their hair. Locked into rooms, alone, they pose at the mirror,

shoulders bare, trying this way and that their hair, or fly importunate down the stair to answer the telephone. Phyllis McGinley When our Lord says, we must be converted and become as little children, I suppose he means also, that we must be sensible of our weakness, comparatively speaking, as a little child. George Whitefield There's no dancing girls. We're kinda like secondary to the thing. It's a story about these two guys that are in love with this one girl and how it unfolds and what happens. Eric Carr There are men who would quickly love each other if once they were speak to each other; for when they spoke they would discover that their souls had only separated by phantoms and delusions. Ernest Hello If you believe you can, you probably can. If you believe you won't, you most assuredly won't. Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad. Denis Waitley Sanity calms, but madness is more interesting. John Russell If there is...

I remember, for the first time, sitting down and consuming books in a matter of

hours. This was such a new experience for me because reading, up until that point, had been such a struggle and source of stress. I think I just needed to find the right kind of stories with which I could identify. John Corey Whaley Having children showed me a whole different kind of love that I had never known. It was something that had always been missing. Complete love. I would die for them. Scott Weiland If I hadn't won at the Worlds and claimed so many ranking points, I would have been struggling for Rio. I'm in a good place now, though, and having the chance to fight for gold in Rio after everything I've been through would be a dream. Bianca Walkden To me, it is like a diabetic with insulin. If that diabetic stops taking insulin, they will die, and I believe that if I don't follow the 12-step programme, I will regress, and that could eventually be the death of me. Trinny Woodall There are maybe 100 actors I look up to, but my first two favourite actors...

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...

Our present nuclear fusion reactors are classified by the methods used to support the nuclear

fusion reaction, which takes place at a temperature much hotter than the surface of the Sun. Wilson Greatbatch Going to a grammar school, you mixed with all sorts of different types and I used to listen to how they talked. When I did my imitations, I could sound like someone really rough, or I could sound like a cabinet minister. Steve Coogan When there's a terrible illness like AIDS sweeping through, you help people. Bernadette Peters I love myself. Anything that has my name I'm tickled to death. Barbara Corcoran My career in racing started at a very young age in California. Jeff Gordon People who believe in flying saucers are the scrapings from the bottom. Nigel Kneale Children often have a much stronger concept of morality than adults. Nina Bawden Most politicians aren't allowed to express themselves any more. Ken Livingstone I'm pretty good with not being afraid to just go up to people and introduce myself. Elle Fanning I just keep it simp...

In order to be an actor you really have to be one of those types

of people who are risk-takers and have what is considered an actor's arrogance, which is not to say an arrogance in your personal life. But you have to be the type of person who wants the ball with seconds left in the game. Bryan Cranston One principle I've been fighting for that doesn't endear me to a lot of people is that black people can be just as complicated and screwed up as white people. Our motives can be just as base and violent. Suffering does not necessarily ennoble you. Henry Louis Gates I did have reconstructive plastic surgery and a tummy tuck. And from hip to hip, there's a very big scar. It looks better than it did... So I say, if you don't like that skin, have it removed. This is my advice: if you're gonna do it - just go for it. Carnie Wilson But what is striking about this, in a town that often talks about tax cuts, we could quite easily, Republicans and Democrats working together, do something that everybody in America desires, and t...

I basically have needed to go to the piano and give voice periodically to, you

know - I'm always afraid to describe it as a kind of therapeutic process, but nevertheless it was a type of unloading that had to occur due to my personal life with my mother's health or just my professional trials and tribulations. Rufus Wainwright Retailing has gone from an information-scarce to an information-rich environment. Erik Brynjolfsson It is the goal of the American university to be the brains of the republic. Johan Huizinga Let me just say, I've seen a pub or two. Don Johnson Despite our differences, I know that both Republicans and Democrats love America. Marco Rubio The purest expression of the doctrine of Liberalism was probably that of Benjamin Constant. Francis Parker Yockey People care about my fame, not me. But that's fine. I have my own life. Josh Hartnett If we wish our state's growth to continue, then our future will increasingly be with industries that require a highly skilled and technically proficient workforce. Jay We...

I haven't always acted or reacted in a way that made me proud,

but I didn't make that same mistake twice, and I think that's what I love about adversity is that it always reminds me of what's really valuable in life. Sandra Bullock Many of the crew members I work with and continue to work with were friends or have become close friends, and so we keep working together. And I like casting friends of mine or people I know in parts I know would be perfect for them. I like to bring things and people that mean something to me in to my work. Noah Baumbach I've had shows as a painter, as a photographer, I've done shows as a sculptor. I've done a lot of different things and it all comes from experiences that you have in your life, in your creative environment. They all help - I don't even know if they help; maybe they make it worse but they all influence each other, for sure. Norman Reedus It's very different working with all adults. I have a swear jar so that, if they have a potty mouth, I make them pay. That's...

It is time that we provide clarity for our seniors, informing them of the services

available that will lower the costs of their prescription drugs and strengthen the overall integrity of the Medicare entitlement. Olympia Snowe The view of the local scene through the eyes of a native participant in that scene is a different window. Kenneth L. Pike Money costs too much. Ross MacDonald Beauty is only skin deep, but it's a valuable asset if you're poor or haven't any sense. Vernon Howard She put her hands around the neck of our production manager, and you know, started to choke him. David Gest How vain, without the merit, is the name. Homer I fell off stage and bruised some ribs. The worst part was that the audience didn't realize I was gone. Richard Marx

There is a great suspicion of saying that anyone, especially a child, is 'the product

of destiny,' or 'formed by fate,' or 'predestined for a certain life.' I am suspicious, too, of efforts to cage children or adults in preconceived ideas of who they are or should be. Michael Gurian I'm drawn to almost any piece of writing with the words 'divine love' and 'impeachment' in the first sentence. But I know the word 'divine' makes many progressive people run screaming for their cute little lives, and so one hesitates to use it. Anne Lamott Music is great; it all depends on what mood you're in, what you want to listen to. If it's party time, you listen to, you know, party music, if you want to dance with somebody. But then again, if it's a slow dance, you need something slow. Tom Jones Cars have a large engine in the front and you have a gearbox, which is cumbersome. Electric cars don't have this problem. The motor is much smaller, the battery is below you. This will allow you to play with different shap...

By the time I land in Iowa, I feel like my mind is more open

to the reality of being back home and focusing on the problems of the people in my district. Bruce Braley How many artists subscribe to the notion that creative success depends on input from the fickle muse or her modern avatar, mental illness? Probably very few. Kathryn Harrison Before I was on 'Idol,' I just sat at home and played video games all day long. Now I get to travel and work towards my dream. It's the best feeling ever. Jessica Sanchez Harvard was also a little bit of a villain in my first book, 'The Dante Club.' I guess there might be a way to make Harvard more of a sympathetic presence, but it's such a powerful institution that it more naturally lends itself toward not necessarily a negative but an obstructionist element in a story. Matthew Pearl I've always been interested in invisible worlds, and I like to visit digital worlds, you know, any world that's imposed on us. Leos Carax I try to take normal things - whether it...