By the time I was 10 or 12, I had discovered the lure of the

romance genre - and the dusty copy of 'The Thorn Birds' on my parents' bookshelf.
Sarah MacLean

In his musicals with Garland, Rooney was the sparkplug for prodigious entrepreneurship - that era's predecessor of the garage band, but with Gershwin tunes and an all-star cast.
Richard Corliss

If you're the water boiler king of China, you're selling a billion water boilers.
Kevin Kwan

I've read probably 25 or 30 books by Balzac, all of Tolstoy - the novels and letters - and all of Dickens. I learned my craft from these guys.
Twyla Tharp

Sex is the driving force on the planet. We should embrace it, not see it as the enemy.
Hugh Hefner

Jasmine is just the most delicate and beautiful scent.
Natalie Portman

An Op-Ed by a Republican criticizing the Democrats, or vice versa, is easy to come by and not that interesting. But a Democrat who takes issue with his or her party, or a Republican who does that, is more valuable.
Andrew Rosenthal

And after every audition I booked, my parents would buy me a Barbie, so that was it for me: You got a Barbie, and you got to hang out with friends. And I thought it was just the best thing ever.
Chelan Simmons

My physical transformations - like changing my hair - are usually a reflection of what's inspiring me at the moment.
Madonna Ciccone

There's a lot of activism that doesn't deal with empowerment, and you have to empower yourself in order to be relevant to any type of struggle.
Talib Kweli

Gemeoss

For those who are able to work, work has to be seen as the best

route out of poverty. For work is not just about more money - it is transformative. It's about taking responsibility for yourself and your family. Iain Duncan Smith I like making songs up. Whether or not they're great songs or good songs, whatever. It's something I've always done, and I definitely feel like I've gotten better at it. Jeff Tweedy It's interesting that so many books now are published as the first in a series. It never occurred to me. Although 'The Giver' does have an ambiguous ending. I've heard about that from readers over the years. Lois Lowry I no longer buy papers or tabloids or magazines or read blogs. I used to. But it was just filling up my day with hatred. Adele When I get dolled up to go out, men turn their heads and I'm used to it. But I think all women are sexy and should embrace that side of themselves. Malin Akerman With fitness, I do Bikrams hot yoga. The gym that I have in my building is amazing. I love...

The more living patterns there are in a place - a room, a building, or

a town - the more it comes to life as an entirety, the more it glows, the more it has that self-maintaining fire which is the quality without a name. Christopher Alexander As far as loneliness, I feel Los Angeles and its layout, having to drive everywhere - it is a lonely place. It's an isolated city in that respect because you're driving to places alone listening to the radio. Jason Schwartzman I mean, people who say that the Tea Party isn't a grassroots movement, I think, are incorrect. I think in some respects, it is a grassroots movement. Matt Taibbi I see couples fighting about the stupidest things. You just have to rise above everything. Sammy Hagar Making choices that improve things for all of us on the planet is an act of compassion, a simple act we can do any time we go shopping. Daniel Goleman I can't stand the kind of paralysis that some people fall into because they're not happy with the choices they've made. Hillary Clinton As a ki...

I once interviewed David Herbert Donald, the Lincoln historian, and we talked about how one

deals with the secondary sources and the previous biographies. He said something which kept coming back to me as I worked on Cleopatra, which was: 'There's no further new material; there are only new questions.' Stacy Schiff Music - opera particularly - is a process which is endurable or successful only if it is achieved by people who love to collaborate. Sarah Caldwell I tend to overthink things. I'm not the guy who screams 'This is a world smash!' when I finish a song. Bruno Mars You know, nobody can ever cook as good as your mama. Paula Deen Laws are generally not understood by three sorts of persons, viz, by those who make them, by those who execute them, and by those who suffer if they break them. George Savile I love being in a courtroom. Kamala Harris Passive fatalism can never be the role of a revolutionary party, like the Social Democracy. Karl Liebknecht Short as life is, we make it still shorter by the careless waste of time. Vic...

If you wish to draw off the people from a bad or wicked custom, you

must beat up for a march; you must make an excitement, do something that everybody will notice. Lewis Tappan The lawlessness of frontier life in America has been pictured as a remarkable phenomenon. In reality, it was the natural consequence of indiscriminate mixing of volatile substances. Paul Harris Cursed be he above all others Who's enslaved by love of money. Money takes the place of brothers, Money takes the place of parents, Money brings us war and slaughter. Anacreon I can't get my head around the fact that the technology of the first two movies, which are forty years prior to Star Wars, is so much better than any technology they had in Star Wars! David Prowse Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude. Denis Waitley The two big advantages I had at birth were to have been born wise and to have been born in poverty. Sophia Loren Experience ...

While women certainly have made great strides toward pay parity in the past 30 years,

there is still a gap in earnings between men and women in equivalent professions. Ginny Brown-Waite I suddenly saw that all the time it was not I who had been seeking God, but God who had been seeking me. I had made myself the centre of my own existence and had my back turned to God. Bede Griffiths I like reading Ball Tongue lyrics and all that stuff. And they published a book, and I wouldn't give my lyrics, and it's all wrong in the book, and I giggle. It's funny. Jonathan Davis The bulk of my set is instrumental and you have to give yourself and the audience some relief because a performance is not about great guitar playing it's really about entertainment. Leo Kottke Put your nose into the Bible everyday. It is your spiritual food. And then share it. Make a vow not to be a lukewarm Christian. Kirk Cameron When I left school I was full of angst, like any teenager, and I channeled it all into comedy. Matt Lucas Some people obtain fame, others deserve ...

No one wants to see a person on TV who's super-ultra-cool. That's Superman, that's a

thing of the past. Heroes are now flawed, and have terrible tempers, you know? They're real people. Nathan Fillion The book is a dialogue between The Dalai Lama and a group of scientists about how we can better handle our destructive emotions and how to overcome them. Daniel Goleman Third, we could, while denouncing them both as illegal, have acquiesced in them both and thus remained neutral with both sides, although not agreeing with either as to the righteousness of their respective orders. George William Norris If a D.C. event doesn't have crab cakes, it's low-rent and you need to flee. Tony Hale As someone who has lived the nightmare of losing a child, I know that the enormous hole left behind remains forever. Ann Hood What is the system? It revolves around the banks, the system is built on the power of the banks, so it can be destroyed through the banks. Eric Cantona It's interesting as one grows older to keep in touch with the cutting edge. Faye...

I was fortunate to have had a lively, happy childhood, but somewhere along the way

I convinced myself I wasn't wanted anywhere or by anyone if I wasn't thin. Lucy Davis WWE asked me to be in the Hall of Fame, and I turned it down. You know why? They put Pete Rose in the wrestling Hall of Fame. This guy can't even get into his own Hall of Fame. Mr. T Credit markets were originally created to serve human needs; to provide businesses and individuals with capital to start or expand businesses or fulfill other financial needs. Muhammad Yunus I'm not somebody who likes to show off my cleavage, and I don't dress up for the papers. Louise Nurding The reviewers tear me apart. I bleed. I'm a favorite target. They go along for six months looking at movies, praying for rain, and then a new Sandra Dee movie comes out, and their eyes open, and they lick their lips. Before they've ever seen it. Sandra Dee I personally do not find puke funny. I find it disgusting. Lucy Punch I don't live a lie. You have to understand that people who ...

In his second Inaugural Address, on March 5, 1821, Monroe admitted at last to a

general depression of prices, but only as a means of explaining the great decline in the federal revenue. Despite this, he asserted that the situation of America presented a 'gratifying spectacle.' Murray Rothbard My mission is to support our service members. They're volunteers, and if they're going to go to a hostile place like Afghanistan, I think we owe it to them to back them up and try to help them get through it. Gary Sinise I lived in Cuba - I was there for one year in the 1950s. We built the famous nightclub, which is still there, Tropicana, and a restaurant, Montecatini, that I opened is still there. I was there when the U.S. ambassador said everyone must leave because Castro was arriving the next morning. Sirio Maccioni Facebook is looking to help you distribute content to who you want to distribute to. Facebook gets a lot better if you put each of your friends into either your 'close friend' or 'acquaintance' list. Robert Scoble I ...

Warhol's images made sense to me, although I knew nothing at the time of his

background in commercial art. To be honest, I didn't think about him a hell of a lot. Barbara Kruger I visited the Chinese side last year. The Chinese are in a constant state of military readiness. They have all their nuclear weapons in the area, presumably trained on targets across the border. Harrison Salisbury The fundamental sense of freedom is freedom from chains, from imprisonment, from enslavement by others. The rest is extension of this sense, or else metaphor. Isaiah Berlin The upside to smoking is that you get to be social. I was looking for a light when I bumped into Ben Harper's manager. A couple of days later, Ben and I were in the studio. Beth Orton Today it is becoming harder to speak out, with the inception of the Patriot Act, the president has legislated free speech to be a crime. Frank Serpico I have only one eye, I have a right to be blind sometimes... I really do not see the signal! Horatio Nelson Truth is a thing immortal and perpetual, an...

There's this wonderful first assistant and he'll be saying, 'Now Harry goes down among the

dragons.' You have to hold yourself together. Because if you lose it for a second then you're sunk. Maggie Smith We believe we've got the skill base and the techniques to supply the chips that really enable the end manufacturers to develop exciting, innovative products themselves. David Milne Oscar Wilde said the rich and the poor are equal - they can both sleep under the bridge. Right? Do they have a right? You're damn right they have a right! Al Lewis If we'd have said we were not upset, they would have thought we were so rich it meant nothing to us, and if we say we're upset about it, they'll say money is all we care about. John Bonham We... are not really free if we can't control our own government and its policies. And we will never do that if we remain ignorant. Charley Reese Our universities and museums are respected around the country. Jane Byrne George W. Bush bought the election - period. End of story. There is no argument. Yo...