One of the ridiculous aspects of being a poet is the huge gulf between how

seriously we take ourselves and how generally we are ignored by everybody else.
Billy Collins

Americans rightly, but sometimes excessively, celebrate every person in uniform as a hero, but seldom honor the difficult and often dangerous work being done day after day by members of our diplomatic corps. Warriors capture the popular imagination more easily than peacemakers.
David Horsey

I still have a lot of military contacts, and friends and readers who've served or are serving, and they react really strongly to G.I. Joe. I've lost count of the number who've said, 'Oh, I just loved it as a kid. I had all the figures; it really made me think.'
Karen Traviss

Never have a picture of a well-adjusted African on the cover of your book, or in it, unless that African has won the Nobel prize.
Binyavanga Wainaina

I'm not superstitious at all. I'm not a Russian.
Chelsea Handler

Living in New York, for me at least, just keeps it very real and keeps my feet firmly planted on the ground.
Tamara Tunie

Small aim is a crime; have great aim.
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

I won't look online. The whole fan thing makes me self-conscious, which is not to say I don't appreciate it or understand it. If Mickey Mantle were around, I'm sure I'd have a ton of questions to ask him that might make him uncomfortable. I get it. That doesn't mean it's not really awkward.
David Duchovny

I feel that a lot of sexy people never say that they are sexy.
Romeo Miller

In the late 20th century, it became possible to travel between cultures, between the old world and the new, with great ease. So when you go back, you take the changed person with you who, in turn, changes things that otherwise might have stayed the same.
Shyam Selvadurai

Gemeoss

This battle for 'common-sense' gun control laws pits emotion and passion against logic and reason.

All too often in such a contest, logic loses. So, expect more meaningless, if not harmful, 'gun control' legislation. Good news - if you're a crook. Larry Elder I drive a lot. Just for pleasure. Sometimes I'll get in the Cadillac and drive around the city or the country, kind of trying to get lost basically. Y'know, just see where roads lead. Frank Black You and I will meet again, When we're least expecting it, One day in some far off place, I will recognize your face, I won't say goodbye my friend, For you and I will meet again. Tom Petty We must dare to think 'unthinkable' thoughts. We must learn to explore all the options and possibilities that confront us in a complex and rapidly changing world. J. William Fulbright Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose - a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye. Mary Shelley Never make friends with people who are above or below you in status. Such fr...

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...

It's a different thing playing in a smaller venue where you can actually see people's

faces and reactions. It's so much more intimate. You walk away with a more personal experience. Jann Klose I love the theater. I love being on stage; I love the live audience. I also love dressing up and all of the make-believe. Nicole Ari Parker This is sort of not expected, but I would love to produce a record for Missy Elliott. It would be totally different, but she makes party music. 'Lose Control' was my favorite song when I was in 5th or 6th grade. Ansel Elgort I sculpted for four or five years. Mostly for my own amusement, I decided to do a picture book, and that was kind of a turning point. Chris Van Allsburg Circumstances in life often take us places that we never intended to go. We visit some places of beauty, others of pain and desolation. Kristin Armstrong I like John McCain. He can always be counted on for a good quote. Ted Cruz Practices such as arranged marriages and restrictions on girls attending school have deep roots, and changing them i...

Unlike any other visual image, a photograph is not a rendering, an imitation or an

interpretation of its subject, but actually a trace of it. No painting or drawing, however naturalist, belongs to its subject in the way that a photograph does. John Berger Death is the liberator of him whom freedom cannot release, the physician of him whom medicine cannot cure, and the comforter of him whom time cannot console. Charles Caleb Colton I live by a man's code, designed to fit a man's world, yet at the same time I never forget that a woman's first job is to choose the right shade of lipstick. Carole Lombard It is absolutely imperative that we protect, preserve and pass on this genetic heritage for man and every other living thing in as good a condition as we received it. David R. Brower I don't have the insight with the Longhorns that I do with the two teams that I own, but as a fan and reading the sports pages, I'm bullish about the Longhorns. Tom Hicks The more liberty you give away the more you will have. Robert Green Ingersoll My bo...

Our cautious ancestors, when yawning, blocked the way to the entrance of evil spirits by

putting their hands before their mouths. We find a reason for the gesture in the delicacy of manner which forbids an indecent exposure. George Herbert Mead The quest for riches darkens the sense of right and wrong. Antiphanes The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness. Honore de Balzac The best way out of a difficulty is through it. Will Rogers Slot machines are like crack for old people. Keenen Ivory Wayans Rastafari not a culture, it's a reality. Bob Marley There is more criticism of puritanism, and more distance from Christian morality, than there has been before. Susie Bright

Sometimes film is just the family business. Some families are generations of carpenters or farmers,

or they make clothes, or they're all lawyers. I'm in the family business. Danny Huston With whom do you argue? With a woman, of course. Not with a friend, because he accepted all your defects the moment he found you. Besides, woman is mother-have we forgotten? Marcello Mastroianni I know where I'm going and I have told the French. I am sure if hope is there, we will be able to put France back on its feet... to live better in five years than we do today. Francois Hollande My dad's sense of humor was direct and sometimes surreal - his quick wit is well known amongst our family and friends. He raised me on Spike Jones records and W.C. Fields movies, and his sense of humor fell somewhere in between. Tony Visconti As many will remember, a respected Army Corps economist filed a whistleblower complaint about the Corps' use of faulty data to justify lock and dam expansion. Ron Kind I actually think that the dotting of the i's and the crossing of the t...

Hosting is work. It means you don't get to go up to your room and

disappear and take a nap. Like everybody else does after lunch. I'm talking about hosting, not hosting a dinner party, but hosting people staying in your home. George Clooney I have been in love, and it was a great feeling. It's when you are attracted to and feel affection for someone. You want to do things for that person. But only love isn't enough in a relationship - understanding and communication are very important aspects. Yuvraj Singh You have two options when you approach a hostile checkpoint in a war zone, and each is a gamble. The first is to stop and identify yourself as a journalist and hope that you are respected as a neutral observer. The second is to blow past the checkpoint and hope the soldiers guarding it don't open fire on you. Lynsey Addario I've played 'The Wizard of Oz' for my kids, but by today's standards, it seems really long. I don't know if there's enough action in it for them. And there's the whole black-a...

You write in songs what you're too scared to write in real life, and then

you sing the songs to loads of people instead of telling it to the person you should be telling it to... Songs are a great way of dealing with those issues but kind of a coward's way as well.Winston Marshall I really wanted to be Ambassador to Argentina.Jorge M. Perez I've never been able to understand what they mean by 'Pinteresque,'. I'm sure it's indefinable.Harold Pinter I still think 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre' was what they call one of those watershed movies. That and 'The Exorcist' and 'Psycho' were just landmarks for those horror films.Fred Willard You got to learn when to be the bigger person, especially in the entertainment business.Justine Skye My writing is a product of how I would interact with things that have happened to me or things that have not happened to me but have happened to somebody else.Rupi Kaur Here in L.A., people really open their houses in an easy way, nothing too complicated. You can go in y...

A lot of companies are clueless, because they spend most or all of their security

budget on high-tech security like fire walls and biometric authentication - which are important and needed - but then they don't train their people. Kevin Mitnick Stand-up can take you in so many different places, man. So many doors can be opened up from stand-up comedy, and the first one that was opened up for me was acting. But you can go from acting to being a TV personality to being a radio personality to being a writer to being a producer, to just being a visionary, to voiceover work. Kevin Hart We know that no algorithm can solve global poverty; no pill can cure a chronic illness; no box of chocolates can mend a broken relationship; no educational DVD can transform a child into a baby Einstein; no drone strike can end a terrorist conflict. Sadly, there is no such thing as 'One Tip to a Flat Stomach.' Carl Honore I find it extremely ironic that Bush says that personal opinion should not be a tool in the interpretation of the Constitution, when he's the one...

I wanted to study film at an art school - I loved the idea of

being surrounded by designers and artists. We were encouraged to be experimental. Asif Kapadia Intelligence is sexy. Don't play dumb, especially young girls. Don't play dumb. And let people see that you are intelligent. Iman Microsoft is committed to the ubiquity of the Skype experience - communication across every device and every platform will remain a primary focus. Tony Bates Any woman that is willing to take control of their life and do what they want to do to make their living, I have a lot of respect for. Kristen Renton The old fiction room at my high school was a small box of wonders, and no matter how long I spent investigating its seven and a half overstuffed shelves, I never stopped discovering treasures. Alaya Dawn Johnson I think if you look at most successful people, if you ask most of them, their biggest influence was their dad. Tom Lehman I spend way too much time watching television, going to sports games, going to movies. It struck me that th...