Shallowness and ignorance have been our lot in the mass consumer societies we

inhabit, where we were too distracted to act politically, apart from periodically deputing political elites to take life-and-death decisions on our behalf.
Pankaj Mishra

It would be ridiculous to say I don't want to sell records, but I trust my taste.
Earl Sweatshirt

What woman doesn't want to go out there and kick some butt? I did it with a sword in 'Conan,' I did it with a crossbow in 'G.I. Joe,' and I've got my multi-tool and my super-suit in 'Continuum.' It's really a release, and it's quite cool.
Rachel Nichols

As a mom, it's so important to feel confident in what you're doing.
Hilary Duff

I think we really forget how connected we are to the past.
Jayne Anne Phillips

The Internet freedom issue we need to focus on is network neutrality.
Marvin Ammori

I started writing after the death of my grandfather - memories, poems, etc. It was very personal; for years I did not share my writing with anyone.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

You can really get your chops in shape in the resident theatres, and I urge anyone to investigate them and to be willing to go anywhere to pursue the great roles.
Jefferson Mays

Everyone is insecure. I think, really, it comes from, like, a desire to want to be in control of how you're represented.
Laverne Cox

When I had a record deal in the '90s, that was my dream - to make an album like Barbra Streisand's Broadway album - and they laughed me out of the room. Broadway wasn't cool. But artists like Michael Buble and Josh Groban have brought the classic genre back to the forefront, so I'm trying to find my way inside that market.
Billy Porter

Gemeoss

My parents moved to American Samoa when I was three or four years old. My

dad was principal of a high school there. It was idyllic for a kid. I had a whole island for a backyard. I lived there until I was eight years old and we moved to Santa Barbara. Eric Stoltz If you accept the belief that baptism incorporates us in the mystical body of Christ, into the divine DNA, then you might say that the Holy Spirit is present in each of us, and thus we have the capacity for the fullness of redemption, of transformation. Thomas Keating My first name, Benjamin, dates back a thousand years earlier to Benjamin - Binyamin - the son of Jacob, who was also known as Israel. Jacob and his 12 sons roamed these same hills of Judea and Sumeria 4,000 years ago, and there's been a continuous Jewish presence in the land ever since. Benjamin Netanyahu I was cast in 'Thor' and I'm cast as a Nordic god. If you know anything about the Nords, they don't look like me but there you go. I think that's a sign of the times for the future. I think we will see...

You can make people feel valued or cared for by design alone. It's not purely

about money. It's about how we choose to value human experience.Thomas Heatherwick I do a big roast of Trump during my set now - which I clearly expanded on - because there's so much to make fun of him about now.Lisa Lampanelli A vaccine that prevented tuberculosis would merit a Nobel Prize, but it's just very difficult to develop.Tom Frieden I go through the same kind of situations as other people. I have to give that to people, because people have this facade, this mirage, this mirror about me.Tory Lanez The wild thing is that when I'm in the band, I can control my destiny with four other guys. As a composer sitting in the audience, you can throw good vibes at everybody, but you can't control anybody's destiny, so it's really unsettling.David Bryan I'm an actor, and I don't judge my parts.Swara Bhaskar As a competitor, you want to be out there in the fire with your teammates.Brock Osweiler We wish to be treated 'not as ordi...

The great fear that hung over the business community in the 1970s was death by

regulation, and the great goal of the conservative movement, as it rose to triumph in the 1980s, was to remove that threat - to keep OSHA, the EPA, and the FTC from choking off entrepreneurship with their infernal meddling in the marketplace. Thomas Frank I had always been kind of obsessed with making a home of my own and was always drawing rooms that I wanted to live in, down to pictures on the wall and the faces that would be in the photographs, and how the couches would be situated. Michelle Williams It was easy to run around barefoot in oblivion in Costa Rica. But once I gave birth to my child, I didn't want to be oblivious to the obvious. Carolyn Murphy Intelligence is really a kind of taste: taste in ideas. Susan Sontag I'm a lioness. I have four cubs. I'm a mom. I want to take care of my kids and protect them. Heidi Klum The disease of an evil conscience is beyond the practice of all the physicians of all the countries in the would. William E. Gladsto...

I'm very fortunate to have spent so much time in the industry and to have

lived through several generations of filmmakers, actors and technicians. There's a huge volume of experience seeing people change and seeing content change. Amitabh Bachchan It's a rule to give all, and it can make the difference if you work more. If you don't have to give all, and you still win, what's this? Jurgen Klopp Outside football, I just love life, you know. We're lucky to play football, to have all this body. Everyone's watching us. You see how many people, they come and watch the game. It's unbelievable, you see how many people they come. They shout your name and just enjoy life. Paul Pogba Innovation is a game of numbers. How do you get enough ideas into the pipeline? Shari L. Ballard 'Monty Python And The Holy Grail' is a hugely important movie to me. I remember watching it for the first time on cable when I was about 13 years old. James Gunn I know what it is to be out entertaining millions and yet wanting to be home beca...

When it came to 'Binge,' it wasn't my intention to get on a little soapbox

and have a teaching moment. It was more, 'Here are things that have happened to me; here's what I've learned from it. If you'd like to learn from it too, great; if you just like the entertainment aspect, that's fine too.' Tyler Oakley I love if someone invites me to a restaurant, so I don't know if that's a feminist. Carine Roitfeld Being fired from a show - being fired in any way, in any instance, any business - is just hard. Kathleen Rose Perkins Just as many people flee Hollywood as those who flock to it. Hollywood can be an acquired taste. Shawn Amos I kind of liked the idea of filming musicians. I could like a musician and know, at the same time, maybe nobody else maybe liked them much or appreciated them. D. A. Pennebaker I believe in glamour. I am in favor of a little vanity. I don't rely on just my genes. Iman Dickens is always full of surprises. Claire Tomalin A musician's whole life is to listen. Wynton Marsalis ...

Blushing is thought to be linked to increased levels of norepinephrine in the brain, which

may be associated with romantic feelings. It signals that we are interested and excited, which is attractive to men. Helen Fisher There are two contrary impulses which govern this man's brain-the one sane, and the other eccentric. They alternate at regular intervals. Franz Schubert I also eat fruit instead of drinking juices. That's something I've read up on. I think that if you drink a lot of fruit juice you take in way too much sugar. You'd be better off eating a bunch of strawberries or apples. Kris Humphries History can bring luck: this is what we can call optimism. Stephane Hessel I want to bring more gymnastics on television. Shannon Miller Better not to exist than live basely. Sophocles I don't miss acting at all. Zachery Ty Bryan I was born in the USA, which many people still find hard to believe. Cesar Romero There's no mystique to acting. It's only common sense - and a bit of courage. Bill Hunter Life has a higher end, th...

I read everything, but generally more fact than fiction - especially autobiographies and

biographies. I've read 'Long Walk to Freedom' by Nelson Mandela at least twice on holiday. Every time, I'm totally awed by his vision, strength and forgiveness. I feel honoured to have got to know him and his wonderful wife Graca over the years. Richard Branson There are no new facts about the Kennedys, only new attitudes, a literature that, like the automobile industry, puts new bodies on old chassis. John Gregory Dunne Artists are supposed to stay hungry. Michael Connelly I'm a purple girl! Justine Skye Nobody ever said that Hillary's nomination would be unopposed or would be something that was foreordained. David Brock Parishes must be the safest places for a child to be. Blase J. Cupich I'm not sure what 'cheeky' means. I hear it used so much and in so many different ways, I can't identify the real meaning of it. Taylor Lautner Wealth is just consistency... I don't want to be rich. I want to be wealthy. Quavo In 20th-century poetry, Robe...

The very first time I was on a car in Atlanta, I saw the conductor

- all conductors are white - ask a Negro woman to get up and take a seat farther back in order to make a place for a white man. I have also seen white men requested to leave the Negro section of the car. Ray Stannard Baker We must be willing to pay inspiring math and science teachers, who have high paying alternatives in industry, more to teach and reward students who take more challenging courses in high school. Mark Kennedy I like dialogue in novels. I wanted to avoid laying history on with a trowel - appearing to be lecturing, as opposed to the characters lecturing their children or students. Dialogue can humanise the story and make it go down somewhat more smoothly. Elliot Perlman The worst of the action films are the ones where everything is one shout from beginning to finish. And there's no differentiation between beats, like small or big, or quiet or expansive. It's all just one loud shout. Shane Black I wish to assure you that there can never be any return t...

I have ballet class every other day for two hours. And for 'Six Feet Under',

last week there was a sequence where I had to do a whole choreographed dance number, so I had four hours of dance practice every day. Michelle Trachtenberg Salman Rushdie, indeed any writer who abuses the prophet or indeed any prophet under Islamic law, the sentence for that is actually death. Cat Stevens I have always liked shows that have laughter in them. David Walliams People working in the private sector should try to save money. There remains the possibility that it may someday be valuable again. Norman Ralph Augustine The Roman Catholics must know as well as we do that 'Popery' when encouraged by government has always been dangerous to the liberties of the people. Lord George Gordon

In order to feel loved, be respected and stay connected, we humans have a tendency

to lie. We lie about who we are, what we want, what we need, what we have done or will do. Perhaps 'lie' is too strong a word. Let me say that what we do is withhold the truth. Iyanla Vanzant We have seen that, in another unfunded mandate, the so-called No Child Left Behind Act, which created tougher standards, and we all support that, but Congress did not provide the money to attract and hire the best teachers. Bob Filner I find I use the Internet more and more. It's just an invaluable tool. I do most of my research on the Net now - and certainly do the bulk of my communicating through email. Nora Roberts The central task of science is to arrive, stage by stage, at a clearer comprehension of nature, but this does not at all mean, as it is sometimes claimed to mean, a search for mastery over nature. Lewis Thomas You have citizens who don't understand how government works and they're kind of soured on it. All they do is criticize. They have no idea that t...