When you need a good laugh, do you reach for a book? I don't. I

expect books to move me deeply and submerge me in another reality. So when a novel makes me roar with laughter, it's always a delightful surprise.
Maria Semple

As a political current, Maoism was always weak in Britain, confined largely to students from Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Tariq Ali

Children are wonderful, but they are not the center of the universe. The sooner their parents make them understand that, the better off we all will be.
LZ Granderson

The House of Representatives eliminated the filibuster way back in the 19th century, and somehow it managed to survive.
Timothy Noah

My mom was the center of my support system, that place I always went to talk things through, whether I was feeling joy or fear. She was always there with a huge, open heart and the best advice.
Corbin Bernsen

I love telling stories with images. But I think there's more to just saying a movie is great visually.
Asif Kapadia

I came from nothing and achieved humungous fame and fortune. But I worked hard. I had discipline and determination. I had that ice in me.
Sugar Ray Leonard

I'm drawn to people who find themselves on the outside of things. I'm moved by that in real life.
Rachel Joyce

Even with protection, even with death threats, I can publish, I can travel and I can live the life that I want and not the one my parents want or some imam somewhere thinks I should live.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

The degree to which you're peculiar and different is the degree to which you must learn to hear people thinking. Just in self-defense you have to learn, where is their kindness? Where is their danger? Where is their generosity?
Mike Nichols

Gemeoss

I mean, I kind of remember... I'm 36 now, so it's kind of hard for

me to relate to what it was like when I was 25, or 24, but I do remember a period in time when that's how I defined who I was, by the music I listened to and the movies I went to. Liz Phair In the last four years, I heard the same thing over and over again from people: 'We've had enough,' 'Our country is drifting,' 'We've lost our way.' Ted Yoho I desire an special interest in your prayers that my faith fail not in the day of adversity. John Hawley There was never a golden era of American radio as far as I can tell. Michael Stipe The world invited me many places. Leon Wieseltier I just like making people laugh. Isaiah Mustafa As an actor, to play someone who's at war with himself, that's so interesting. Hugo Weaving Plumage features constitute a major component of courtship signals. Peter R. Grant Some people don't even know my name, but they know I am the man with the red soles. Christian Louboutin Salvatore Fe...

I have not made any suggestions about climate change. This is more about blending or

shifting the conversation about the environment versus the economy. It's just such an old, outdated conversation. Jennifer Granholm Sometimes shooting on a smaller scale, as long as things don't blow out of proportion, is very liberating. Daniel Craig Because I'm so known as a meat-chef, when I talk about Meatless Monday some people look at me like I've lost my mind. I'm like, look, I'm not saying beef and pork is bad, I love it and I eat it six days a week. Michael Symon I think character is permanent, and issues are transient. James Stockdale It is true that I was born in Iowa, but I can't speak for my twin sister. Pauline Phillips I came from a town of maybe 30,000 people. Jim Caviezel The rights of homosexual people are human rights, and human rights are for everyone. Ricky Martin I'm pretty much honest to a fault. It's my best and my worst quality. Jennifer Westfeldt I loved Australia. I was very successful there. Todd B...

The reward is every night. The 90 minutes is such a payoff for us every

night; it makes it all worth it to us. The fans who come to the shows know how much we enjoy this. Gerry Beckley With 'Blue Slide Park' I wanted to have a number one album, and I did do it, so I'm not mad at it, but that was its goal. Mac Miller Before you open the lunch menu or order that cheeseburger or consider eating the cake with the frosting intact, haul out the psychic calculator and start tinkering with the budget. Caroline Knapp Love is a deception and a trap. Love is as big a myth that God sits with his flowing white beard in a throne and looks at us. Al Goldstein There was no child oncology in Uzbekistan and in Russia you don't have a chance because there are already so many on the waiting lists. Oxana Chusovitina I would always have been the geek who's your friend. I will never be the dark guy with a sensitive side, as much as I yearn to be. Jon Cryer I'm a writer, not a professional runner. It's fun and it helps me write. I nee...

The monetary impacts of malaria from the household to the global level are significant.

Malaria tends to strike during harvest season, rendering families too sick and too weak to perform the work necessary to earn a living. Malaria-stricken families spend an average of over a quarter of their income on malaria treatment. Tedros Adhanom It's not in the interest of most mapping companies to make those changes as they occur, but if you give the power to local people, you can be sure that you're always getting the best information from the folks that actually drive those roads every day. Noam Bardin We are all pleased when our names are pronounced and spelled correctly. Russell M. Nelson Music and dance is part of everything in New Orleans. So I grew up appreciating it all. Dawn Richard I get things out of my system through my songs, but, because they can be about so many different things, it takes me a while to get through them emotionally. Sharon Van Etten I like to think I've changed the centre of gravity on lots of national debates. Nigel Farage I was a membe...

People come up to me and say, 'It's too bad the space program got canceled.'

This is not the case, and yet that is what most of the public thinks has happened. Buzz Aldrin I used to spend countless days in my teenage years keeping scorecards, playing cricket and just enjoying myself with friends and having the occasional shandy in the bar. Steffan Rhodri I am happy that I'm a better novelist than a screenwriter. Graeme Simsion I believe you should help people. Gerry Harvey I watch a lot of football. Paolo Sorrentino The mind as well as the body must be not only strong but well disciplined in order to act with promptness and vigor in new and untried situations. It is hard to turn men's minds from the old and deeply worn channels in which they have long been flowing. Benjamin Robbins Curtis In Japan, a company worker's position is secure. He is retrained for another job if his present job is eliminated by productivity improvement. W. Edwards Deming Chris Rock is a good friend of mine, and he is hysterical. Kid Rock

We Americans love original ideas. But truly, there are already plenty of good ones out

there, ours for the taking. If I were too proud to copy the ideas of others, I likely wouldn't have even a fraction of my current success. Mohnish Pabrai The organized workers of America, free in their industrial life, conscious partners in production, secure in their homes and enjoying a decent standard of living, will prove the finest bulwark against the intrusion of alien doctrines of government. John L. Lewis Well... I had braces and I had to wear headgear! I loved my braces, actually. For me, they were like a piece of jewelry! Instead of the silver or pewter I had gold braces. It was so much fun, I loved them. I got to change the colors and stuff and I had the rubber bands. Jordin Sparks The animators are absolutely extraordinary. It's mind-boggling. Helena Bonham Carter I've been so good in so many movies that nobody saw. Joe Pantoliano Our parents have always encouraged us to be independent and dream big. Jenna Bush So much emotion goes into writing...

If I'm in the middle of a take and I start to think about what

I'm doing, I just mess up and I have to stop and so I find that for me, you really need to trust your instinct. Saoirse Ronan Rather than turning away from the staggering scale and depth of misery caused by war, we must strive to develop our capacity to empathize and feel the sufferings of others. Daisaku Ikeda The first thing anyone can do, about any issue, is get informed. Adora Svitak I see things completely differently now. Mary Pierce I'm trying to be a singer, not a civil rights leader. Adam Lambert Kenya doesn't have much of an infrastructure for hosting a film. Ralph Fiennes A lot of people think that punk rock musicians don't know what they're doing. Travis Barker Yesterday's home runs don't win today's games. Babe Ruth I get along fine with the press. Kevin Pietersen I don't own anything designer. Grimes

Money is tighter now, with the advertising dollar spread a lot more thinly across a

whole range of media because of the Internet. It means the television networks have less power to produce shows, and TV is where most Australian actors make their money. Grant Bowler I was going to Miami quite a lot at the time, speaking a lot of Spanish with my friends from Cuba - Lana Del Rey reminded us of the glamour of the seaside. It sounded gorgeous coming off the tip of the tongue. Lana Del Rey I remember nearly having a fit of the giggles during the reading because dear Daniel was SO respectful and serious and I was finding the whole situation funny because I was speaking to his profile. Madeleine Stowe All over the land are vast and handsome pastures, with good grass for cattle, and it strikes me the soil would be very fertile were the country inhabited and improved by reasonable people. Alvar N. C. de Vaca Hollow commitments to action in the future are insufficient. Deferring difficult issues must not be tolerated. Our children and grandchildren expect us to spea...

I don't understand what's happening in 'Mr. Robot' all the time, and I'm really actually

intimated for the second season. I'll have to rewatch the first season, I think. Portia Doubleday It is scary to write - period - for me, but once you get past the idea that it's scary to write, I still can only be who I am. As a writer, my job, to me, is to expose myself - to really sort of dig in and find out who I am and then put it on the page. Jason Robert Brown My first encounter with science fiction was reading the work of H.G. Wells when I was nine or ten, and I don't believe 'The War of the Worlds' or 'The Time Machine' have ever been bettered. Plus, I have always had a liking for Victorian and Edwardian clothes and contraptions, which tends to color the worlds I dream up. Philip Reeve The first drama thing I really got stuck into was 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.' I played Puck. That's when I said, 'I want to be an actor.' Ed Speleers I never thought of myself as a Broadway actress. I'm not really a singer or a...

Anyone working in the media can tell you that there seems to be an always-ready-to-explode

segment of the populace for whom offense is a fate worse than anything imaginable. You'd think offense is one of the most calamitous things that could happen to a human being; right up there with the loss of a limb, or just missing a parking space. Dick Cavett I came up in Brooklyn singing doo-wop music from the time I was 13 to the time I was 20. That music served a purpose of keeping a lot of people out of trouble, and also it was a passport from one neighborhood to another. Richie Havens I do talk a lot - far more than my husband - but I'm not good at talking to a lot of people. I either talk a lot of rubbish - which I'm sure I do a lot of the time anyway - or I stare at the soup. I'm no good at social presentation. Billie Whitelaw The real purpose of welfare is to get rid of poor people entirely. Everybody knows welfare has bad effects; that's the point. P. J. O'Rourke I hate to generalize, but in general, both men and women suffer from ageism. M...