Elvis came along when I was 10. My father gave me a bass ukulele. I

taught myself how to play from a book to play some chords, so I was laying down 'Hound Dog' and things like that when I was 10 years old in 1955. That's the way I was. My ear was glued to the radio. I knew right then what I wanted to do.
Bob Seger

To be a writer is to connect and to play and to attempt to see clearly and understand. It astounds me regularly that feeling things deeply and writing them down is basically my job description.
Deb Caletti

Humans have always used animals to depict ideas about themselves: ideas about their status, about their position in life and society and the world.
Alison Goldfrapp

I know that I am the kind of person that gets a little bit more nervous than other skaters, but that's because I care for my skating very much. I take all my emotions with me. I can't go out and say 'Now, this is just my job.' I really care.
Carolina Kostner

Is the Iranian record of intervention and terror worse than that of the U.S.?
Noam Chomsky

I just missed out on qualifying for the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Natalie du Toit

In New York, the average total state and local tax burden is $5,260 for every man, woman and child. That's by far the highest in the country.
Tom Golisano

I'm pathologically incapable of making decisions. Just ask my wife how long it took me to propose - on second thought, best not to bring it up.
John Grogan

When I look at how fortunate I've been, being a musician... my response to being overpaid is that I should pay it back to my community in some way.
Dave Matthews

I don't think I sound like Janis Joplin. I'm a woman with a raspy voice.
Brittany Howard

Gemeoss

Many believe - and I believe - that I have been designated for this work

by God. In spite of my old age, I do not want to give it up; I work out of love for God and I put all my hope in Him. Michelangelo The greatest problem all around the world today, whether in America, Japan, China Russia, India or anywhere else in the world, is that people are not in peace. People want peace. Prem Rawat Through selfless work, love of God grows in the heart. Then through his grace one realize him in course of time. God can be seen. One can talk to him as I am talking to you. Ramakrishna A wartime Minister of Information is compelled, in the national interest, to such continuous acts of duplicity that even his natural hair must grow to resemble a wig. Claud Cockburn I think she said I should seek help. Something like that, but it was in much cruder terms. And that I had a fascination with things coming out of people's mouths. Sam Raimi You know, if you're lucky enough to have two smash hit shows, the traffic of the world goes through your dressing r...

The writing is really important in books that affect me. I read for

the writing. The story is usually of less interest to me. It's the words that break your heart. James Salter Every view, and every object I studied attentively, by viewing them again and again on every side, for I was anxious to make a lasting impression of it on my imagination. Karl Philipp Moritz Some people come alive at night. I'm hopeless by 9 p.m. Coffee and Cadbury buy me an extra half hour. Often I can't get my clothes off I'm so far gone. Emily Mortimer People who say, 'Let the chips fall where they may,' usually figure they will not be hit by a chip. Bernard Williams In America today, the percentage of children and adolescents who are defined as overweight is more than double what it was in the early 1970s. Lois Capps Life is not about making dough or how many movies you can make in a year. It's about finding someone that you can share things with. Freddie Prinze, Jr. Cinematography is infinite in its possibilities... much more so...

One of the things I try to do with my writing is try to evoke

the spirit of the place. I think these things imprint on the landscape and the culture. Sarah Hall I'm not the kind of filmmaker who's going to go from one thing to the next. I often wish I was that filmmaker, but I'm just not. Jonathan Glazer Once I'm on stage, there's just no time for a sip of water - I've always got my hands in puppets! My voice is raw by the time I finish. Nina Conti When the Mets were on their run in the 1980s, Gary Carter was often seen hugging somebody. It was easy to joke about that. The best hug of all was with Jesse Orosco at the end of the 1986 World Series. George Vecsey I do love the evolution of people in general. I think it's a beautiful thing when someone progresses and evolves in life. Khloe Kardashian There are over 50 brilliant scientists working at my lab, and being sensitive to their needs is among the top skill sets that scientists like me have to learn. Peter Agre I am well aware that there are prison...

The U.S. has been living in a situation of excesses for too long. Consumers were

out spending more than their income and the country was spending more than its income, running up large current-account deficits. Now we have to tighten our belts and save more. Nouriel Roubini We spend our spare time taking care of little things. I can watch a little bit of college and professional football if I want to... Our favorite pastime is trying to take pictures of our hometowns from space. Kevin A. Ford I get along great with directors, but I think some producers would tell you I'm a pain. They may say I'm tough to work with, but I have a great passion for what I do. I believe in fighting for it. Amy Irving I was born on the eighteenth of December, 1935, in the town Bourg-en-Bresse, about thirty miles northeast of Lyon, the second of three sons of Jeanne and Jean-Victor Pepin. Weighing only two and one half pounds, I nearly died at birth. Jacques Pepin Anytime someone says your God is ugly and you release your God and join their God, there is no hope for y...

It's nice coming to Nashville, and we have four-bedroom house and a dog, and we

go swimming a lot. We get down here and spread out a lot, and I miss my sweet tea and my cornbread and my good southern cooking - but I'm down here eating pretty for two weeks and I'm ready to go back to New York City. Justin Townes Earle I hope everybody will go back to the negotiating table. I've always said this is the only way forward. Mohamed ElBaradei I'm the type of artist who touches people, that's the type of artist that I am. Jacob Lusk Writing is a fine therapy for people who are perpetually scared of nameless threats... for jittery people. William Styron Comedy wasn't something I chose - it chose me. Pauly Shore When I heard Aretha, I could feel her emotional delivery so clearly. It came from down deep within. That's what I wanted to do. Whitney Houston When I see old photos of me on the beach I don't look too bad... but it's hard trying to breathe in for such a long time when I spot the photographers! Gary Lineker St...

The natural movement of one's soul is upwards. But just as any object is dragged

down when a heavy weight is tied to it, the burden of the body drags down the soul. Vinoba Bhave It is funny the two things most men are proudest of is the thing that any man can do and doing does in the same way, that is being drunk and being the father of their son. Gertrude Stein Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day one should meditate on being carried away by surging waves, falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease. Yamamoto Tsunetomo The awards world can be ridiculous, but I'm not one to bash it. I love awards! When I've been nominated for Emmys and when I won my DGA Award, I couldn't have been happier. I always liked getting a gold star in class. Paul Feig But in another, I think a woman's going to go into a shop to find a coat or a jacket and I just don't think she's not going to go into a shop because of a bad review she probably didn't even read. Marc Jacobs Baking is how you start kids at cook...

You know, we live in a time when if somebody wants to kill you, they're

going to kill you, and you can either go in a hole and, you know, pull the roof in over you, or you just continue putting one foot in front of the other and hope that you're doing some good in the world. Gene Robinson I grew up watching 'Superman.' As a child, when I first learned to dive into a swimming pool, I wasn't diving, I was flying, like Superman. I used to dream of rescuing a girl I had a crush on from a playground bully. Tom Hiddleston Honestly, when I had the idea to make 'An Inconvenient Truth,' and I was going out and raising the money, and I said, 'I want to make a movie about Al Gore's slide show, will you give me a million dollars?' People thought I was insane, looked at me cross-eyed. Lawrence Bender I came up from growing up with a lot of Catholic guilt, a lot of punk rock, hipster guilt in the later years where I think people have thrown a lot of things on me. Where I always felt like I'm not supposed to tell the horn ...

The strategy of my coach and me was that we looked at pictures

of all the best pole vaulters from around the world, and we took the best parts from them, and we created a person that had never existed. We then started to work toward being such a person. Sergei Bubka I have a completely addictive personality. Diet Coke is my last - God, I know people counting days off Diet Coke; I'm such a Diet Cokehead. Now I won't let myself buy it. Mary Karr Take a random selection of photographs of America in 2012 and 2002 and 1992 and, except for the skinny jeans and the porkpie hats, you'll be hard-pressed to tell the years in which the pictures were taken. Graydon Carter Trust me, I did not set out to establish three pen names and, for the record, I do not recommend it as a career strategy. The idea back at the start was that I would stick with the name that proved most successful. Jayne Ann Krentz I remember when I thought of singing as the bit that went between the guitar playing - something I couldn't wait to get out of the way...

Books on their own aren't insanely expensive compared to other things; three large cappuccinos cost

more than a paperback, and two and a half gallons of gas cost more than a paperback. M. J. Rose Some people think fashion is frivolous but it's not... it's just that some ideas come and go quickly, and that's the nature of the language of fashion. Douglas Coupland 'Danger Girl' can be ridiculous, but sometimes it's funny. Megan Fox I've sort of become the poster boy for quitting your job and following your dreams. John Tesh My father had no influence on my political beliefs, and to imply otherwise is wrong and irresponsible. M.I.A. There will never be a right or wrong way to cook something, but there will always be a more informed way. Wylie Dufresne I realized I love motivating and I love empowering and I love inspiring people. I did that as an athlete for 18 years, and I am able to do that as a motivational speaker now as well as doing work on television. Dominique Dawes A company's best advantage should be a quality product offere...

The public is upset. If they haven't lost their job, they know somebody that has.

If they haven't lost their house, they know somebody that has. What do you do? When something's wrong, it's government's job to fix it, it must be government that's responsible for causing it. Michael Bloomberg People who are pierced should not be snickered at, should not become the object of ridicule, should not be singled out for special and uneven and unequal treatment. They should be respected just like everybody else. Gloria Allred Usually when I'm making a movie, what I have in mind first, for the visuals, is how we can stage the scenes to bring them more to life in the most interesting way, and then how we can make a world for the story that the audience hasn't quite been in before. Wes Anderson Yoga is the settling of the mind into silence. When the mind has settled, we are established in our essential nature, which is unbounded Consciousness. Our essential nature is usually overshadowed by the activity of the mind. Patanjali You can rest...