I wanted to make the world of 'The Last Book in the Universe' as real

as possible, so I spent a lot of time thinking about it. I decided the world would be a very different place, but people would be pretty much the same.
Rodman Philbrick

I spent a lot of time alone; I left school to be tutored. So, most of my companions were animals. It's as simple as that. I knew more animals than I did people.
Jamie Wyeth

One good step breeds another one.
Nicole Ari Parker

Atheists well understand that Christmas is the most visible display of religion in the world, and that any diminishment of it is a good thing to militant secularists.
Bill O'Reilly

I genuinely have to work - I don't have enough money not to. But the last thing I would want is to be looked after.
Marie Helvin

President Obama will go down as having passed some of the most historic bills in the history of this country.
Kevin Spacey

I was taught never to compromise: to never sing a cheap song. I never look down at the audience and think that they are ignorant or think that I'm more intelligent than they are. To think otherwise is totally incorrect and runs contrary to everything I was raised to believe.
Tony Bennett

Wait long enough, and people will surprise and impress you.
Randy Pausch

I usually do my hair and makeup in 30 to 45 minutes, and if my hair is dirty, I'll just put it in a bun or a ponytail. If it's in a bun, I'll part it down the middle and do a low bun with a couple pieces in the front coming down.
Gigi Hadid

I always take care to have interesting chord progressions, because you can have the best sound design in the club, and you'll kill it in the club, but in five years, kids will have better sound design. But if your music is good, you'll always be able to listen to it, even in 20 or 50 years.
Zedd

Gemeoss

Web searching and cellphone use both flourish in the wee hours. Before the dawn of

the web, I would stay up watching television. But there is something soporific about television: I would often nod off. Not so when I'm online. As technologies expand, these problems may only worsen. Sendhil Mullainathan To our critical eyes, the threads of which the past is woven are, by nature, endless and indivisible. Scientifically speaking, we cannot grasp the absolute beginning of anything: everything extends backwards to be prolonged by something else. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin I'm the kind of person who likes to create the environment and mindset - not because I do it deliberately, but because that's how I like to live - where, from catering to makeup to hair to wardrobe, electricians, camera department lighting, sound, you know, it's our movie; we're together, and we have that camaraderie and that closeness. Steven Rodney McQueen There are examples of fraternal dictatorships, or one, anyway: the passing of power from Fidel to Raul Castro. Elliott...

IBM's long-standing mantra is 'Think.' What has always made IBM a fascinating and compelling place

for me, is the passion of the company, and its people, to apply technology and scientific thinking to major societal issues. Ginni Rometty I am going to get political on you. Because I am the most shallow person in the world, my mission is to see men's formal wear change a little bit. It is too rigid! Everybody looks like a penguin! Steven Cojocaru I was able to get operated on four days after I was diagnosed. It was just a matter of getting this baseball-sized tumor out of me. I reflect now on how lucky I was to be in the situation where I could get the best possible help and treatment. Eric Davis If it's time to party, it's time for hip hop. I love Drake, Jay-Z, Kanye. If I'm chilling at home though, I'm listening to Massive Attack, Thievery Corporation, Radiohead, DJ Shadow. I also listen to a lot of classical. Alexis Knapp Indulging in unrestrained and immoderate laughter is a sign of intemperance, of a want of control over one's emotions, and of...

I kind of had my life planned out for me. I'd be married at some

point, have, you know, 1.5 children, and be a principal possibly one day. But I think that that was kind of my problem. I allowed myself to plan out my life and didn't let provident direction guide my life. Clay Aiken I actually had an experience where I thought somebody was breaking into my house. That's got to be the most terrified I've ever been in my life. I don't know if that's saying much. The fear, especially as a female in a house by yourself, was horrible. Hayden Panettiere Human vocabulary is still not capable, and probably never will be, of knowing, recognizing, and communicating everything that can be humanly experienced and felt. Jose Saramago You know what? I never really factor Hollywood into anything. I'm a black actor, so I can't really control what Hollywood thinks. I gotta go do my thing, and my jokes have got to be funny. Whatever I do has got to be great. Jamie Foxx According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the...

My mother told me Homer Ditto was not my father. Nope. Mom had had a

fling with some other guy who was my dad. Some dude who didn't stick around too long who Mom was happy to get rid of. She chose Homer, and Homer chose me, so he lent me his name even though I didn't have his blood. Beth Ditto We have met on a solemn occasion, and in this crowded assembly there is one thing that appears important, that is, for every one of us to be still, that if any thing should he said, every one may the better hear. Elias Hicks We're going to shoot one Polaroid per show. I'm going to sign this before it even develops because I know that once it develops with my signature on it, it's worth a fortune. I'll make this a work of magic warlock art. Charlie Sheen There is a glaring reason that the necessary total ban on nontherapeutic use of antibiotics hasn't happened: The factory farm industry, allied with the pharmaceutical industry, has more power than public-health professionals. Jonathan Safran Foer I'm sort of an old man, a...

Art is based on very clear, mathematical principles like proportion and harmony. At the same

time, physicists need to be inventive, to have ideas, to have some fantasy. Fabiola Gianotti Any business today that embraces the status quo as an operating principle is going to be on a death march. Howard Schultz With the variety of fields within economics, broadly conceived and the increasing specialization of scholarly world, the award of a Nobel Memorial Prize honors not only the individual scholar but, implicitly, also a special field or a distinctive method. Simon Kuznets I think of 'Mommy' as very simplistic or not simplistic, but I wish for the style to actually work with what you see onscreen and what you feel in that very moment. I hope we did not disrespect the characters by being too flamboyant when it's not necessary. Xavier Dolan Pakistan is rich in sporting talent, but the only thing needed is to have sincere and honest administrators who should be held accountable by the government. Pakistan should be recognised as a sporting nation and not as a...

I think I always resented the fact that people thought I was trying to entertain

them with my multifaceted, chameleonlike character changes. Although I liked doing that, I wasn't out to fool people and say 'Guess which one is me.' Cindy Sherman 'The Voice' has lots of singers who fit the 'Idol' mold of young, innocent ingenues with psycho stage moms. But it also has long-suffering adult pros, with a whiff of thirtysomething despair in their voices. That adds an edge of realness. Rob Sheffield Listen, I am such a nerd. I'm not one of those girls that goes, 'Ha, ha, hee, hee. I'm a nerd.' No, no, no - my brain mentality is the same as a 12-year-old little boy. The video games that I play, the things that I like to watch - I'm a Trekkie. Mila Kunis What is the biggest public forum in the United States? We were told it's the Super Bowl. The ad shows kids working at blue-collar jobs, and the final statement is just written text: Who's going to pay for the trillion dollar deficit? Joan Blades For us, as ...

Total physical and mental inertia are highly agreeable, much more so than we allow ourselves

to imagine. A beach not only permits such inertia but enforces it, thus neatly eliminating all problems of guilt. It is now the only place in our overly active world that does. John Kenneth Galbraith When I'm out on the stage, it gives me this rush and anything that's on my mind and everything I'm going through is forgotten about. Fantasia Barrino The more I like me, the less I want to pretend to be other people. Jamie Lee Curtis Honestly, I didn't know I was a role model. Treat Williams I never thought much of the courage of a lion tamer. Inside the cage he is at least safe from people. George Bernard Shaw

The Cullens, they're an interesting group of vampires. They're all really good but kind of bad.

I mean, they are still vampires. Elizabeth Reaser The waves from all the different parts of a sphere would cancel each other out. You need motion that's nonspherical. Rainer Weiss Carlos Sosa, the saxophone player for Zac Brown Band, and I worked up two songs for 'When You're Feeling Sick.' They were a blast to work on. The songs are real upbeat and silly. Coy Bowles I've no apprehensions and inhibitions as an actor. Nithya Menen I want to help people to get to know my story and really tell them in detail what I've been through. James Arthur When you encounter some form of discrimination or maybe even worse, I urge you to alert others. Regardless of how small the incident is, it has to be brought to the attention of people like me and also the law enforcement agencies. Raja Krishnamoorthi Perhaps the best thing about biographies is that they enable us to slip the strictures of time and provide a bracing corrective to our tendency to see everything in the dark ...

Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask 'how',

while others of a more curious nature will ask 'why'. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information. Man Ray Sex is like washing your face - just something you do because you have to. Sex without love is absolutely ridiculous. Sex follows love, it never precedes it. Sophia Loren What we've gone through in the last several years has caused some people to question 'Can we trust Microsoft?' Steve Ballmer He who aspires to paradise should learn to deal with people with kindness. Abu Bakr There is too little courtship in the world. Vernon Lee The ancients recommended us to sacrifice to the Graces, but Milton sacrificed to the Devil. Voltaire If a man has common sense, he has all the sense there is. Sam Rayburn

I never really got on my own case about my own acting. I know a

lot of other people have, and probably very justifiably. But I don't worry about stuff like that too much. Troy Donahue I was made fun of in the Midwest - I was the only Asian in my graduating class of 200. Fortunately, I found my niche, and it was fine. But I wanted to be so white, you wouldn't believe it. I was like, 'I want to be white; I don't want to be this anymore.' But now I embrace it. Reggie Lee Developing a diet that is healthful, balanced, and appropriate for your particular caloric needs is easy enough and is absolutely critical to establishing a healthful lifestyle that incorporates proper nutrition, adequate fitness, and mental resilience. Daphne Oz As I have found out, recognition has its upside, its downside and - you may say - its backside. Pippa Middleton The radiation was worse by far. I had bandages all over my head. I looked like a mummy. On the side of my head and neck and down to my collarbone, I had second-degree burns. My skin b...