At age 28, I had no retail experience, no consumer marketing experience and no real

Internet experience. But I decided I wanted to work for myself. I felt starting a company would enable me to get the responsibility I deserved and that I couldn't do that within the confines of a bigger company.
Mariam Naficy

I used to be a writer with superstitions worthy of a professional baseball player: I needed a certain desk chair and a certain armchair and a certain desk arrangement, and I could only get really useful work done between 8 P.M. and 3 A.M. Then I started to move, and I couldn't bring my chairs with me.
Elizabeth McCracken

One of the things I've been most excited by is U.S. television drama. For my money, it's some of the greatest narrative art of our time. Each series is like a 19th-century Russian novel: you need to do a lot of work in the first few episodes, just as you do in the first 50-60 pages of those books.
Kevin Barry

Theologically, the creation of chocolate demonstrates both the unity and the diversity of humanity. Wherever you taste it, in every country of the world, it is immediately recognizable. Other things, in every cuisine, are just food, but chocolate is chocolate.
David Augsburger

When I was 19, I joined a rock band, and that's when I began to say, 'Okay, this is something that I could take seriously.' When I came to Minneapolis, it just refined everything.
Lizzo

Seattle is a fantastic place to build a great technology-enabled consumer company.
Dan Levitan

When I was a child, I grew up speaking French, I mean, in a French public school. So my first contact with literature was in French, and that's the reason why I write in French.
J. M. G. Le Clezio

Honesty allows us to live with not knowing. We do not know the full story; we do not know where we are in the story. We do not know who, ultimately, is at fault or who will carry the blame in the end.
David Whyte

I had to audition as an actor, and I got so tired of doing the same monologues over and over, so I started writing my own, and then I started selling them to other actors.
Richard LaGravenese

I've found that using historical material and being rooted in historical material is liberating because I always think to myself, 'Well, this actually happened, and this is fantastic!' That's why I don't like fantasy, in a way. Because it's sort of in emptiness.
Michael Hirst

People who say they have a best friend at work are seven times as likely to be engaged in what they're doing. And if they don't have a best friend at work, the odds of being engaged are just 1 in 12.
Tom Rath

Gemeoss

I remember sitting one time doing 100 interviews in a day, and they're all television

interviews and they're kind of - and you just sit there and they bring these people in and out, and in out. Macaulay Culkin I can be at my house sitting there making music alone, and every single time I've ever done that the first thing I do when I'm done, no matter if it's 4 in the morning... I literally just pick up my phone and I call someone. Benny Blanco The hijab, or sikh turban, or Jewish skullcap are all explicit symbols, but they do not represent a threat or affront to others, and have no bearing on the competence, skills and intelligence of a person. Randa Abdel-Fattah People think I'm a freemason, and I'm not. People think I believe the end of the world is coming on 21 December 2012, and I don't. Graham Hancock I guess after college, I just got really into food. I also think going on the road doing stand-up makes you more into food. Because when you travel like that, one of the things to do is find really good places to eat. Aziz Ansa...

As a member of a competitive team, you want to make sure you have yourself

ready to play. You don't control anything but what you do. Joe Torre I can tell you from personal experience it gets a little tiring having to make the rounds on cable shows to explain 'what's up with black folks.' John Ridley We try to entertain first, advertise second. When you find out that it's sponsored, we've already won you over. We try to make it obvious that the brand has made it better. Charles Lincoln Neal As I started college, I started to build software products that I could sell to people over the Web. Jon Oringer In my world view, clearly the Internet is a huge force multiplier for Indian media because it has not crept up on us like something invisible; we've seen it all play out in the West. Raghav Bahl So many people are like, 'I'm perfect.' I'm so imperfect; that's why I'm able to let everything out and let people see everything. 'Cause I'm just a mess like every other person that's a mess ...

'The September Issue' is really a film about Anna Wintour's relationship with long time 'Vogue'

Creative Director Grace Coddington. The two of them have been working together for two decades, and the extraordinary symbiosis between them has left an indelible mark on the fashion industry. R. J. Cutler People in startup-land live inside it. They see themselves as really good people even when they're doing something that's very bad. There's a huge disconnect from reality in the tech world. Daniel Lyons I really want to see good health care brought to all the people of Alabama at a reasonable cost. Robert J. Bentley I have no desire to run for public office. Alec Baldwin I'm saying to you that one of the great characteristics of the great American, the American people, is our historic ability to be straightforward, plainspoken, say what we mean, and mean what we say. Lou Dobbs If you have an Ina Garten-level roasted-chicken recipe, it's a game changer. I bring that to dinner parties and make a lot of friends. Meghan Markle My family went to the H...

I love to work. I know that sounds ridiculous to say because all people love

to work, but I love the homework that goes into acting. I love figuring out different ways of playing a scene. I love the energy of being on set. I love not getting enough sleep because I have to wake up early in the morning. Amanda Schull Most people have no imagination. If they could imagine the sufferings of others, they would not make them suffer so. What separated a German mother from a French mother? Ernst Toller A lot of gay men have a lot of sex. That's what we do. But I've stopped all that-the revolving door into my bedroom. Promiscuity. That was of its day, really. Julian Clary There's every reason to believe there will be further attacks attempted against the United States. For us to spend so much time patting ourselves on the back because we got bin Laden that we miss the next attack would be a terrible tragedy. Dick Cheney I realized some of the pitfalls of being well-known; it was nice if you were successful, but it made it just that much harder to tak...

I'm kind of at a point in my career where I can get away with

traditional stuff and then get away with some more rocky and pop and edgier stuff, too. Luke Bryan We shouldn't force ourselves to do something that really is just painful to us. If there is a discrepancy between what we are doing or putting our bodies through and then what our minds are telling us, you really have to look at yourself, and the most essential part of it is the pleasure aspect. David Belle At this point in my life, I'm not going to spend a lot of time focusing on dissatisfaction with who I am, and I'm not going to spend a lot of time tempering my personality. Whatever job I have next, I'm going to be somebody who wants to get things done. Christine Quinn There are at least two kinds of games. One could be called finite, the other, infinite. A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play. James P. Carse Humor's an excellent way to make a point more palatable and/or relatable. Jen...

Since September 11, security has been increased everywhere, and we have new IDs to get

on to the Fox lot. I drove to the security gate, but realized I'd left my ID in my other car. I just broke into that voice - 'Hey, man, I'm Bart Simpson. Who else sounds like this?' The guard waved me through. Nancy Cartwright I'm Canadian, but no, I don't speak French. Cory Monteith My parents didn't believe in luck. They believed in hard work and in preparing me to take advantage of opportunity. Like many parents, they taught me to be generous but never to depend on the generosity of others. Naveen Jain I didn't grow up with a mother, so I don't have that resource to rely on and ask a million questions. Vanessa Minnillo Probably a few weeks after I was born I started having casts put on my legs to straighten them out. After that corrective shoes and with a brace in between. Kristi Yamaguchi I am extremely shy. I am not happy in crowds of people. Glenn Close As a Christian, I think it's really important to find a man of God to trust ...

Confronting a stadium audience, you can't see the whites of their eyes. It's just an

amorphous mass of noise and, of course, you can't see the alleged billions watching at home either, so the degree to which you are intimidated is quite low. Rowan Atkinson My parents would always have us, as many times as we could, sit together for dinner and talk about what was happening in our lives, and so we created a great recipe where I could be completely honest with my mother and to an extent my father, being an attorney. Ryan Seacrest If you attempt certain things at the right time, they are easy to accomplish - in fact, they almost get done by themselves. If you undertake them before the time is right, not only will they fail, but they will often become impossible to accomplish even when the time would have been right. Francesco Guicciardini I carefully evaluated every single document I disclosed to ensure that each was legitimately in the public interest. There are all sorts of documents that would have made a big impact that I didn't turn over, because harm...

I remember them being very, very important. John Krasinski Ninety-five percent of all brussels sprouts come from California. Danny Meyer While the Chinese people, as a rule, are good people, my business dealings with Communist Chinese officials have left me disturbed and concerned about the rise of the Chinese Empire. Robert Kiyosaki When I first was trying to play the clubs around Houston to start playing my own songs, songwriters like Eric Taylor and Vince Bell and Townes Van Zandt and Don Sanders were just really encouraging to me and would let me sit in with them during their sets and introduce me to the person that owned and booked the club. Lyle Lovett I am a person beset with fears, and one of my fears is that this thing that I will be writing for five years won't work. And the likelihood, of course, is that it won't - and that's fine. Lauren Groff The stories we are told shape the way we see the world, which shapes the way we experience the world. De...

Social media reactions to celebrity death have taken on a predictable pattern: an outpouring of

shock with expressions of grief, followed by a ghoulish need to know all the details, to see the scene of the death and the family in mourning. Then a post-mortem dissection of all the perceived flaws the celebrity had. Jennifer Armintrout I am extremely proud to have the surname Ambani. I am proud to be a Gujarati, and above all, an extremely proud Indian. Anil Ambani My favorite memory is Tomorrow. Tomorrow's family moments are what I look forward to every day. No single favorite. Just Tomorrow. Nigel Barker I've never watched an entire episode of 'American Idol'. It's too mean. Christina Aguilera I was at a picnic, and there were a lot of songwriters. I remember praying, 'God I wish you would give me a song.' About five minutes later, my ears popped, and I saw everybody in slow motion. Nobody knew what I was experiencing. Andrae Crouch I think I was affected quite a bit by musical and creative influences that go all the way back to my child...

When you study a dog you love, you find beauty in every small detail, and

so it is with Lucille: I have become enchanted by the small asymmetrical whorls of white fur on either side of her chest, and by her tail, which she carries in a high confident curve, and by her eyes, which are watchful and intelligent, the color of chestnuts. Caroline Knapp I feel true success comes from being able to work and the love for it. Kiana Tom In this country you can say aloud or publish just about anything you like. William Greider Writing has become my great joy - I simply love it. Dawn French The greatest explorer on this earth never takes voyages as long as those of the man who descends to the depth of his heart. Julien Green I think you have to refill the well at some point. Skeet Ulrich Science has not been successful by making up explanations of things that fit with the current social fabric. Kary Mullis Men die but an idea does not. Alan Jay Lerner My golf is woeful but I will never surrender. Bing Crosby For the past 21 years, I've bee...