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I love biographies. I read Patti Smith's 'Just Kids.' I'm into that time frame in

New York, the '70s and '80s. In art school, I read 'Close to the Knives,' the autobiography of the artist and AIDS activist David Wojnarowicz.
Barry McGee

I didn't learn much about writing at Sarah Lawrence, but I learned a lot about the sources of poems - dreams, myth, history - from the really great teachers, Joseph Campbell, Charles Trinkhaus, Bert Loewenberg, and a young Australian anthropologist named Harry Hawthorne.
Carolyn Kizer

One day, a musician asked me what I did. When I told him I was to be a businessman, he laughed and said, 'You are not a businessman.' Sometimes all it takes is one person to put an important thought in your head, and he did.
Alexander Hanson

My mom and dad got divorced, so it was one of those things where Sundays I'd go to Dad's apartment, and this was, say, 1970-whatever, and it had a pool table on the top floor in a very traditional kind of divorced-dad apartment building.
Chris Eigeman

Sometimes it's hard to open up about your personal life, your relationship because you always want the music to be in the forefront. You want the music to be the biggest carrier of everything that you represent.
Nayvadius Cash

You know, people understand fear and opportunity. It may look different, but it's really the same thing.
Majora Carter

Usually, cheap food is not nutritious. You're feeding people, but you're not really feeding people something that is good for them.
Alice Waters

I don't want to sit until I'm 90 with people running around after me. I'm not one for sitting on the couch.
Paul O'Grady

You are not thinking hard enough if you are sleeping well. And you would have to be unhinged to take on a subject like the French Revolution, or Rembrandt, and not feel some trepidation. There is always the possibility that you will crash and burn, and the whole thing will be a horrible, vulgar, self-indulgent mess.
Simon Schama

My tendency in life is to like movies that deal with heavy stuff, but it's my nature.
Hiam Abbass

There's something really unique about 'Orphan Black' is that it has a lot of female leads, so it's about a lot of women's stories, but it's not women's stories in terms of trying to find a guy or keep a guy; it's about entirely other things.
Tatiana Maslany

Gemeoss

I remember looking out into the sea of phone lights as Chris Martin belted 'Yellow' on the

  piano and deciding that that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Daya Shopping for an annuity with hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake can be daunting, even for an economist. Richard Thaler I wanted to do journalism, as I was an idealist. Then, in my second year of journalism, I realized that in real life, things don't work the way you expect them to. I realized that I could express my ideas better through films. Nithya Menen If your aim is to attack the United States, it is hard to imagine a more difficult way of getting here than by posing as a refugee. Samantha Power A lot of the O'Hare Modernization Plan may have been a mistake. Mike Quigley When someone shouts 'Skins' at you, its funny the first time. But after a hundred times, you think, 'I do have a name.' Kaya Scodelario There is no upside for the U.K. in Brexit. Only costs that can be avoided and advantages to be seized by remaining in Europe. No one should have to pay the Brexit ta...

I would say that it's mainly about the director. It's a hard quality to find,

but I always know whether I want to do something or not. The character is important to me, as is getting to work with people that I feel like I can learn from and make a great movie with. Alden Ehrenreich Viewers make online requests to their favorite video-making whisperers to do the things that trigger their head tingles. Everyone's needs are different. It's like an interactive choose-your-own-adventure. Andrea Seigel As you know, I was a solo singer, something I just got very much used to. Turns out I'm quite enjoying being in a band! Gareth Gates When you're six years old, you do not appreciate that you're living in the Alps. My sisters and I, all we wanted was to go to Disneyland. Ahna O'Reilly I don't think Beethoven expresses religious truth. He expresses a human truth. John Tavener In the suffragist and abolitionist era, there were a lot of white women and some black men and women who argued for the old hierarchy and against universal ...

There is constant talk about the intermarriage crisis: who is a Jew and how

 we define a Jew. That doesn't go over well with young Jews trying to figure out whether they want to be a part of this thing or not. Tahl Raz I've been studying voice for quite a while, especially opera, for at least seven or eight years. Shelly Burch Like anything, I remember who I work for. You work for the people who sent you to office. Darryl Glenn For the bourgeoisie, the main danger against which it had to be protected, that which had to be avoided at all costs, was armed uprising, was the armed people, was the workers taking to the streets in an assault against the government. Michel Foucault My grandmother is a huge part of my life. She's just a great woman: a woman of the church. Chance The Rapper I don't think we can fix poverty without fixing housing, and I don't think we can address housing without understanding landlords. Matthew Desmond One of my best friends since I was eleven years old is a gay man, and I knew his struggle. It was a tough life, you ...

I remember I was unsure about doing 'Shameless.' I'd never acted in anything so commercial.

I read the script in the garden with my mum, Mary. She said it's filthy dirty, but she said these people have love and sex and nothing else. That made me take the role. Anne-Marie Duff When you're mid-season, in very intense situations, it's hard not to take that home with you. Especially when you're sleeping, you can't control what you dream about. And it sneaks into the unconscious. Aaron Paul Millennials regularly draw ire for their cell phone usage. They're mobile natives, having come of age when landlines were well on their way out and payphones had gone the way of dinosaurs. Because of their native fluency, Millennials recognize mobile phones can do a whole lot more than make calls, enable texting between friends or tweeting. Chelsea Clinton 'Saw VI' has a really interesting theme about the ripple effect. Everything you do affects the guy next to you, which affects the guy next to him, which affects her over here. And you might think that ...

Persuasiveness is really just about getting your ideas across without being forceful.

  It's a skill that can be learned and is useful for anyone who works in a team environment. Amanda de Cadenet I was an extra in a Tia Carrere music video. Adam Scott When people start to think they're figuring out 'The Vampire Diaries,' it switches on you. Kat Graham It's a huge blessing to know you've done something that has affected people the way 'The Matrix' has. It's like, there's 'Star Wars,' and then there's 'The Matrix.' It's cool to be a part of that. Laurence Fishburne Voters aren't asking to be pandered to and aren't asking to be tricked. Jason Kander I'm a pretty controlled and disciplined person, but my real vice is buying plants and food shopping. Zac Posen Barack Obama was a president who understood not only how technology could transform the way government services worked but also technology itself. He got it. Steven Levy Positivity, confidence, and persistence are key in life, so never give up...

I remember, for the first time, sitting down and consuming books in a matter of

hours. This was such a new experience for me because reading, up until that point, had been such a struggle and source of stress. I think I just needed to find the right kind of stories with which I could identify. John Corey Whaley Having children showed me a whole different kind of love that I had never known. It was something that had always been missing. Complete love. I would die for them. Scott Weiland If I hadn't won at the Worlds and claimed so many ranking points, I would have been struggling for Rio. I'm in a good place now, though, and having the chance to fight for gold in Rio after everything I've been through would be a dream. Bianca Walkden To me, it is like a diabetic with insulin. If that diabetic stops taking insulin, they will die, and I believe that if I don't follow the 12-step programme, I will regress, and that could eventually be the death of me. Trinny Woodall There are maybe 100 actors I look up to, but my first two favourite actors...

The best way to show an emotion is not through a character's words, but their

smallest expressions - to take what an actor would visually do and try putting that down on the page for the reader to 'see.' Susanna Kearsley I do pay performance royalties on others' songs I perform live, but I'm not recording these songs and putting them up for sale. Prince I did record a bunch of stuff, but the thing that usually stops me from doing that is that I'm a terrible singer. I made a bunch of instrumental music, and it feels really good, but just as a singer, I'm not good. Flea If you're writing, it means getting up and writing all day, and if you're filming, it's getting up and filming all day. I get up, go to my computer, write, turn it off, and go to bed. That is a Clarkson day. Jeremy Clarkson Some of the things I'm most proud of, it isn't because I think it's my best work; it's because of something that it's taught me. Troy Baker Motherhood to me is something that I always wanted, but never quite ...

One of the strengths of Adani is that, because we are controlling mines, ships, ports

and logistics, we are the cheapest solution provider for end users. Gautam Adani We drove for 10 hours on rocky trails out into the central part of Mongolia in a Russian utility vehicle with no shock absorbers. Then we arrived at a remote area where we stayed in a yurt and waited to meet a horse wrangler who was scheduled to bring our rides. John Fusco I've got a PowerPoint deck that I use for internal presentations, and there's a slide on it that asks, 'What percentage of your game is combat versus exploration versus puzzle solving versus platforming,' and I refuse to answer that question. Warren Spector I remember the old Times Square from when I was younger, and there was a seedy thrill to it. Some of that is gone, which I have a little bit of nostalgia for. Janeane Garofalo Anyone who has ever asked for directions knows you need two crucial pieces of information to get good results: a starting point and a destination. Mike Quigley I was an observant b...

My mother had heard the story of Hannah and Samuel, so she prayed

that if God would give her a son, she would give that son to God. That was a perfectly appropriate thing for her to do, but as I observe, she did not have to tell me she had made such a promise. In particular, she did not have to tell me when I was six. Stanley Hauerwas 'Turtles' was by far my favourite TV show when I was growing up. It would be the show that I would wanna watch more than anything. We'd record it on the big VHS tapes, and I'd watch it before school, after school, on the weekend, wear the costume, have all the weapons. Greg Cipes The witch-hunting McCarthy era found Hollywood's view of the press growing bleaker along with the decade's view of everything else. Steve Erickson I remember when I first won the Academy Award and how much I loved it. I just wish there was an award around that you could really believe in again. Joanne Woodward The Da Jing street market is little more than a few narrow intersections, barely six blocks long. Bu...

Songwriters aren't always performers, and even performing songwriters aren't always the kind of show-biz performers

you think they'd be. Lyle Lovett I need to eat a lot; otherwise, I feel faint. I get in the worst moods if I don't eat. Cara Delevingne I want a girl who lets me do my own thing, but who is going to be by my side the whole time, because I know I'd be supportive of her. And kissing is a big thing for me! You have to be a good kisser. Daren Kagasoff A lot of times, I go and face the top receiver, and that's a task... it comes with the territory, and I never back down from that challenge. Johnathan Joseph You want your lady to be a contortionist. What man wouldn't want a lady who's a contortionist? J. B. Smoove The kids today, they think they can dance with their faces. Ginger Rogers Each piece of jewellery tells a story of my life. Picking one particular piece as a favorite would be like taking a chapter out of a book. Erin Wasson One of my earliest memories is walking up a muddy road into the mountains. It was raining. Behind me, my village w...