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One day, I went to buy something for my dad at the shops, and I

heard a song by Nat King Cole called 'Stardust Melody.' It was like I went into a trance or something. I forgot all about my dad sending me to the shop. When I got home, I explained to him what happened. I thought I was going to get a whipping, but he understood.
Desmond Dekker

The word 'universe' is obviously not intended to have a plural, but science has evolved in such a way that we need a plural noun for something similar to what we ordinarily call our universe.
Leonard Susskind

I don't think a lot of actors talk about it, but there's usually a process where you essentially purge yourself of the character that you played prior to the movie. That's the first thing. You want to do it.
Vin Diesel

There is but one nation on the globe from which we have anything serious to apprehend, but that is the most powerful that now exists or ever did exist. I refer to Great Britain.
John C. Calhoun

For notes related to books I'm writing, I've wondered whether I should organize my notes better, but I do find that the action or scrolling through them and seeing odd juxtapositions of ideas helps to stimulate my own ideas and creativity. I worry that if I kept the notes in a highly-structured way, I might lose some of these benefits.
Gretchen Rubin

Compromise is moving in the right directlon more slowly than one might like.
Grover Norquist

I crushed high school. I was a huge dork.
Alex Honnold

I haven't ever found any great writing on that wonderful and often unappreciated art form, the insult.
Dick Cavett

It's difficult because Manhattan is so fantastic, and it's 9 miles away, and all these cool rich people live there and have great lives, and you live in a semi-attached row house in Queens.
James Gray

My mom told me I never had enough Tonka toys when I was growing up.
Howard Graham Buffett

There is clearly a move among some tea-party people, not all of them, to always elect or nominate the most conservative person, and under that scenario, I don't think Scott Brown would probably be their first choice.
Corey Lewandowski

Gemeoss

One cannot be too careful in the selection of adjectives for descriptions. Words or compounds

which describe precisely, and which convey exactly the right suggestions to the mind of the reader, are essential. H. P. Lovecraft I got scars on my face that tell some kind of story. I'm looking in the mirror, and I got one scar that's really two scars - half from a baseball bat and half from playing football in college. I'll tell you, though, after a while, your face gets so wrinkled up you can hardly see them. Kris Kristofferson One of the things my father taught me was you should not exclude those who are opposed to your ideas. Benigno Aquino III Sometimes when it comes to the iconic kind of moments, when I read the script for the first time, you get little goose bumps or something because it really is kind of exciting. Aaron Ashmore Knowing that my ancestry had all been quite wealthy and owned their own businesses probably left me with the ambition to replicate what they'd done. John Caudwell I designed the miniskirt that caused so much havoc in the ...

When you find a song that you love, you just have to do it -

why would I try to match it? When I wrote more of the songs in the '90s - 'Nick of Time' and other songs I was surprised I came up with - it was because nobody else was saying what I wanted to say. Bonnie Raitt When journalists and politicians speak of a dwindling middle class that's under economic assault and a poor community that's getting bigger, they're talking about Ferguson. Independent of the racial demographics and dynamics of Ferguson, Missouri, there's a 'Ferguson' near you. Jesse Jackson It's become impossible to enjoy most quality television shows because the hurt or endangered women device is so frequently used. Jessica Valenti I was 65 in May, and when I have just shaved, I see my father. I realise that I now have the same facial idiosyncrasies he had: little twitches here and there, mouth and nose movements, even the way he would tilt his head. Rick Wakeman It's how the '70s were for movies, the 2000s are for TV...

If Sunday is the Lord's day, then Saturday belongs to the Devil. It is the

only night of the week when he gives out Free passes to the Late show at the Too Much Fun Club. Hunter S. Thompson Pantera revolutionized the sound and the approach to heavy metal. It's been regurgitated. Once you up the production on a product and not just the playing but the actual production, then it's going to up the ante. Phil Anselmo I've been truly blessed. I've been a fly on the wall of history. I've been just so many lucky places just by chance and serendipity, and obviously a huge portion of that serendipity had to do with my relationship with the real president, Ronald Reagan. Arthur Laffer Of all the seasons, winter is the most conducive to the great art of dormancy. This art requires an appreciation of semi-consciousness: the beautiful and necessary prelude to sleep - a special pleasure in itself that is all too often neglected, under-valued or looked down upon. Michael Leunig I personally am very active with the women's prison associati...

I remember eating in school in the years after the Second World War. Most of

my friends had miserable portions of Spam with an inedible, glutinous pudding served in containers we called 'coffins.' As a vegetarian, I had a lump of loathsome cheese and some bread. Robert Winston As I was sitting there, the deejay was playing music and talking over the music, and the kids were going crazy. All of a sudden, something said to me, 'Put something like that on a record, and it will be the biggest thing.' I didn't even know you called it rap. Sylvia Robinson A lyric, it is true, is the expression of personal emotion, but then so is all poetry, and to suppose that there are several kinds of poetry, differing from each other in essence, is to be deceived by wholly artificial divisions which have no real being. John Drinkwater While there have been terrific advances in the state of technology around heuristics, behavior blocking, and things like that, technology is only a part of the approach to solving the problem with the more important aspec...

When I talk football with my friends, I don't talk about Tom Brady's hair. I

talk about how he handles the blitz, or how he runs his offense. I talk as a fan. I don't want pink jerseys, and I don't want dumbed-down content. I want to be treated as a real fan - because I am proud to be one. Indra Nooyi Abandoned homes are everyone's problem, afflicting communities all over the state. Eric Schneiderman I know how to deal with jet lag, and I know just how much rest I need and when I need to take naps. When you walk on stage, you need your brain working at its highest and most fully-functioning, so it's not always easy, but I sort of figure it out. Joshua Bell It's all about being comfortable, being easy and having you be able to wear something and not having it wear you. It's classic. Every time I've tried to be bold and crazy, I feel like a Japanese animated cartoon character. Jennifer Aniston Silverstone is challenging, but it has a good feel. It's one of the quickest tracks of the year, with legendary corners like the...

The whole community of people with disabilities was alive, politically alive. I give Justin Dart

credit for that. He traveled to every state in the country. He really made people with disabilities understand that they had some political power. Major Owens Given the amount of unjust suffering and unhappiness in the world, I am deeply grateful for, sometimes even perplexed by, how much misery I have been spared. Dennis Prager The other part of outsourcing is this: it simply says where the work can be done outside better than it can be done inside, we should do it. Alphonso Jackson Money differs from an automobile or mistress in being equally important to those who have it and those who do not. John Kenneth Galbraith Everything in this world has a hidden meaning. Nikos Kazantzakis I never really did any disco dancing. Barry Gibb Our music's kind of about taking something ugly and making it beautiful. Jerry Cantrell

I remember, at MIT, we had to write an essay about something mathematical that you do

 in your extra time. I basically wrote about how dance, to me, was geometry: it was all shapes. Payal Kadakia I know everything that I do is going to be more powerful and touch more people in a positive way than if I go out there and cause havoc. Trevor Jackson I think I've had an illustrious career. Paul Pierce For me, it's always the same: worrying about how I can get better, the techniques I can do. Robbie Lawler Jean Thompson's short-story collection 'Who Do You Love' is a beautiful book, but a hell of a sad one. Jeff Giles You know what's funny? There's times when you catch a ball and really didn't even see that ball. You're like, 'That couldn't have been all me.' Calvin Johnson I wasn't a fanboy of horror. I didn't grow up on horror movies. I grew up loving all movies. I still love all movies, but I particularly love scary movies - as much for the culture around them as the movies themselves. Jason Blum I always sang in scho...

I remember someone saying to my mom that it must be so glamorous to have

a child acting in movies. They had no idea how hard it was for her. Douglas Booth The No. 1 thing is the product. The goods have to be good, but I care about how you feel about it. Mickey Drexler I'm much more interested in lesser-known eccentrics and characters and performers. Like Matthew Buchinger, who was born in Germany in 1674, had no arms or legs and yet did magic, and had 14 kids, and made the most extraordinary calligraphy. Ricky Jay A career for me is something like building a bridge. You know, where to put the lifts. You have a plan. I have a blueprint for each film, but not for my life. Claire Denis I'm terribly nostalgic, but I'm with the Elizabethans who thought nostalgia was a disease. It's a dangerous place to be because you can get caught up in it. Mark Gatiss I deal with the human psychology and evil. They are my twin issues. Greg Iles I've been encouraging documentary filmmakers to use more and more humor, and they're loath t...

The real question is: How do you react? What do you do next? Evade responsibilities?

Bury yourself in work? What do you do? All three of my novels take up that question, although none gives an answer. David Guterson I've been asked a lot lately if tennis is clean or not. I don't know any more how you judge whether a sport is clean. If one in 100 players is doping, in my eyes that isn't a clean sport. Andy Murray Writing songs has always been hard and easy. It's not always easy when you want it to be, and then sometimes it's just like turning on the faucet. That's just the nature of it. Jeff Tweedy Veterans are driven by the same frustrations that the public has with what is happening in Washington... the fiscal irresponsibility and the financial crisis that our country is facing. Pete Hegseth Americans have discovered the fragility of life, that ominous fragility that the rest of the world either already experienced or is experiencing now with terrible intensity. Jose Saramago Schools across India do not have teachers, libraries, ...

You remember France, it's the country that financed the American Revolution... OK, it was in

their self-interest, but still, they made it happen. Let's face it: without the French, there would be no America... in other words, without them, there is no us. Richard Belzer I do recall at one point being part of WWE and other guys taking the risk of stepping away, and a lot of guys don't do it because of the fear that it's not going to be the same. Rey Mysterio People didn't know where they could trade. When everybody owes each other IOUs that can be in multiple places at once, that's how the system couldn't tell any more who owned what and who owed what to whom. Blockchain could have prevented 2008. Patrick M. Byrne I find dipping one's toe into all of these people's lives is one of the major exciting points of being an actor. This dilettantism. Rupert Friend I think that when I was first starting out, even after I was on 'Gilmore Girls,' when things were going pretty well, I was constantly focused on what's next, how can my...