Although he moved away from the Midwest for good at the age of thirteen, Ray

Bradbury is a prairie writer. The prairie is in his voice, and it is his moral compass. It is his years spent in Waukegan, Illinois - later rechristened by Ray as 'Green Town' in many books and stories - that forever shaped him.
Sam Weller

My wife Juliana and I first saw Eurovision while on our honeymoon in Greece in 2006, and we were amazed by it. They basically recreate a music video onstage, and pyro cannons, LED video screens, background dancers, fireworks, costume changes, and wind machines are their tools.
Seamus Dever

It's human nature that if you get 20 positive comments and one negative one, you're going to focus on the negative. We all do that. It can be something that drags you down. It's easy to get bogged down with it, but I try to concentrate on the good things.
Bindi Irwin

And if we capture any of these ISIS killers alive, they are going to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and we're going to find out everything they know, because when I'm president, unlike Barack Obama, we will keep this country safe.
Marco Rubio

I know people get upset and go, 'They're going to take away the assault weapon'. But who needs an assault weapon? Like, really, unless you're carrying out an assault.
Sylvester Stallone

I briefly thought of becoming a priest but quickly saw that would be ridiculous.
Armando Iannucci

I still remember going to a smart restaurant in Los Angeles, and the maitre d' knew my name and showed me straight to a table even though we hadn't booked. I get stopped for autographs by people from Sweden on the tops of mountains.
Kevin Whately

The first thing Fontana did was get me to change my hair colour from light brown to red, and the songwriter Mitch Murray suggested I change my name from Pauline Matthews to Kiki Dee.
Kiki Dee

As a child, as far as I was concerned, my dad had an amazing job, and we had all the money we needed. My life was so fun and carefree that I didn't realize at all that we weren't rich - until I met someone rich. Still, I've never met a rich kid who grew up as happy as I did.
Artie Lange

Most high-level models that I've ever met are actually well-travelled; they're cultured, and no guy laying a cheesy line on them is actually going to impact their world.
Hannah Simone

Let us recognize that we can no longer tolerate violent oppression of women in the name of religion and culture any more than we would tolerate violent oppression espoused by any other bully in the name of a twisted rationale.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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 growing up thinking that astronauts and their job was the coolest thing you

could possibly do... But I absolutely couldn't identify with the people who were astronauts. I thought they were movie stars. David M. Brown The architect must be a prophet... a prophet in the true sense of the term... if he can't see at least ten years ahead don't call him an architect. Frank Lloyd Wright Many a happiness in life, as many a disaster, can be due to chance, but the peace within us can never be governed by chance. Maurice Maeterlinck Our mothers and fathers want change. They worked all of their lives, but today live in destitution. Viktor Yushchenko It's a very, very tricky situation. I haven't said yes to either of them. Brigitte Nielsen If they can make penicillin out of mouldy bread, they can sure make something out of you. Muhammad Ali I maintain that nothing useful and lasting can emerge from violence. Shirin Ebadi

No one remembers how the American people responded day-to-day, week-to-week, or month-to-month about the decisions

that Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower made during the most dangerous decades in American and world history. But we know now that they did what was right, and we honor them for it. Donna Brazile If you come out of the gate with a finger pointed, then you really aren't opening the door to any sort of resolution to whatever the problem may be. Whether it's about race or sexual orientation or religion, if you can't empathize with the opposing party, then you can't really meet in the middle. Octavia Spencer My voice broke very late. I think that, deep down, I knew that once it broke, my self-esteem would plummet, as I'd never be head chorister again. Tom Hollander As a child, the conversations that I liked to have with my friends - or with anyone, for that matter - were always about religion. Christy Turlington Citizenship must be precious, not handed out like candy in a parade. We don't ride along and throw out citizen...

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...

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...