Anyone can show exceptional leadership ability in easy times. When all's going to plan, anyone

can be inspirational/excellent/innovative and strong. The real question is how do you show up when everything's falling apart?
Robin S. Sharma

The reality of Katrina didn't really strike me until the first time I flew up in a helicopter and saw areas of the city that I had ridden my bicycle as a youth being fully flooded.
Ray Nagin

I am passionately invested in the survival of Israel and everything Israel represents. But I am extremely critical of much of its policy. I believe that the occupation must end. And if it doesn't, it will end Israel. I'm not in favor of settlements.
Simon Schama

I grew up listening to The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and every record those bands put out was very unique in its own right. I have that mentality. too: if a song sounds like something I've already done, then I'll throw it out, because I want each record to be a progression.
Kellin Quinn

I've met many, many writers who say they would never write about their family, never write about people they did not totally make up. But that is not the composition of my character.
Pat Conroy

Violence is a big problem. Too many children are dying. Too many children. We must do something.
Gabrielle Giffords

I'm fascinated by the idea of disparate, difficult people learning to trust each other when they're thrust into hellish circumstances.
Sharon Shinn

Our laws guarantee all students the right to a K-12 education, regardless of their immigration status.
Wendy Kopp

When I finish a film, I want to forget it. I never like to repeat myself. Maybe, when I am dead, they will find certain consistencies in the style of my films, but I never want one film to look like another.
Otto Preminger

Most remember the groundbreaking first in sports; few remember the third or fourth to follow in those tracks. That's not downplaying anyone's achievements but rather recognizing that there comes a time when simply being there is no longer good enough for the record books.
LZ Granderson

I feel lucky that I had my children late. Not that I would advise it in any shape or form. But I know friends who had children when they were young, struggled with feeling trapped. I can honestly say I've never once resented the fact that I couldn't go out because of my kids.
Mariella Frostrup

Gemeoss

When I was 17, I worked in a mentoring program in Harlem designed to improve

the community. That's when I first gained an appreciation of the Harlem Renaissance, a time when African-Americans rose to prominence in American culture. For the first time, they were taken seriously as artists, musicians, writers, athletes, and as political thinkers. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar I only make movies that are interesting to me. Brian Grazer I wouldn't say I was organised at all. I just have to prioritise. Is it more important for them to be organised, or to have their dinner, do you know what I mean? Jo Brand The courage in journalism is sticking up for the unpopular, not the popular. Geraldo Rivera A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy dare live. Bertrand Russell I think Mick Jagger would be astounded and amazed if he realized that to many people he is not a sex symbol, but a mother image. David Bowie I enjoy my job as long as I can create a character, otherwise it's boring. Jav...

All I've been a part of has been thanks to the Disney company: the job,

experience, travel, opportunities have come thanks to Disney. Working for Disney was not part of my original plan, but it was part of God's, and it shows that God is still moving. Jodi Benson It almost goes without saying that when you are a startup, one of the first things you do is you start setting aside money to defend yourself from patent lawsuits, because any successful company, even moderately successful, is going to get hit by a patent lawsuit from someone who's just trying to look for a payout. Charles Duhigg People always ask me about 'Girls' with this kind of hesitation. What do I think of it? I love it. It's awesome. I get a lot of Where do you come down on this? I come down on the side of 'Yay, Lena Dunham. Congratulations. I'm jealous.' She's doing something so fantastic. Maybe it's not for everybody, but it certainly is for me. Callie Khouri I've never really understood the term 'Post-Impressionism' as more tha...

Given Pounds and five years, and an ordinary man can in the ordinary course, without

any undue haste or putting any pressure upon his taste, surround himself with books, all in his own language, and thence forward have at least one place in the world. Augustine Birrell Everyone should know that most cancer research is largely a fraud, and that the major cancer research organizations are derelict in their duties to the people who support them. Linus Pauling A Bush Administration will, I believe, enjoy a better relationship with the new Congress, although President-elect Bush will be faced with real challenges in getting along with the Congress. Richard V. Allen I once thought that I was the only man that persevered to be the friend of the white man, but since they have come and cleaned out our lodges, horses, and everything else, it is hard for to believe the white man any more. Black Kettle When you finish a poem, it clicks shut like the top of a jewel box, but prose is endless. I haven't experienced an awful lot of clicking shut! Kenneth Koch I thin...

As a Midlander and a big walker, I'd always loved ridge and furrow

fields, the plough-marked land as it was when it was enclosed. It is the landscape giving you a story of lives that ended with the arrival of sheep. Jim Crace I think it's really rare to see women on television who are brilliant, selfish, vain, fallible - and I feel like I have all those capacities in myself, so it's good to see people in the media representing all of those things. Kerry Bishe I never went after fame. It fell into my lap. Caitlyn Jenner My mom and dad were actors when they were younger and had a horrible experience of it. My dad became a literary agent and my mom a casting director. Daniel Radcliffe I have this idea of trying to catalog all the genes on the planet. Craig Venter The wind from the Kingdom of Heaven has blown all over the world, and shall blow for centuries yet. George William Russell I always said if I played a drag queen, I'd want to create a template with the realness they talk about in 'Paris Is Burning.' Billy P...

I was one of those kids who thought I could be the president of England when I grew up if

I wanted to. Then I started acting and realized life is hard, and people are mean. And there's no president of England, and I'm not British. Riley Keough As chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I am confronted every day with the security concerns and threats to our own nation's safety, as well as threats to the rest of the world. John McCain Ride-sharing is one of the biggest math problems that's ever been approached, that's ever been attempted to be solved. Chris Sacca The history of the African American community is one of enduring, relentless struggle with a vision of accepting nothing less than full social and economic equality. Danny K. Davis I immediately was captured by 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist.' It gave me a springboard into contemporary Pakistan and a dialogue between Pakistan and the rest of the world. Mira Nair We need to get involved in things that are important to other countries, just as we expect them to participate in thing...

Music was the one thing that was just mine, and no one could take it

from me. I created it, dictated it, and it made me not able to let go of it. Mitski I'll be reaching across the aisle to find opportunities to work with Democrats on the issues that desperately need to be addressed. Thom Tillis Any sympathy won for Aileen Wuornos based on a lie is not sympathy at all. The question is, can we have sympathy for the circumstances of someone's life? That's what I was interested in. Patty Jenkins God only made one thing in this world that's perfect - and that's my boxing record. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. The fan mail I get every day is incredible. It piles through the door from not just Britain but everywhere. It is so great to have that support behind me - everyone says I am an inspiration. It is great. Charlotte Dujardin I'm not a natural. I had to teach myself - or be taught - everything I do. I just spent hours and hours in the mirror mimicking Michael Jackson. Ne-Yo For me, age doesn't matte...

Thank goodness I started getting movie roles and then television shows came along. So I

was very fortunate to be able to do all three and I like all of them. Victor Garber What really disconcerts commentators, I suspect, is that when they read historical fiction, they feel their own lack of education may be exposed; they panic, because they don't know which bits are true. Hilary Mantel Do I want to see people take their Social Security payments and put them into private accounts, open up an eTrade account and go into the stock market? Absolutely not. Sean Duffy Religion obviously played a role in this book and the previous book, too. Studs Terkel I wanted to be myself. Only myself. Brigitte Bardot Culture is a way of coping with the world by defining it in detail. Malcolm Bradbury I give each book however long it needs to be the best I can make it. Sherrilyn Kenyon My wife cooks. I can't cook. I can remix leftovers pretty good, though. Big Boi The best way to ruin a comedy is to throw a lot of money at it. Jay Leno From the reader's ...

There have been several television movies, 'Carrie 2,' two musicals! I remember

thinking, the first time there was a musical on Broadway, 'Oh my gosh! The people who ordinarily go to the theaters, that's not really the audience.' Sissy Spacek Sometimes it's okay for an audience not to understand everything that's going on. Peter Morgan I don't think there's anything to be ashamed of about being a woman who loves fashion. Fashion is a vehicle for self-expression, it tells the world who you are and how you want to be seen. If you use it as a canvas for creativity, then you might want to talk about it, you know? And I fully embrace that. Elaine Welteroth Me and my brother just used to fight all the time; then my sister came along, and it was all about the little girl in the house. We'd always eat dinner together as a family. Greg Rutherford New Yorkers have an intimacy with Trump, man. I mean, for decades. Holly Hunter Fairness and equality means that what you are never limits who you can be. It means that a young African-American man...

With those people, I'm very far apart, because I believe that government access to communications

and stored records is valuable when done under tightly controlled conditions which protect legitimate privacy interests. Dorothy Denning Whatever is received is received according to the nature of the recipient. Thomas Aquinas Tomorrow lurks in us, the latency to be all that was not achieved before. Loren Eiseley Anybody can be Pope; the proof of this is that I have become one. Pope John XXIII To strive with difficulties, and to conquer them, is the highest human felicity. Samuel Johnson One hour of right-down love is worth an age of dully living on. Aphra Behn History has shown us all too often the consequences of dreaming poorly or not at all. Jeff Vandermeer

I don't like the idea of being eaten by a shark. I like to swim

in the ocean, and I think much more about sharks than anyone should. I really resent the fact that my oceangoing experiences are ruined by 'Jaws.' David Duchovny It needs to be said, over and over again, that Stan the Man was voted by 'The Sporting News' as the best baseball player of the postwar decade, from 1946 through 1955. George Vecsey We don't take anything when we pass away, and we need to do with the sense of responsibility. Carlos Slim No-one has ever called me a cool dude. I'm somewhere between geek and normal. Linus Torvalds I think in any relationship, even in the healthiest of relationships, we are all parents to each other at times. I think that's a normal, healthy sort of relationship. I think there are times when we're each a mother and a father when we need to be. Christopher Stanley I don't know if I can prepare for what's to come because I don't know what will. Daisy Ridley If you've got a camera, go ...