Being positive is like going up a mountain. Being negative is like sliding down a

hill. A lot of times, people want to take the easy way out, because it's basically what they've understood throughout their lives.
Chuck D

My uncle Randall always had a book in his hand. He read in the car, he read at restaurants, he read when you were talking to him. He read lots of different things, but mostly it was Louis L'Amour's westerns and contemporary thrillers.
Stephen Graham Jones

In Britain, you don't usually learn about evolution until you are about 15. I should have thought that you should start at about 8. But I could be wrong about that.
Richard Dawkins

My interest in astronomy grew from the play 'Space' that I did, where I had to learn where my character was from. I had to study the stars and figure where everything was and how I got here and all of those things.
J. August Richards

I love Monet - I've nicknamed him King Blob. When you go up to the painting, it's a series of blobs - amazing.
Celia Imrie

Fans are always asking me where I get my ideas from. The answer is that I'm very curious, and I get inspiration from everywhere. I read the newspapers voraciously, so I know what's going on in real crime. I pay attention to the strange stories people tell me, and I also read a lot of scientific and forensic journals.
Tess Gerritsen

I don't know if any genuine, meaningful change could ever result from a song. It's kind of like throwing peanuts at a gorilla.
Tom Waits

One thing I know in baseball is you should never be comfortable where you are. It doesn't matter who you are. It's a business. If I got traded tomorrow, no hard feelings; it's a business.
Jon Lester

The way the films look will never entertain an audience alone. It has to be in the service of a good story with great characters.
John Lasseter

I am confined to the Lego palate. I don't paint the bricks. I stick with what Lego has made. And the idea behind that is I do want to hopefully inspire kids to go home and create on their own. And if I do, I want them to be able to buy those very same bricks I use. So I don't alter the bricks; I just use what's provided.
Nathan Sawaya

Just about anyone can make a good product, but it's the people that count. In the end, it's the employees who will take it from a kitchen-table idea to the next level. There are a lot of important things in business, but the people portion comes first.
Hamdi Ulukaya

Gemeoss

'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 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...

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...

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 ...

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 can play guitar - but I can't really. I wouldn't say I'm talented at

it. I just kind of watch videos on YouTube, and I follow the instructions... OK, yeah, my hidden talent: I'm good at following instructions!Chloe Kim I change my beauty routine every six months, but I make sure to use products that are light and gentle.Chiara Ferragni I loved playing with a doll as a youngster. I liked dressing her up and combing her hair. This one doll had a really big face and hair and earrings. I had her for a long time and only got rid of her when I was at high school.Michelle Carter In 2008, Senator John McCain forbid his staff from using an ad that referred to his opponent Barack Obama's inflammatory former pastor Jeremiah Wright or from raising that issue in any other way. He believed it was a sneaky way to use Obama's race against him.John Dickerson Nom is a place for food lovers.Steve Chen I thank Secretary Clinton and her team for recommending me to serve as the permanent chair of the 2016 Democratic National Convention. It is an ho...

Seeing Taylor Swift live in 2013 is seeing a maestro at the top of her

or anyone's game. No other pop auteur can touch her right now for emotional excess or musical reach - her punk is so punk, her disco is so disco. The red sequins on her guitar match the ones on her microphone, her shoes and 80 percent of the crowd. Rob Sheffield On December 18, 1940, Hitler signed Directive Number 21, better known as Operation Barbarossa. Leopold Trepper Let nobody be fooled, the next two quarters are not going to be easy either in terms of growth or employment. Luis de Guindos And, gentlemen, they have not yet done so, and it is quite clear that no Americans, no people in the world probably, are going to war with the Soviet Union. Paul Robeson I love New York City. Li Na I do more work in Britain than I do anywhere else in the world. Edwin Starr I've never made any money off of any of my films. Statement of fact. So without commercial work, I would be in big trouble. Errol Morris I love being black in America, and especially being black in Hollyw...

The negative effects of combat were nightmares, and I'd get jumpy around certain noises and

stuff, but you'd have that after a car accident or a bad divorce. Life's filled with trauma. You don't need to go to war to find it; it's going to find you. We all deal with it, and the effects go away after awhile. At least they did for me. Sebastian Junger Kids are falling through the cracks and nobody notices it. That to me is what's wrong with the school system. Melinda Gates Of course in the first matches you are more careful, perhaps more careful than you should be. Diego Maradona The songs were really complicated. I used to meet people in bar bands who were trying to play our songs and they were really struggling with it. Technically it was really difficult stuff. Kip Winger We all have sadness in our life and things that we can draw upon. Sherilyn Fenn My greatest life lesson has been that life can change in a second. This is why it's important to always live your best possible life and to do what you can for others. Niki Taylor When I ...

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...