For boys like me, in north Indian railway towns in the '70s and '80s, where

nothing much happened apart from the arrival and departure of trains from big cities, the Soviet Union alone appeared to promise an escape from our limited, dusty world.
Pankaj Mishra

The manner in which life constructs itself must be dealing with some other principle which we've failed to identify.
Simon Conway Morris

I don't care where I live, so long as there's a roof to keep the rain off my books, and high-speed Internet access.
Eliezer Yudkowsky

People are playing games on their TV, young men are, and people are shopping... they are not watching their news channels, but they are using their TVs for other things.
Rupert Murdoch

It is now such a complex society in terms of media. It just comes at us from every direction. You kind of have to push it all away.
Peter Jackson

If you don't let people flourish in their jobs, why are they going to stay?
Joel Osteen

Ralph Fiennes was a pivotal influence on me. He asked me, 'So what is it you want to do?' I very shyly, timidly admitted that I wanted to be an actor. He sighed, and he said, 'Lupita, only be an actor if you feel there is nothing else in the world you want to do - only do it if you feel you cannot live without acting.'
Lupita Nyong'o

It's not a good idea to conceptualize a static relationship with long-standing policies, like health care.
Ezra Klein

When you want to die, you at least have a goal. You're aiming for something. It's not a good goal, but at least you want something. And you've got anger and fear, but at least you're feeling something.
Marilyn Manson

In his enigmatic and cunning story 'The Crown of Feathers,' Isaac Bashevis Singer refuses to produce uncontradictory evidence of God's will but rather mixes all signals, jams the evidence, stalls every conclusion.
Edmund White

In life, you either watch TV or you do TV. I told my daughters that the only way you're going to make it in this business is to get in the game. That's the biggest advice I can give them.
David Hasselhoff

Gemeoss

It's nice coming to Nashville, and we have four-bedroom house and a dog, and we

go swimming a lot. We get down here and spread out a lot, and I miss my sweet tea and my cornbread and my good southern cooking - but I'm down here eating pretty for two weeks and I'm ready to go back to New York City. Justin Townes Earle I hope everybody will go back to the negotiating table. I've always said this is the only way forward. Mohamed ElBaradei I'm the type of artist who touches people, that's the type of artist that I am. Jacob Lusk Writing is a fine therapy for people who are perpetually scared of nameless threats... for jittery people. William Styron Comedy wasn't something I chose - it chose me. Pauly Shore When I heard Aretha, I could feel her emotional delivery so clearly. It came from down deep within. That's what I wanted to do. Whitney Houston When I see old photos of me on the beach I don't look too bad... but it's hard trying to breathe in for such a long time when I spot the photographers! Gary Lineker St...

'Clueless' is an adaptation of 'Emma' by Jane Austen. It works either way: if you

know the book and if you don't. Jason Moore Civilization never recedes; the law of necessity ever forces it onwards. Jules Verne My favorite foods are things that aren't great to eat, like pizza. Stephen Pagliuca My martial arts came a lot from my uncle, who actually taught martial arts through the military. He was a black belt in tae kwon do, but also, he used a lot of military-style fighting where it's not the high kicks or anything like that. It's basically defeat your opponent as fast as possible. Brian Tee Memory is not pure. Memories told are not pure memories; memories told are stories. The storyteller will change them. I've always been interested in that. Alice McDermott It was always a dream as I was growing up. I would watch movies, mostly American movies, and be so engrossed in those stories, all I wanted to do was be there. I wanted to be part of that romance or that fantasy or be that warrior or that struggling soul who finally makes it g...

As long as we're focused on spending, there are only two ways to do that:

One is spend less, and Democrats have no solutions for that. Or we have pro-growth policies that make the economy grow so the dead-weight cost of government becomes a smaller percentage of the economy and therefore less expensive. Grover Norquist Models are like athletes: You burn hard and fast. Elettra Rossellini Wiedemann I've become saucy. Emma Bunton It's hard to juggle being a businessperson with being a creative person. You have to organize yourself - PR needs me for PR, and the licensing division needs me for licensing, the bridal people need me for bridal. Vera Wang A lot of things trigger my inspiration. It can be the most banal things. Manolo Blahnik I'm not looking to freak people out - eating rodents or bugs. I don't do that anymore. Anthony Bourdain My father was a Methodist and my mother was a Baptist. T. D. Jakes What I tell everyone, and I really do for myself is, I have a long-run dream, which is I want to work on stuff that I think...

When you're writing, you're only a brain and some fingers, but drumming, you're involving all

four limbs, and you're hearing stuff and you're converting your ideas into physical motions, getting physical feedback from things you are touching - it's pretty cool. It's a really a nice contrast to writing. Michael Azerrad The work of artists is to find what's humanly possible - possibility's furthest reaches. Tony Kushner If you look at the way people behave at shows, icons are now musicians; they are the people that we worship. Grimes As much as I long for a sort of security and consistency sometimes, I do enjoy sort of being busted around. I really don't know what's happening sometimes next week, let alone this year. Matthew Macfadyen On Wall Street, fraudulent schemes tend to thrive during economic booms, and to blow up when times turn tough. James Surowiecki I want a guy who can clean my gutters and kill my spiders - who's simple yet layered. Kelli Garner Politics is the art of controlling your environment. Hunter S. Thomps...

Until every soul is freely permitted to investigate every book and creed and dogma for

itself, the world cannot be free. Robert Green Ingersoll Exercise is about being grateful for the body you have and sustaining the life you have. Nicole Ari Parker From the days of biplanes and silk scarves, the aviator has been the archetype of masculine glamour. Aviators have personified national ideals, from French elan to Soviet party discipline. They've inspired lust and admiration. They've turned sunglasses and short, utilitarian leather jackets into fashion statements. Virginia Postrel The great thing about making picture books is that you can make absolutely anything you want happen. It's a bit like making a film, but you don't need lots of money for actors and costumes - you just need pens, paper, and your imagination. Mini Grey If you're famous, I don't - for the life of me - I don't understand why any famous person would ever be on Twitter. George Clooney I would definitely like to start working with more people over age 7. Beck Be...

To be sure, Kennedy did not discount the importance of words in rallying the nation

to meet its foreign and domestic challenges. Winston Churchill's powerful exhortations during World War II set a standard he had long admired. Kennedy was hardly unmindful of how important a great inaugural address could be. Robert Dallek If you have a pair of shoes that hurt, don't wear them. The ugliest thing that I think I've seen is a woman walk like her feet hurt. It's awful, so make sure your shoes fit. Kelly Rowland I make sure I get a lot of vegetables, a lot of fruit. I am a big fruit man; I am a vegetable man, anyway. Magic Johnson When people tell me they are going to go scrapbooking, I say, 'Why don't you make it yourself.' It's like chocolate-chip cookies. People buy the cookie-dough roll and slice it, and then they lay it on a cookie sheet. That's not making chocolate-chip cookies. Amy Sedaris Dear Chicago, when I wake up in the morning and see your skyline - the terra cotta of the Wrigley Building, the height of the Willis ...

A 5-acre school each in Noida and Gurgaon is what we have; it costs Rs.

50 crore to buy the land and another Rs. 50 crore to build the property. That's the capital cost alone.Shiv Nadar What is it like to get in someone's head and hunt them from inside their eyes? That's so freaky to me.Brian J. Smith I fell in love with L.A. To me, it is the most quintessentially American city.Jeremy Scott I don't understand how those old bands did it. We worked out early on that if we did three gigs in a row and went out afterwards, we'd lose our voices. We know our limits.Winston Marshall Coos Bay is a sports-minded town. You had to be an athlete to be somebody.Steve Prefontaine When I was in desperate trouble for maybe eight or nine years, I went to a neuropsychiatrist.Gene Wilder The digitisation of money, the rapid expansion of internet access and, of course, the adoption of mobile phones have created the perfect conditions to make it easier, secure, and affordable to save, spend, give, and borrow.Dan Schulman Playing football...

In his second Inaugural Address, on March 5, 1821, Monroe admitted at last to a

general depression of prices, but only as a means of explaining the great decline in the federal revenue. Despite this, he asserted that the situation of America presented a 'gratifying spectacle.' Murray Rothbard My mission is to support our service members. They're volunteers, and if they're going to go to a hostile place like Afghanistan, I think we owe it to them to back them up and try to help them get through it. Gary Sinise I lived in Cuba - I was there for one year in the 1950s. We built the famous nightclub, which is still there, Tropicana, and a restaurant, Montecatini, that I opened is still there. I was there when the U.S. ambassador said everyone must leave because Castro was arriving the next morning. Sirio Maccioni Facebook is looking to help you distribute content to who you want to distribute to. Facebook gets a lot better if you put each of your friends into either your 'close friend' or 'acquaintance' list. Robert Scoble I ...

You have to have a ton of passion for what you're doing because being an

entrepreneur is probably twice as hard as you think it's going to be. The good news is that it's probably twice as much fun when it's going well. Keith Belling The fact that I'm on 'Essex Anthems' makes me happy, especially because half of my family's from Essex. Jess Glynne I find it very easy to be alone. I'm a writer, for heaven's sakes! Simon Mawer I burned down my backyard as a seven-year-old. I poured kerosene over dried leaves and set the whole place on fire, just for fun. Yeah, not a very normal thing to do. Emraan Hashmi If you're somebody who writes songs or writes fiction, a writer that people pay for your opinion in any way, you shouldn't be the least bit uncomfortable giving it to them. People want songwriters to tell them how they think and how they feel. That's what a song is. That's what I want to hear in a song. Jason Isbell I would say I'm a goof ball, but not a comedian. Jake Lacy In many previ...

Since I was shot, everything is such a dream to me. Like I don't know

whether I'm alive or whether I died. I wasn't afraid before. And having been dead once, I shouldn't feel fear. But I am afraid. I don't understand why. Andy Warhol There's nothing wrong with having a collection, but it becomes a problem when it overwhelms your space. When you're not displaying it properly, you're not enjoying it and it turns into clutter. Niecy Nash If you wait to see how much money you have left at the end of the month to put toward savings, the answer may be zero. So, set up an automated monthly transfer from your checking to savings account. Once you lock into that commitment, you'll be forced to scale back spending to make ends meet. Suze Orman I am so very honored to be the recipient of MIPCOM's 2011 Personality of the Year. However, the accomplishments that have led to this honor are not mine alone. They are the result of the tireless efforts of so very many talented colleagues. Anne Sweeney I'm not the kind tha...