Growing up in Britain as a rather loose Jew, the two things that didn't belong

together were freedom and religious intensity. In America, they do. The Founding Fathers made a bet that if you didn't force everyone to profess religion in their own particular way, you could protect intellectual freedom, and religion would flourish.
Simon Schama

When I was 13, I told my dad I needed to record myself because I sounded awesome, even though I didn't. By 18, I was a lot better. Then I got a publishing deal, so I was writing songs for other people professionally.
Meghan Trainor

For the serious biographer, history and the life story of a real individual are inseparably intertwined. Get the facts wrong, or distort them, and the life story gets distorted: becomes fiction.
Nigel Hamilton

I think Mariska Hargitay on 'Law and Order: SVU' is a really good example of a female lead I'd like to emulate.
Spencer Grammer

I'll tell you what I do have: I have a good feel for ordinary people, for politics, and those are my strengths. I understand, I hope instinctively, where many of our Armed Forces come from.
Bob Ainsworth

Man is never perfect nor contented.
Jules Verne

Writing fiction was a way to take the ideas that troubled me or confused me and put them under pressure.
Phil Klay

Adventure games are all about details - if you happen to take this one object and use it with this other object, in a really weird place, at a weird time. If you happen to write a really funny dialogue line for that, even if it didn't solve the puzzle, people will appreciate that.
Tim Schafer

Taking time to contemplate what you're grateful for isn't merely the 'right' thing to do. It also improves your mood because it reduces the stress hormone cortisol by 23%.
Travis Bradberry

Billy Barnes signed me and got me my first role in an interracial love story filmed in Atlanta called 'Together For Days' with Clifton Davis. My mother thinks it was my best work. You cannot find a copy of it.
Lois Chiles

There are 15 main theories in physics, and we know all of them. If there weren't a finite number of theories, there would not be a point to physics.
Ivar Giaever

Gemeoss

I think airports are places of huge human drama. The more I see of it,

the more I am convinced that Heathrow is a secret city, with its own history, folklore and mythology. But what has surprised me is the love the people who work there feel for the place. Everyone seems to think they are plugged into something majestic. Tony Parsons A lost of people recognize me and maybe will ask for an autograph, but it's nothing like if Elvis would've done something like that, 'cause he's so popular, or maybe The Beatles 'cause they stirred up a lot of action. Mickey Gilley Conscience is a coward, and those faults it has not strength enough to prevent it seldom has justice enough to accuse. Oliver Goldsmith I'm not someone who believes in wasting my vote. Robert Carlyle It's going to be very interesting to see somebody playing me. Tippi Hedren I could be wrong, but I think heterosexual marriage is threatened more by heterosexuals. I don't know why gay marriage challenges my marriage in any way. Elizabeth Edwards The cl...

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...

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 ...

Marriage of attraction is a gamble anyway, so you might as well marry into a

family that is similar to your own, and make that much less of an adjustment. But the 'love marriage', as it is called, is equally common in India now. But it would be interesting to do a comparison of what would work better. Marriage is hard work, and it is a gamble. Mira Nair Democracy fascinates me. Lee H. Hamilton What is human warfare but just this; an effort to make the laws of God and nature take sides with one party. Henry David Thoreau A lifetime of training for just ten seconds. Jesse Owens I think one ages and one dates. I tend to have a good deal of difficulty in liking some of the new poets. James Laughlin I also write poems, so that is something that I really enjoy. Billy Sherwood This principle is old, but true as fate, Kings may love treason, but the traitor hate. Thomas Dekker It becomes more necessary to see the truth as it is if you realize that the only vehicle for change are these people who have lost their personality. Steven Biko T...

Right now, there is no way that the federal government can prevent someone who's on

the terror watch list from buying a gun - none. Ted Deutch Of course we want to pocket Fisker. But we will bid rationally. Whatever the result, nothing can stop us from making electric cars. Lu Guanqiu Next to religion, baseball has had a greater impact on our American way of life than any other American institution. Herbert Hoover One of the favorite conservative themes is that the cure for poverty is more marriage and earlier marriage. We hear that all the time; there have been billions of dollars now, between the Bush administration and the Obama administration, which has continued the marriage education program, on trying to get more people to get married. Rebecca Traister It's troubling that by eliminating weekend voting hours, the state of Ohio specifically banned a popular voting time of choice for minorities. In Cuyahoga County, which I represent, 56 percent of weekend voters in 2008 were African American while adult African Americans comprise 28 percent of the ...

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...

Remember the rights of the savage, as we call him. Remember that the happiness of

his humble home, remember that the sanctity of life in the hill villages of Afghanistan, among the winter snows, is as inviolable in the eye of Almighty God, as can be your own. William E. Gladstone It's nice to have a lot of people in the field. Independent, third party, Libertarian, Reform and other party candidates can do what they want to do. I welcome them to the race. John Murray To say that a work of art is good, but incomprehensible to the majority of men, is the same as saying of some kind of food that it is very good but that most people can't eat it. Leo Tolstoy We're aligning ourselves with Kerry. Our allegiance will be for peace, against war, no more deaths for oil, and for a dialogue between the government of Spain and the new Kerry administration. Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero I endeavor to be wise when I cannot be merry, easy when I cannot be glad, content with what cannot be mended and patient when there be no redress. Elizabeth Montagu Someti...

You have to remember what a super PAC is: a bunch of wealthy donors who

want to send a message traditionally other campaigns don't do. This is the problem with the dark money that's involved in politics right now. Corey Lewandowski I really never thought about the way I looked until boys came into the picture. Then it starts to be like, 'Am I wearing the right outfit? I have to do my makeup for school!' Georgia May Jagger My first job was working at Benihana as kitchen help. In college, I was a telemarketer for a company at the same time I was a bike messenger for this greasy fast-food place. Steve Aoki Despite the growing evidence of health benefits associated with coffee consumption, I still don't recommend my patients drink it - not because it's not healthy, but because there are even healthier choices. Michael Greger I was a little chubby, rosy-cheeked kid. Brad Goreski If you've had something for more than six months, and it's still not repaired, it's clutter. Gretchen Rubin I never wanted to be th...

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...

While the past asks only to be remembered, a woman's memory alters on her behalf

and in her best interests. Memory - the vain old biddy - cannot resist penciling a few slight, cosmetic revisions in the margins of the past.Sarah Ban Breathnach Between 1958 and 1963, I sold about 40 million records - to the shock of my mother and father because I was always playing Beethoven. But I bought my mother a mink stole. She was very happy, and she said, 'I think this is better than Beethoven.'Neil Sedaka I am a huge advocate for anti-bullying in our youth. What I have seen with the rise of social media is that children are not facing bullying on a playground, they are facing it on their cell phones.Whitney Wolfe Herd I enjoy fighting. It's one of my favorite things to do in the world, so I'm just enjoying every minute of it.Donald Cerrone No American should have to live in constant fear that their employer can fire them just because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.Jared Polis There's a lot of stuff out there that government s...