I don't listen to music while writing; it seems to me I'm trying to make

my own kind of music, and to have anything else going on is just noisy interference.
Chang-Rae Lee

Guys like me and Ray Charles, when we was coming up through our days, country music and soul music was just a very thin line between the two.
Percy Sledge

With a few exceptions, birds are not to be trusted; it is not normal to have such soft, vulnerable bodies bookended with slashing beaks and razor-sharp claws. It is as unnatural as an armed marshmallow.
Mallory Ortberg

I'm a Christian guy, and when it comes to my priorities, it's the utmost. For me, just to calm myself down, to keep my perspective when I'm playing, to not make too big a deal of it... that's where I go to. The peace that comes with that allows me to play free golf.
Zach Johnson

I get quite disappointed that we're still telling stories that I think are problematic in terms of what they're saying about women.
Romola Garai

First off, no one award-wise ever rewards comedy, which is... whatever. I don't care about that.
Adam McKay

I never think of access or good will. I just want a good interview. I want guests to be informative and entertaining. I've never been concerned about someone's liking me tomorrow.
Larry King

Free enterprise capitalism has been the most powerful creative system of social cooperation and human progress ever conceived, but its perception and its role in society have been distorted.
John Mackey

To become a big movie star like Joan Crawford, you need to wear blinders and pay single-minded attention to your career. Nobody paid attention to me, including me.
Evelyn Keyes

I don't think I'm made of the right stuff to be a politician. I think I'm made to be a loose cannon.
Penn Jillette

Some taxpayers may object to a print journalism bailout on the grounds that it mostly benefits the liberal elite. And we can't blame taxpayers for being reluctant to subsidize the reportorial careers of J-school twerps who should have joined the Peace Corps and gone to Africa to 'speak truth to power' to Robert Mugabe.
P. J. O'Rourke

Gemeoss

I would have to say the most challenging thing about directing is the sheer stamina

because... as a director, you're always doing something. Someone always needs to talk to you. There are always decisions to be made and every day for as long as the movie goes on. So it's a marathon... You don't have to look nice, but it's all day every day. Michael Urie It's been a joy to be a part of other people's journey, to be able to inspire and be a part of new singers coming up in this business. Christina Aguilera It wasn't that I got pinned against my locker, but I was intensely aware that the things I valued weren't shared by anyone. Girls didn't like me, and I had few friends. Josh Groban We must also win really sufficient and, above all, practical, guarantees for the freedom of the seas and for the further fulfilment of our economic and political tasks throughout the world. Bernhard von Bulow For thugs from the ghetto, violence is a way of life - it's what helps you survive. Suge Knight Now we are using the body scanner to s...

I love the idea that we put in jokes the kids don't get. And that

later, when they grow up and read a few books and go to college and watch the show again, they can get it on a completely different level. Matt Groening Brainy folks were also present in Lyndon Johnson's administration, especially in the Pentagon, where Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara's brilliant 'whiz kids' tried to micro-manage the Vietnam war, with disastrous results. Thomas Sowell The most interesting guy I've ever played with was King Hassan of Morocco. I went over there on a trip in the early 1970s, and the King and I played five holes. I've never been that nervous in my life. Lee Trevino George Martin is an incredible writer. Peter Dinklage I do come from a strong family. Arlen Specter I think any cancer patient, if you dig not too deeply, they want to live. Charles Jencks We believe in personal choice, rather than society dictating how we must live our lives. Mike Peters Yeah, I've only been acting since I was 18 out of high...

Priority is placed on the chastity of women. You can be corrupt, or a murderer

and still hold your head up high on the street without problems, whereas if there are any suspicions of your chastity and moral behaviour as a woman, you get lynched. Safak Pavey You have to say now that space is something. Space can vibrate, space can fluctuate, space can be quantum mechanical, but what the devil is it? Leonard Susskind I don't think Russia could start a war by attacking any of the NATO member states. Milos Zeman Like every artist that comes out, you want to make a mark; you want to be a household name and you want to be someone that people are going to look back in ten years/fifteen years' time and go, 'I love this guy Olly Murs. He was brilliant back in the day; he was someone I really, really liked.' Olly Murs Fundamentally, the basis of all modern progress is the efficiency of labor. And the only sure road to restored prosperity is through the thrift and hard work of our people as a whole. Charles M. Schwab May we treasure the divine...

I love a well-plotted story. But I'm just not that kind of writer, and it's

not necessarily by choice. When I manipulate plot, I feel I lose authenticity. Alice McDermott I made three short films of my own which I wrote, produced, directed... you did everything in those days. My favourite one was something I shot on VHS... a little documentary. Asif Kapadia Everything comes out in blues music: joy, pain, struggle. Blues is affirmation with absolute elegance. It's about a man and a woman. So the pain and the struggle in the blues is that universal pain that comes from having your heart broken. Most blues songs are not about social statements. Wynton Marsalis There's still a lot I'm angry about, a lot of human behaviour that's appalling and despicable, but you choose what you can fight against. I always thought if I could just put something in words perfectly enough, people would get the idea and it would change things. Neil Peart I'm not specifically attached to anything other than trying to, in my personal life, fight against wh...

I will never tire of recommending the custom, practiced by the best architects, of preparing

not only drawings and sketches, but also models of wood or any other material. These... enable us to examine... the work as a whole... and, before continuing any further, to estimate the likely trouble and expense. Leon Battista Alberti Being on television, playing the same character for many years, for me, I think that would get a little tedious. Peter Dinklage I've been playing since I was 5, but I wouldn't say that I'm serious about the piano. Kiernan Shipka People are needed to take up the challenge, strong people, who proclaim the truth, throw it in people's faces, and do what they can with their own two hands. Abbe Pierre The excitement right now is coming from the Liberty movement. And the Republicans want a piece of it. Gary Johnson I never realized I could love people as much as I do now. George Lopez When the students were killed at Kent State, the cast voted to do a demonstration from the stage, and I abstained. Holly Near If I make two f...

I never thought then I'd be doing what I'm doing now. At my high school,

being on the girls soccer team was the cool thing to do, but that was definitely never going to happen for me, so I played music. Not because everyone thought it was awesome, but for the love of it. Kate Voegele Then hast our the Red Stone perfect with less labour, expense of time and costs, for the which ever thank God. George Ripley There are many plant medicines that are available to us that have a lot of stigma around them that I hope, in the future, our medical community can look at, because I would absolutely go to those alternatives first before I went back to Western medicine. Melissa Etheridge A husband is very much like a house or a horse. Anthony Trollope I'm a curvy girl and that will never change. Holly Madison Restaurants are a wonderful escape for me. And are for a lot of people. Gay Talese I have an enormous appetite to see life as I know it presented in front of my eyes. Wallace Shawn If you are in business, you are not enjoying. You are workin...

I have no problem with it. I don't look on homosexuality as an aberration. It's

just they way they're born, and how could any relationship between two people in a committed relationship be wrong, regardless of gender? Andrea Thompson The guy that I worked on 'Thriller ' was a genius and he was 20 years old, but it was like working with a gifted 10-year-old. The guy who I worked on with 'Black Or White' was crazy. Michael had gone mad. John Landis My parents would have loved it if my brother or I had become a doctor or lawyer. Gabriel Macht Maybe you're better to play a villain just straight out. Sigourney Weaver French design hardly exists, except as artificial modernism. Christian Lacroix Every form of government tends to perish by excess of its basic principle. Will Durant Maybe with boxing and good focus, I can fix myself and make my mother proud. Amnat Ruenroeng If you give yourself to your task at once, you won't have to do it twice. David Seabury I feel very, very proud that so many people have copied me. ...

I remember when I was in third grade, I was in a classroom, and the teacher said,

'What do you want to do when you get older?' We were going around the room. I said, 'I want to be a professional basketball player.' She's like, 'That's not realistic.' I thought to myself, 'OK, watch.' Zach LaVine Professional wrestling is my first love, and I will continue to do that, but if I get a good offer for a film or a show, I would love to take it up. Sangram Singh I had this dream in my head of, if I got hired by 'SNL, what that moment would be like. And I dreamed that I would, like, collapse on the sidewalk and cry to the heavens. I got this call, and it didn't happen naturally. But I did it anyway because I wanted to have that moment. So I did collapse. Kate McKinnon It's funny: I don't feel like I have any particular privileged feeling for the Fifties. Todd Haynes Stock market goes up or down, and you can't adjust your portfolio based on the whims of the market, so you have to have a strategy in a position and s...

I wrapped 'Buffy' and I always felt on 'Buffy' that they wanted to keep me

younger for a specific reason. It seemed like I was getting younger every year that I was on the show. I think there was a reference to me being 15, then 14. Michelle Trachtenberg Singing is not indulged in by Rotary clubs of some countries and all clubs are given full privilege to do as they please about including it in their programs. Paul Harris We need to take steps to strengthen and mend Social Security so that its promise of a secure retirement is just as real for seniors in the future as it is today. Herb Kohl It is a sign of a dull nature to occupy oneself deeply in matters that concern the body; for instance, to be over much occupied about exercise, about eating and drinking, about easing oneself, about sexual intercourse. David Bailey To be happy with a man you must understand him a lot and love him a little. To be happy with a woman you must love her a lot and not try to understand her at all. Helen Rowland The very success of medicine in a material way may no...

There is constant talk about the intermarriage crisis: who is a Jew and how

we define a Jew. That doesn't go over well with young Jews trying to figure out whether they want to be a part of this thing or not. Tahl Raz I've been studying voice for quite a while, especially opera, for at least seven or eight years. Shelly Burch Like anything, I remember who I work for. You work for the people who sent you to office. Darryl Glenn For the bourgeoisie, the main danger against which it had to be protected, that which had to be avoided at all costs, was armed uprising, was the armed people, was the workers taking to the streets in an assault against the government. Michel Foucault My grandmother is a huge part of my life. She's just a great woman: a woman of the church. Chance The Rapper I don't think we can fix poverty without fixing housing, and I don't think we can address housing without understanding landlords. Matthew Desmond One of my best friends since I was eleven years old is a gay man, and I knew his struggle. It was a tough life, you ...