Skip to main content

I think public intellectuals have a responsibility - to be self-critical on the one hand,

to do serious, nuanced work rigorously executed; but to also be able to get off those perches and out of those ivory towers and speak to the real people who make decisions; to speak truth to power and the powerless with lucidity and eloquence.
Michael Eric Dyson

Complexity excites the mind, and order rewards it. In the garden, one finds both, including vanishingly small orders too complex to spot, and orders so vast the mind struggles to embrace them.
Diane Ackerman

Corporations are created by the people, acting through their governments. We grant them corporate charters that confer certain legal rights and privileges, like the ability to enter into contracts, limited liability and perpetual life.
Jim McGovern

Because I am really interested in gardening, I do really interesting plants, not even always flowers. And because I have grown them, I really know them like friends. I paint everything from exotic orchids to rosehips growing wild in a hedge. They just have to speak to me.
Emma Tennant

Prior to Magellan, due to the fact that we knew it was so hot on Venus, we thought that the rocks at the surface would behave more plastically, more like Silly Putty than like solid rock in the way that we think of it, like the rocks that I'm sitting on.
Ellen Stofan

I've had a lot of disappointments. I think my biggest disappointment is the failure of elected officials to make good on their promises in regards to the environment or anything else, really. I have very little faith in politicians.
Paul Watson

Our eyeball hours are scarce, indeed. That's why Google wants us to do as much as possible online, in range of their ads, and is willing to spend billions creating more reasons and ways for us to do so.
Douglas Rushkoff

Businesses have come and gone at Homeboy Industries. We have had starts and stops, but anything worth doing is worth failing at. We started Homeboy Plumbing. That didn't go so well. Who knew? People didn't want gang members in their homes. I just didn't see that coming.
Greg Boyle

We can choose a path that leads us into trouble. It all comes down to our decisions at the end of the day.
Gabby Douglas

The separation of church and state was meant to protect church from state; a state that declares religion off limits in public life is a state that declares itself supreme over all religious values.
Ben Shapiro

I've played a lot of villains. The villains are always fun because you can just go fractionally bigger than life. It's always a grey area because you don't want to end up mustache-twirling and making them a little false, but you always get to play a little more, whereas the lead guy has to be a little more straight.
Neil Jackson

Gemeoss

The reaction to 'Aftermath' has been far worse than to 'A Life's Work,' yet I

find I'm perhaps a little less touched by it. In both cases, I've coped artistically by believing the criticisms weren't right. They upset me, but they didn't challenge my understanding of how to write, nor of how morality functions in literature. Rachel Cusk I'm not one to take revenge. If someone does something wrong to me I leave it in the hands of the universe to take care of that person. Lana Parrilla At the end of the day, I think that I'm making music for me as that 12-year-old kid in front of my boombox every day. I try to think about, if I'm that little kid, what would he like? Danny Brown I can't see where there is anywhere left to move. If you don't have a recount it's hard to receive any more votes. Robert Torricelli I have no friends and no enemies - only competitors. Aristotle Onassis I don't know anyone who enjoys going to the hospital. To help remedy this, I got an idea to create what a Laugh Room in the pediatr...

The monetary impacts of malaria from the household to the global level are significant.

 Malaria tends to strike during harvest season, rendering families too sick and too weak to perform the work necessary to earn a living. Malaria-stricken families spend an average of over a quarter of their income on malaria treatment. Tedros Adhanom It's not in the interest of most mapping companies to make those changes as they occur, but if you give the power to local people, you can be sure that you're always getting the best information from the folks that actually drive those roads every day. Noam Bardin We are all pleased when our names are pronounced and spelled correctly. Russell M. Nelson Music and dance is part of everything in New Orleans. So I grew up appreciating it all. Dawn Richard I get things out of my system through my songs, but, because they can be about so many different things, it takes me a while to get through them emotionally. Sharon Van Etten I like to think I've changed the centre of gravity on lots of national debates. Nigel Farage I was a membe...

Over my NFL career, I've had five head coaches who have helped me become better

at my craft and have helped me become a better human being: Jim Mora, Tony Dungy, Jim Caldwell, John Fox, Gary Kubiak.Peyton Manning There's all kinds of schisms in Satanism, but the thing I like about it is the quest for knowledge.Glenn Danzig I know my body's limits. I've never enjoyed Spin classes, where they're like, 'Push it further!' I'm like, 'No. If I pull something, I can't work tomorrow.' That's why I gave up Bikram yoga.Cobie Smulders I really am a full-blown Scorpio. Whenever I look things up about my sign, it's like, Check, check, check: thoughtful, detailed, moody, stubborn, prideful, emotional.Selah Louise Marley We always find a way to learn and to get better.Travis Kalanick I take a lot of personal pride and motivation to be able to make a difference in areas that may fall through the cracks in R&D across the industry.Vivek Ramaswamy Asa Briggs was a historian of class history, so he felt obligated t...

I don't remember any sibling rivalry growing up, because by the time I was really

conscious, Tom was going away to college. My relationship with him, which is a very close one, really developed in more recent years. David Hyde Pierce 'Yield' was completed in 1997 and released in 1998. In the spring of 1997, I had made a decision to stop taking medications that I had been taking daily since 1988. Jack Irons Science is defined in various ways, but today it is generally restricted to something which is experimental, which is repeatable, which can be predicted, and which is falsifiable. Walter Lang Obviously in Art of Noise, I'm just part of the group, and when I do film scores, it's always in collaboration with the director and other people involved. Anne Dudley It is ever the invisible that is the object of our profoundest worship. With the lover it is not the seen but the unseen that he muses upon. Christian Nestell Bovee The thing is there have been American movies that are similar to Solaris, like Alien had a lot of things that are si...

Just to be involved in anything Disney, whether it's 'Avengers Assemble' or 'Planes' or straight-to-dvd

work, it's great. Roger Craig Smith You don't have to swing hard to hit a home run. If you got the timing, it'll go. Yogi Berra My favorite hobby is matchmaking. It's a lot easier to do it in movies then in real life because in real life, people don't do what I tell them to do. Susanne Bier If not doing VICE, I probably would be selling Cokes on the beach in Vietnam. I like the sea. Shane Smith One thing I know from personal experience, judges hate it when parties talk publicly about their cases. There are a lot of things about our criminal legal system that need to be changed, and this is just one of them. Prosecutors know how to play the press. Most defendants don't. Michael Arrington I love everyone over at Netflix. They're all fantastic and an absolute joy to work with. Aaron Paul What a marvelous resource soup is for the thrifty cook - it solves the ham-bone and lamb-bone problems, the everlasting Thanksgiving turkey, the extra vegetab...

Throughout its history, the members of Shearith Israel have observed Thanksgiving by reciting in synagogue

the same psalms of praise and gratitude sung by Jews all over the world on festive days like Hanukkah. Meir Soloveichik A sequel is such a daunting thing, because you don't want to lose the magic and the charm of the first one. Sandra Bullock Having a loving relationship with our spouse or with our children is what leads to the long-term happiness we all seek. Clayton Christensen My finding of myself as an artist, which I think in itself helped me to find just who I am and how I want to express myself, is entirely - in conjunction, of course, with my family, particularly my mom - founded on teachers. Uzo Aduba Agatha Christie never wrote books that just started with a dead body, and a 'Let's find out who the murderer is', which is kind of mysterious but not that mysterious. She always started with, 'How can this thing be happening; isn't it strange?' Sophie Hannah I very much want to do things my way, and I want to control the result. Hiam Ab...

I mean, I kind of remember... I'm 36 now, so it's kind of hard for

me to relate to what it was like when I was 25, or 24, but I do remember a period in time when that's how I defined who I was, by the music I listened to and the movies I went to. Liz Phair In the last four years, I heard the same thing over and over again from people: 'We've had enough,' 'Our country is drifting,' 'We've lost our way.' Ted Yoho I desire an special interest in your prayers that my faith fail not in the day of adversity. John Hawley There was never a golden era of American radio as far as I can tell. Michael Stipe The world invited me many places. Leon Wieseltier I just like making people laugh. Isaiah Mustafa As an actor, to play someone who's at war with himself, that's so interesting. Hugo Weaving Plumage features constitute a major component of courtship signals. Peter R. Grant Some people don't even know my name, but they know I am the man with the red soles. Christian Louboutin Salvatore Fe...

If most people were to take a moment to picture in their minds the average,

not-for-profit, save-the-world girl, they... well, they probably wouldn't, because who wants to think about hemp, hairy legs, and Birkenstocks? But I'd rather eat a pair of Birkenstocks than put them on my feet, and I love, love, love my Christian Louboutins. Nancy Lublin Every morning when I woke up, my mother was already in the kitchen making breakfast. It was always the same: steamed rice, pickled vegetables, grilled fish and miso soup. Each day there was something different in the soup such as tofu or potatoes. Nobu Matsuhisa My son was born during my last semester in college. His due date was Thanksgiving, but he didn't show up until finals week. I brought my books to the hospital and didn't think anything of it. That is what a father is supposed to do. LZ Granderson Unless it's a dead-straight short putt, you should focus on a spot somewhere along the line you want to roll the ball on. Ernie Els Ukippers are the kinds of fools who haven't notic...

We Americans love original ideas. But truly, there are already plenty of good ones out

there, ours for the taking. If I were too proud to copy the ideas of others, I likely wouldn't have even a fraction of my current success. Mohnish Pabrai The organized workers of America, free in their industrial life, conscious partners in production, secure in their homes and enjoying a decent standard of living, will prove the finest bulwark against the intrusion of alien doctrines of government. John L. Lewis Well... I had braces and I had to wear headgear! I loved my braces, actually. For me, they were like a piece of jewelry! Instead of the silver or pewter I had gold braces. It was so much fun, I loved them. I got to change the colors and stuff and I had the rubber bands. Jordin Sparks The animators are absolutely extraordinary. It's mind-boggling. Helena Bonham Carter I've been so good in so many movies that nobody saw. Joe Pantoliano Our parents have always encouraged us to be independent and dream big. Jenna Bush So much emotion goes into writing...

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, the United States would enter, in

a formal way, what had been up to that date strictly a European conflict. Marcus Garvey's prophecy about the European scramble to maintain dominance over the whole world was now a reality. John Henrik Clarke I'm always mystified by the day-to-day workings of entities like Twitter that provide framework but not content, but I suppose it could be compared to the U.S. Postal Service, which manages to keep a lot of people employed doing lots of stuff other than writing letters. Susan Orlean I don't inflict horrors on readers. In my research, I've uncovered truly terrible documentations of cruelty and torture, but I leave that offstage. I always pull back and let the reader imagine the details. We all know to one degree or another the horrors of war. Alan Furst My nutritionist has done a great job in changing my diet after we established I am allergic to things like gluten - I can't eat pizza, pasta and bread. I have lost some weight, but my movement is sharper ...