If you force yourself to write away from the piano, you come up with more

inventive things. If you're too good a piano player, as some composers are, the music may become flavorless and glib. And if you're not a very good pianist, you're limited to the same patterns.
Stephen Sondheim

I've been drawing as long as I can remember. I think all children draw as soon as they figure out the thumb and can grab crayons. The only difference with people like myself is that we never stopped drawing.
Adam Hughes

I wanted to paint in a folk-artist-y way. My heroes were Van Gogh, Gauguin, Matisse, and Rembrandt. I think Picasso is about as a modern as I got. But I incorporated things that they rejected as well as movements that happened later.
Joni Mitchell

Gluten intolerance and celiac disease are direct results of American agriculture policy and, specifically, the government's wading into the food arena.
Joel Salatin

It seems the only way to gain attention today is to organize a march and protest something.
Billy Graham

I was born in San Bernardino in summer of '91 and grew up in Riverside, San Bernardino, and Victorville.
Keith Stanfield

I love seeing people's reactions to gifts that I've created from my line, such as my gold horn ring, bottle openers, my 'Fallen' leather jacket and my Slither black and white sweater.
Kelly Wearstler

Although not well known outside Wall Street, Freddie Mac and its corporate cousin, Fannie Mae, are two of the world's largest financial institutions and play a crucial role in the housing market.
Alex Berenson

I've always been really into movies, and I definitely thought I'd be involved with movies at some point.
Jack Kilmer

In democracy, every election is a learning process. You learn from every election, the one that you win and the one that you lose. And then you prepare for the next one.
Salman Khurshid

Blackjack is very scientific. There's always a right answer and a wrong answer. Do you take a card, increase your bet, bet big or bet small. There's absolutely a right and wrong answer.
Charlie Ergen

Gemeoss

When I was 17, I worked in a mentoring program in Harlem designed to improve

the community. That's when I first gained an appreciation of the Harlem Renaissance, a time when African-Americans rose to prominence in American culture. For the first time, they were taken seriously as artists, musicians, writers, athletes, and as political thinkers. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar I only make movies that are interesting to me. Brian Grazer I wouldn't say I was organised at all. I just have to prioritise. Is it more important for them to be organised, or to have their dinner, do you know what I mean? Jo Brand The courage in journalism is sticking up for the unpopular, not the popular. Geraldo Rivera A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy dare live. Bertrand Russell I think Mick Jagger would be astounded and amazed if he realized that to many people he is not a sex symbol, but a mother image. David Bowie I enjoy my job as long as I can create a character, otherwise it's boring. Jav...

All I've been a part of has been thanks to the Disney company: the job,

experience, travel, opportunities have come thanks to Disney. Working for Disney was not part of my original plan, but it was part of God's, and it shows that God is still moving. Jodi Benson It almost goes without saying that when you are a startup, one of the first things you do is you start setting aside money to defend yourself from patent lawsuits, because any successful company, even moderately successful, is going to get hit by a patent lawsuit from someone who's just trying to look for a payout. Charles Duhigg People always ask me about 'Girls' with this kind of hesitation. What do I think of it? I love it. It's awesome. I get a lot of Where do you come down on this? I come down on the side of 'Yay, Lena Dunham. Congratulations. I'm jealous.' She's doing something so fantastic. Maybe it's not for everybody, but it certainly is for me. Callie Khouri I've never really understood the term 'Post-Impressionism' as more tha...

Given Pounds and five years, and an ordinary man can in the ordinary course, without

any undue haste or putting any pressure upon his taste, surround himself with books, all in his own language, and thence forward have at least one place in the world. Augustine Birrell Everyone should know that most cancer research is largely a fraud, and that the major cancer research organizations are derelict in their duties to the people who support them. Linus Pauling A Bush Administration will, I believe, enjoy a better relationship with the new Congress, although President-elect Bush will be faced with real challenges in getting along with the Congress. Richard V. Allen I once thought that I was the only man that persevered to be the friend of the white man, but since they have come and cleaned out our lodges, horses, and everything else, it is hard for to believe the white man any more. Black Kettle When you finish a poem, it clicks shut like the top of a jewel box, but prose is endless. I haven't experienced an awful lot of clicking shut! Kenneth Koch I thin...

As a Midlander and a big walker, I'd always loved ridge and furrow

fields, the plough-marked land as it was when it was enclosed. It is the landscape giving you a story of lives that ended with the arrival of sheep. Jim Crace I think it's really rare to see women on television who are brilliant, selfish, vain, fallible - and I feel like I have all those capacities in myself, so it's good to see people in the media representing all of those things. Kerry Bishe I never went after fame. It fell into my lap. Caitlyn Jenner My mom and dad were actors when they were younger and had a horrible experience of it. My dad became a literary agent and my mom a casting director. Daniel Radcliffe I have this idea of trying to catalog all the genes on the planet. Craig Venter The wind from the Kingdom of Heaven has blown all over the world, and shall blow for centuries yet. George William Russell I always said if I played a drag queen, I'd want to create a template with the realness they talk about in 'Paris Is Burning.' Billy P...

Anybody who's read 'Pretty Deadly' knows that I tend to savor an immersive, 'You'll figure

it out as you go!' style. 'Pretty Deadly' really does not hold your hand. Kelly Sue DeConnick Porter is my eldest child, and I tended to be fiercely protective when he was criticized. He actually was not a big complainer about school. Simply selective in what he chose to do and say. Susan Shreve I do not like bad photographs. I don't like to be badly lit. There is a fashion, particularly on stage, for very 'toppy' lighting, which makes a child look 50. Ten o'clock is very good. If someone is taking a picture, you say, 'Lamps at 10 o'clock,' then everybody looks lovely. Joanna Lumley I've watched 'Ringu' probably three or four times before writing the first draft of 'The Ring.' And then I'd seen 'Ringu 2' I think once. Ehren Kruger A reputation as a hard worker is a good reputation to have. Kevin Hart My work is not so much a direct commentary as it is an open-ended observation of the absurdities arou...

I have always been fascinated by the human mind, conscious and unconscious - that is

what writing and reading is about, too. The why of your life and the why of your choices and the what has happened that you know and the what that you don't know is really riveting, and psychoanalysts share my wonder at how it all unfolds. Anne Roiphe In 1994, when I came to PepsiCo, there were really three businesses. They were soft drinks, which included both bottling and the concentrate company. There were salted snacks - Frito Lay. And restaurants where we had, we all talk of them, Pizza Hut, KFC and a whole bunch of casual dining chains. Indra Nooyi When I was just starting out in the business, I used to love to watch Lorne Greene doing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I said right then, 'That's what I want to do someday,' and it's been one dream that has come true. Willard Scott One thing I really envy about my friends who have kids is that as their children develop, they're able to revisit their own developmental stages and recognise thems...

I teach at the Stanford Business School, and about half of my students are foreign,

many of whom, I hope, will stay and build businesses in U.S. But I must tell you that they also have opportunities to come back to India and start great companies and operations. Safra A. Catz I knew I loved dancing with my friends. Amy Purdy Artists don't think archivally. Eva Hesse Rural voters believed the Democrats traded millions in campaign cash at their expense. Along came a guy named Trump to give these voters a political voice. Bob Beckel I think 2017 is going to be the year of the grand return of the nation-state, the control of borders and currencies. Marine Le Pen It's not what Apple and Beats are doing today. It's what we believe pairing the two together can produce for the future. Tim Cook I don't feel that as human beings we have an obligation to dislike someone based on their beliefs, and it's OK to have a human reaction to someone even if you feel what they do is hideous and objectionable. You can still enjoy their company and find...

What I think you need to do is be aware and be your own best advocate. Get on the Internet, do

your research, and find a group that you might be able to get involved with. Kimberly Guilfoyle I was fortunate that I was an only child. I had two parents who I really cared about, and they cared about me, so I got off to a good start. Roger Staubach I compose for very limited people in Bollywood, as I am not a playback artist. I compose my songs and sing them. Yo Yo Honey Singh When I speak to a victim or their family, people who were left bruised and battered by someone, and can give them some small relief, I know I'm winning in some small way, and I'm part of a process that sometimes works. Loretta Lynch For some reason, I always wanted to work in an environment where things weren't so good. I'm no messiah, but I always wanted to try and make a difference where a team hadn't prospered. Jerry West What did we want out of Iraq? We wanted a country that was stable and secure, that elected its own government, that was not going to be a threat to its neighbors and a...

The Who quite possibly remain the greatest live band ever. Even the list-driven punk

legend and music historian Johnny Ramone agreed with me on this. Eddie Vedder As for getting married, I don't have strong feelings, really - I can take or leave it. Katherine Kelly Can I just make a special request in the magic lamp? Can we get, like, Netanyahu or, like, Putin in for 48 hours, you know, head of the United States? Kimberly Guilfoyle Don't get me started on Americans and war. One of the things I learnt over in Italy is how they mythologised the war so that it's all good old gung-ho guys from Omaha and ignored everyone else's role. James McBride Women have to control their fertility for 30 years. Thirty years is a long time not to make mistakes. Katha Pollitt Mass incarceration will have to be dismantled the same way it was constructed: piecemeal, incrementally and, above all, locally. James Forman, Jr. You know the trait of a crocodile, don't you? It never hunts outside water. It always goes into the water to catch its prey. It never goes in the vill...

I reside in a new colony for the Chinese-singing banjo player, with a population of

one. At least I have something I have to do with my life. Abigail Washburn I don't like apartments - the idea of other people living, copulating and defecating above me - they make me feel as trapped as a slice of ham in a sandwich. When I was a student in Paris, I always rented attics right at the top of buildings, and as soon as I was making enough money, I bought houses. Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt The best part of the high school in Hastings must have been the Music Department. Its orchestra and concert band did well in county competitions, and the dance band formed by its students was the best in the region. I played lead trumpet in all of them. Edmund Phelps Everyone knows the link between the environment and their own health. Ma Jun As users replace usage of the web with a mobile, app-centric ecosystem, the phone becomes the center of gravity. In this mobile world, Facebook is just one app on the phone. Keith Teare What was the American Revolution? The people who jo...