The original 'Hobbit' was never intended to have a sequel

The original 'Hobbit' was never intended to have a sequel - Bilbo 'remained very happy

to the end of his days and those were extraordinarily long': a sentence I find an almost insuperable obstacle to a satisfactory link.
J. R. R. Tolkien

I actually ran in junior high school a little bit, you know, like most kids do in track and things. Then I got out of it and just trained for football and played ball for so many years - high school, college and the NFL.
Jeff Fisher

Films don't always tell a story; some films can achieve effect just by being razzle-dazzle or rock n' roll. That's part of the fare that's out there. And that's okay. For me, I place more value on a story.
Robert Redford

Socialism and communism fall of their own weight because, as Margaret Thatcher said, you run out of other people's money. Because socialized medicine never falls of its own weight because you put people on lists, and they die waiting to get the treatment and care. So you don't go broke.
Louie Gohmert

Ayn Rand is a rhetorician who writes novels I have never been able to read.
Gore Vidal

Wolverine is a world-weary old warrior. His rage issue notwithstanding, I see him as someone with the tortured soul of a poet, but one who has seen too many friends and lovers die. Even with that, he has grown into a leader and a true hero.
Jonathan Maberry

'Amusement' is appealing because we don't have to think; it spares us the fear and anxiety that might otherwise prey on our thoughts.
John Ortberg

When I realized that people actually wrote comics, that it was a job people could do, I thought, 'Gee, these things are only 17 pages long! I could probably finish one of those and find out whether I suck before I've spent five years of my life on it.' In stumbling into comics that way, I discovered that I loved the form.
Kurt Busiek

All people have dignity. There's nobody who was born without a soul and a spirit.
Binyavanga Wainaina

There's something majestic about a 30-pound Chinook salmon roasted and served whole - people get excited when you present it with the head and tail on. It has beautifully browned skin and extraordinary bright red flesh when you cut into it.
Tom Douglas

The practice of shaving makes its first appearance in the Bible in connection with the story of Joseph, who as a young man was sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt, where he was subsequently imprisoned on false charges.
Meir Soloveichik

Gemeoss

This battle for 'common-sense' gun control laws pits emotion and passion against logic and reason.

All too often in such a contest, logic loses. So, expect more meaningless, if not harmful, 'gun control' legislation. Good news - if you're a crook. Larry Elder I drive a lot. Just for pleasure. Sometimes I'll get in the Cadillac and drive around the city or the country, kind of trying to get lost basically. Y'know, just see where roads lead. Frank Black You and I will meet again, When we're least expecting it, One day in some far off place, I will recognize your face, I won't say goodbye my friend, For you and I will meet again. Tom Petty We must dare to think 'unthinkable' thoughts. We must learn to explore all the options and possibilities that confront us in a complex and rapidly changing world. J. William Fulbright Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose - a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye. Mary Shelley Never make friends with people who are above or below you in status. Such fr...

We hope and we've made clear that the forces need to come out. It needs

to be full and complete withdrawal. Our position is it needs to be done as soon as possible so that the elections can be free, fair and free of outside influence. Stephen Hadley Parks said, he's guilty and that's the end of the story. Tommy Bond We know that the nature of genius is to provide idiots with ideas twenty years later. Louis Aragon Welcome to the Salvation Army. I've never been associated with an offense so nice about giving the ball away. Hayden Fry I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart's affections, and the truth of imagination. John Keats Russia has gone through eight years of continuing economic pain. Jeffrey Sachs It's nice to get a response from the artists that I cover. Joe Cocker

If you're poor, you don't often live near a good school. If it's a competitive

public school program, our kids are not prepared to enter those programs. Sonia Sotomayor I'm a middle-class, middle-brow novelist. And that's it. It amuses me. Anita Brookner I have always had a very natural connection to the water, and that connection stems from the ocean itself. Aaron Peirsol I got married at a very young age, and of course, for all the wrong reasons, and ended up divorced and lost everything. It was a very difficult time in my life. Willie Aames We have 11 great potato flavors, and customers have been clamoring for tortilla. For over a year, we worked to develop the four flavors of tortilla popchips: chili limon, nacho cheese, ranch and salsa. They're made with traditional stoneground masa, are gluten-free, and have less than half the fat of other chips. Keith Belling I never won anything by myself. I was always strong because of help that gave me extra strength to win. Dan Gable There's a toxicity within gaming culture, and also i...

If you're going out for a meal with friends, and they say they can't afford

to go to such and such a place, you can't force them to afford it. Phyllis Logan When people go to rehab and come out, they go through a difficult period, but I never had that. Elton John When I got a call to do the voice of Johnny in an episode of 'American Dad' titled 'I Can't Stan You,' it was a great opportunity to be a part of a really funny cutting-edge show on television. I really got into the character, and I was able to do some improvisation, which allowed me to mix in part of my personality into the script. Paul Butcher When you're in a crisis of, you know, tremendous proportions, it's beyond any human capability to control, you just make the best decisions you can, and you just hope that your intuition is correct. Rudy Giuliani I have no ethics when it comes to art. You just do what you can to make it as beautiful as you can. James Mercer In elementary school, I loved the 'Bailey School Kids' series. It was about a group...

If the Republican Party continues to take the view that there must be no tax

increases, we're stuck. Capitalism can't work without safety nets or fiscal prudence, and we need both in a sustainable balance. Thomas Friedman I think Katie Price is a really good businesswoman. She has made so much money. Georgia Salpa I can work my butt off and create an album that's wonderful, but if it's never played and never given the outlet, it won't succeed. Tessanne Chin Elvis might have compromised his musical style a bit towards the end, but that doesn't mean that artists from the rock n' roll/folk-roots culture - of which he was not really a part - shouldn't get better as they get older, like the great jazz or blues artists. Bonnie Raitt Doing my art came out of something very solitary and something that I had no intention of showing anybody, and yet once people saw pieces in my house, it became really clear that there was a great demand for my art. Paul Stanley I had the belief that many troubles you could observe on the Eur...

If you're 50, you're never going to be 50 ever again, so enjoy being 50.

If you sit through the year wishing you were younger, before you know it, it's going to be over, and you're going to be 51. Julianne Moore I've tried to approach environmentalism the same way I do my climbing: by setting small, concrete goals that build on each other. Alex Honnold When I have a book I enjoy, I'm partly in the book. I'm not just observing it. Tim O'Brien In the United States, after World War II, it took about two decades for the message to slowly seep in that inflation was going to be a permanent fact of the American way of life. Murray Rothbard Pot barley takes longer to cook than pearl, but an overnight soak in water will speed things along. It's a robust grain that, if overcooked, won't collapse but will become more tender. Yotam Ottolenghi Everywhere in Africa, you see Indian, Chinese, Brazilian businesses. Other than Coca Cola and the oil companies, it is very rare to see American businesses. Mo Ibrahim That is the ...

If you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge

of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won't see why we go. Edmund Hillary I'm not the first to admit that raising a child in Park Slope, Brooklyn, can bear an embarrassing resemblance to the TV show 'Portlandia.' My wife and I try to have some ironic distance from the culture of organic, chemical-free parenting, but we're often participants. Adam Davidson When you have a voice, and you have an opportunity at the world level to be able to speak, it has to be right. Caitlyn Jenner The Chinese, as befits a Communist autocracy, approached the task of dominating the Olympics with top-down military discipline. Shashi Tharoor My mother wouldn't allow me to speak slang when I was growing up. But when I got outside, around my friends, it was 'Yo' and 'That's the joint' and 'Yo, what's up?' So I had my game for my friends and my game for my ...

If you change because of fame, that's not the right thing. But if you change

because of growth, that's normal... The whole fame thing hasn't hit me. And I hope it kind of doesn't. Jussie Smollett I've never paid attention to politics. I only have the vaguest notion of what the IRA is. Nicholas Haslam When I was 16, I was like any other boy at that age who dreams of having a good physique. Rohit Shetty Usually when I am approached to do a score for a horror movie, it's to attempt a repeat performance of what I did way back on 'Hellraiser' or 'Jennifer 8' - one of those really orchestral scores. Christopher Young When people ask me if I have worked for the C.I.A., I often answer: what good to you is my answer? Because if I did, I might not say so. Robert Littell Many children with cancer in the developing world can be cured. But without appropriate treatment, few survive. Caitriona Balfe We used to have to arrange things around the dialysis. I would have to plan where to play so I could be back in time, and co...

In films you do a scene, you play around with it and unless you're doing

a lot of reshooting, which no one has the luxury to do, you deal with the problem for a day and then you move on. On some level, it never allows you to go very deep into what performing is about. Willem Dafoe I think - I think you have a conscience growing up in a loving family with a nurturing community. And I think what happens is, and that's part of the problem of being in the closet which is a very sick place. I mean it's self loathing. It's self denial. And you keep that separate. James McGreevey There can be people who are feminist, and people who hold the completely opposite view but are still feminists. It seems to me from the outside that there's a lot of people busy fighting each other rather than working toward their goals. It's a shame. Neil Strauss I had one guy pretend to be me, go to a hotel room, and tell the people at the front desk that it was me, and then he went in and stole all of our luggage. There's always that eager beaver that w...

The dedication of the United States Air Force, Special Forces, and others involved in the

mission to tracking down terrorists can not be matched. We express our gratitude to these men and women who defend the freedom America represents. Tim Murphy You know how I came up with the name 'Road to the Super Bowl?' It's an homage to the old Bob Hope - Bing Crosby buddy movies - you know, like 'Road to Zanzibar' or 'Road to Morocco.' Can you tell? All I've done my whole life is go to movies. Steve Sabol Things that go on at Happy Times are very funny this year, and if you were watching last year, some of the people you saw then as basically extras emerge as real characters in their own right this season, at least to some degree. Ellen Muth I've always been a late bloomer. My body developed late. From ninth to 10th grade, I grew like 3 inches. Just kind of stretched out. I was like 6-1, grew to 6-4 in 10th grade. Paul Pierce The French were generous in giving us assistance in corps and army artillery, with its personnel, and we were c...