I have learned that as long as I hold fast to my beliefs and values

- and follow my own moral compass - then the only expectations I need to live up to are my own.
Michelle Obama

Beginning a poem, the poet as a rule doesn't know the way it's going to come out, and at times, he is very surprised by the way it turns out, since often it turns out better than he expected; often his thought carries further than he reckoned.
Joseph Brodsky

I don't watch most of the movies I'm in. Ever. They're like a bad relationship where, after you break up, you don't want to look over all the valentines.
Ben Foster

I don't know if subconsciously there was some reaction going on, if there was something in me that didn't want to learn an instrument - because I couldn't have been that incompetent!
Duncan Jones

One that I know people really like is my Crock-Pot mac and cheese. It's comfort food that's good for Super Bowl parties and easy to make.
Trisha Yearwood

In the theater, there's an emphasis on the singular voice. You know, it's your play. And in television, there's so much institutional involvement. So you end up having to negotiate with a lot of people, and that provides a kind of wear and tear on the spirit.
Theresa Rebeck

Human beings are created with empathy. Art serves that purpose. So why should I be disinterested in a character who's a man, and why should a man shy away from a show that's female-driven?
Evelyne Brochu

One second here and there will make all the difference between something being funny and not being funny. That's why I like going, 'Well, we wrote that six months ago, and it was funny one time we read it, but it's not funny anymore. So what? Just dump it.'
Jonathan Krisel

I'm not going to grouse and complain when there's nothing I can do about it. Once you've broken up with somebody, arguing with them is not going to bring them back. You may want to stop their Twitter account or call them up late at night, but they made the decision to leave.
Larry Wilmore

There's a sense of being under siege in many Muslim communities. People just assume there are agents or informants in their mosque now. It's a fact of life.
Ibrahim Hooper

Gemeoss

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...

Persuasiveness is really just about getting your ideas across without being forceful.

It's a skill that can be learned and is useful for anyone who works in a team environment. Amanda de Cadenet I was an extra in a Tia Carrere music video. Adam Scott When people start to think they're figuring out 'The Vampire Diaries,' it switches on you. Kat Graham It's a huge blessing to know you've done something that has affected people the way 'The Matrix' has. It's like, there's 'Star Wars,' and then there's 'The Matrix.' It's cool to be a part of that. Laurence Fishburne Voters aren't asking to be pandered to and aren't asking to be tricked. Jason Kander I'm a pretty controlled and disciplined person, but my real vice is buying plants and food shopping. Zac Posen Barack Obama was a president who understood not only how technology could transform the way government services worked but also technology itself. He got it. Steven Levy Positivity, confidence, and persistence are key in life, so never give up...

As tennis players, we work and we sacrifice many things. To lose, that's not a

happy thing - I mean sure, I was disappointed. You have to come back strong. But to win the last point in a grand slam tournament, that's the most beautiful and most satisfying feeling you can get as a tennis player. It's worth it. Bjorn Borg I have the greatest husband. The baby is my main focus right now. We're both so excited. I mean, this is definitely the happiest moment in my life. Ashlee Simpson I feel like that religions generally ask the biggest questions. They may not always have the best answers, but they're the zone of human activity that regularly asks the biggest questions. Ayad Akhtar We wanted to step off our island and add the color of the third world. We got gold cigarette paper and stuck it around our teeth. We really did look like pirates and dressed to look the part. Vivienne Westwood I was never the 'babe,' so I knew I'd never get those big roles. I'd always be the best friend or the quirky sidekick. Joan Cusack Women dese...

I think where it's going is toward what the music industry is like, where channels

will be considered more like labels that carry the type of TV show that you like, and then you'll consume them however you can. For example, I don't really watch Showtime, but I bought 'Homeland,' and I've been watching every episode on my iPad. Adam Pally We need a tougher enforcement program and, most importantly, we need to fix the badly broken ethics system. Marty Meehan There is a god within us. Ovid It is a Modern day, and these times need Modern solutions to Modern problems. Corin Nemec The man who gets drunk in peacetime is a coward. The man who gets drunk in wartime goes on being a coward. Jose Bergamin You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it. Edith Head The taste for quotations (and for the juxtaposition of incongruous quotations) is a Surrealist taste. Susan Sontag I actually went to college with Adam Sandler. He was a dramatic actor, too! Molly Shannon While there I began to study the Asian religions as theories of mind...

I was doing a college show for the first time, and there was this 20-year-old

gay male who's been diabetic his entire life. He said, 'I really wanna get into stand-up.' I was like, 'Oh, my God, do you realize how interesting and inherently funny you are? Go do all the comedy that you wanna do.' I care about that. Jessica Williams You don't let being the first to do it stop you or get in the way. Halima Aden It is not good to cut exports or imports. Jose Angel Gurria Studios are often very nervous of things they don't recognize, by which I mean things that haven't been done before, and therefore, they take a really original idea, and they recognize the originality, and then they try and make it look like something they recognize. So they try to turn it into something far more procedural. Joe Wright I have a lot of friends with bad taste in music - some might say that I have bad taste in music. Jonathan Levine I'm one win away from being a superstar. Liam Smith As a rule, the civil-rights establis...

I knew I had to write a good screenplay to be taken seriously, and I

knew I needed to present Mississippi on visuals instead of just saying, 'Hey I wanted to film it in Mississippi.' It would seem like it was a hometown boy just wanting to be home. Tate Taylor Dyslexia, though, made me realise that people who say 'but you can't do that' aren't actually very important. I don't take 'no' too seriously. Richard Rogers We don't have an Official Secrets Act in the United States, as other countries do. Under the First Amendment, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and freedom of association are more important than protecting secrets. Alan Dershowitz We don't leave home without my daughter's doll La-La. She looks like a bit of a rag, but India is obsessed with her. Georgina Chapman I like a certain style of show, I like a certain pace, I like a rhythm, I like a lot of comedy in with my drama. Amy Sherman-Palladino Fool! Don't you see now that I could have poisoned you a hundred times had I...

The men resent a woman getting any honour in what they consider is essentially their

field. Men painters mostly despise women painters. So I have decided to stop squirming, to throw any honour in with Canada and women. Emily Carr There's so much crap talked about acting. Ben Kingsley I have always supported measures and principles and not men. Davy Crockett We're all outsiders in a way. We're all alone and can become very lonely. Hugo Weaving I got a hundred bucks says my baby beats Pete's baby. I just think genetics are in my favour. Andre Agassi To deny the freedom of the will is to make morality impossible. James Anthony Froude I want to make this perfectly clear: you can be sure that I will never be a yes-man except to my own conscience. Charles Edison

You know, they just don't make big movie stars the way they used to, maybe

because the system has changed, the studio system, but it's sad to see people like Jimmy Stewart go, all the giants of the past. Tom Atkins Success requires first expending ten units of effort to produce one unit of results. Your momentum will then produce ten units of results with each unit of effort. Charles J. Givens What's the difference between sex and love? I have four wives and five kids. I apparently don't know the difference. James Caan The enjoyment of life would be instantly gone if you removed the possibility of doing something. Chauncey Depew What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists? In that case, I definitely overpaid for my carpet. Woody Allen Creating new jobs for Pennsylvanians continues to be my highest priority throughout the Commonwealth. Ed Rendell Our natures are a lot like oil, mix us with anything else, and we strive to swim on top. Joan Rivers

I was a tomboy. In my clubbing days, my friend Lucy Davies-Hunt - half-Iranian, looked

like Yasmin Le Bon - could wear catsuits, while I was the one in the sweatshirt, jeans, and Fila boots. Maxine Peake My roots are documentaries. David L. Wolper Paolo Maldini never won, but he was the best defender in the world. Gianluigi Buffon never won; he was the best goalkeeper in the world for many years. But this is the story of the Ballon d'Or. Antonio Conte Young entrepreneurs, in general, feel they're too busy running their companies, which I think is a mistake. But once they're older, you see much more of a propensity to be involved in philanthropy. Jeffrey Skoll I thought there was a glitch when they told me that in two or three weeks 'My Church' hit a million streams. Maren Morris The key is that I'm trying to keep growing and trying to keep learning and deepen my connection in every way, in my life, in my work. That's what I do when I look at a role. Forest Whitaker It strikes me as pretty interesting and cool how girls support each other in t...

I use the film industry as a pleasure for work and that kind of thing

and it's not a pursuit to make me feel happy in my life. Thandie Newton I warm up. I do about 50 push-ups with my trainer and my security just to get pumped up before a show, get our energy up. And then I just go have fun. Joe Jonas If I start planning then that's dangerous because then I have a target that I'm blinkered towards and I won't listen to the warning signs quite so much. I'd rather be in shape and then look around and say there's a race next week and jump into that than have it planned. Paula Radcliffe All my references are 50 years old-when somebody shot J.R., you know? Oh my god, I'm 100! Lauren Graham Everybody that you could name would join in our audiences from, Laguardia on down. Everybody came. Everybody came to the Cotton Club. Cab Calloway I think performance art comes from a simple place of wanting to express things beyond just sound. Amanda Palmer We should distinguish carefully skepticism about Big Government from co...