The qualities that make parties such a nightmare for people

The qualities that make parties such a nightmare for people - and also so pleasurable

- make them incredibly important inside of fiction. There's a chaos agent quality to them: You just don't know who's going to be there or why. You could run into an old enemy, an old friend, an old friend who's become an enemy.Alexander Chee

I believe our schools will actually get better if layoffs are done carefully, such that only the very worst teachers are let go.Whitney Tilson

Humans have 3 percent human error, and a lot of companies can't afford to be wrong 3 percent of the time anymore, so we close that 3 percent gap with some of the technologies. The AI we've developed doesn't make mistakes.Walter O'Brien

I wouldn't say that dittoheads, as a group, lack the ability to reason. It's just that whenever I run across one, he seems to be at a low ebb in reasoning skills.Molly Ivins

With social games, I bring my friends, and maybe they'll bring a friend or two, and when you're playing a game, you don't need to focus on trying to come up with things to talk about.Ross Butler

Even a mother - Jewish or not - can't worry about everything. So it is important that we limit our worries to real as opposed to imaginary risks.Richard Thaler

How my son discovered vegetables was from growing them in the garden.Michael Pollan

I'd fought in the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, having left Oxford to do so.Michael Korda

I feel the audience are friends that have come to see us. That was always how we look on it in the Carter Family. I've never suffered stage fright.Carlene Carter

I believe in finding a soul mate. I've always been in monogamous relationships. I would never want to be in an open one. It'd be too awful. Monogamy can be hard work for some people. I don't think it applies to everybody, and I don't think a lot of people can do it.Scarlett Johansson

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...

Music was the one thing that was just mine, and no one could take it

from me. I created it, dictated it, and it made me not able to let go of it. Mitski I'll be reaching across the aisle to find opportunities to work with Democrats on the issues that desperately need to be addressed. Thom Tillis Any sympathy won for Aileen Wuornos based on a lie is not sympathy at all. The question is, can we have sympathy for the circumstances of someone's life? That's what I was interested in. Patty Jenkins God only made one thing in this world that's perfect - and that's my boxing record. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. The fan mail I get every day is incredible. It piles through the door from not just Britain but everywhere. It is so great to have that support behind me - everyone says I am an inspiration. It is great. Charlotte Dujardin I'm not a natural. I had to teach myself - or be taught - everything I do. I just spent hours and hours in the mirror mimicking Michael Jackson. Ne-Yo For me, age doesn't matte...

Parents should have perfect control over their own spirits, and with mildness and yet firmness

bend the will of the child until it shall expect nothing else but to yield to their wishes. Ellen G. White Farmers in Missouri and across the country must comply with a variety of federal, state, and local regulations as they grow the crops and raise the livestock that we depend on to feed the nation and the world. Ike Skelton New media's not very old, hence the word new, so we don't know a lot of things about new media and by the time you've taught it it's probably out of date. I think it's much more beneficial to have an experiential lesson versus a classroom lesson in new media. Ben Huh I'm always very excited by something that's a curveball or from left field. Kevin McKidd For us, from Korea's perspective, China is the number one investment destination as well as number one trading partner. Lee Myung-bak Vaccination is the medical sacrament corresponding to baptism. Whether it is or is not more efficacious I do not know. Samuel Butler...

I quite like the idea of family. That's probably the greatest achievement in the world.

I've got a lot to achieve workwise - I'd love to direct - but family would be good. Matt Smith Even in the hardest circumstances, dreams can give you the courage to live, and I hope I can share that message with children in need. Kim Yuna Outlets are turning away from phone polling, which can be problematic. For example, we did a poll for NBC around the Ebola crisis; we provided results in 24 hours. Their traditional phone poll would have taken a week to turn around. We're showing people we can do high-quality work: we've proved that with the work we do with the media. Dave Goldberg I wanted more control of my life. I wanted work to fit in, not to dominate; to support, not to lead the pattern of my life. Tim O'Reilly I was terrified the first time that I had a big problem in my business. I was obviously terrified when they diagnosed me with cancer in 1994. I was terrified when my son used to drive too fast. But I do believe in the fact that fear is not a...

That title, is one of the things I fought for. A lot of people said

'But it's stupid, and it's the title of a comedy movie, and people won't take it seriously,' and I'm sure there are some people who still don't. But for the most part, people do see that we really have a quality show. Joss Whedon Another adverse factor was the way the Russians received continual reinforcements from their back areas, as they fell back. It seemed to us that as soon as one force was wiped out, the path was blocked by the arrival of a fresh force. Gerd von Rundstedt Well, I've been politically involved for a really long time. Growing up in the segregated South, it was a very painful experience for me to live through the open racism of the time. Cybill Shepherd I fracked over 3,000 wells in my life and never had a problem with an aquifer. T. Boone Pickens I don't think anybody comes close to The Beatles, including Oasis. Brian May The foundation of a financial fresh start actually has nothing to do with money or specific fi...

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...