I played every sport in high school for one year. If I couldn't be great at it, I quit. I would rather not do it than be average.
I grew up with a single pair of shoes until I grew into the next size. My parents believed in the American dream and the power of education but didn't have the money to send me to college. I realized early on that I needed to go against the flow and be better than everyone else to support my family.
Civil union is less than marriage. Marriage is a sacred and valued institution and ought to be afforded equal protection.
I'd rather spend my time with grape growers than actors. In the film industry, all the money is focused on television and the stupidity of American cinema.
And because of President Obama, more women than ever are serving in the Cabinet and on the Supreme Court.
The thing that is cool about my come up is that I dealt with fame and having money gradually. It didn't happen overnight. It was something that took a while to happen. It was something that humbled me and made me very appreciative of my blessings more than I would have been if it had happened faster and easier.
My eldest daughter's been to a few sets of mine and gets spoiled when she's doing her nails, her hair. Though more often than not, you bring them to set, and they realize the filming process is pretty boring.
The nature of racism is that it grinds down the soul of the man more finely than it does the soul of the woman. When you want to conquer a people or subject it, you destroy the male component.
The great trap for non-American actors trying to play Americans, I think, is to start thinking of American-ness as a characteristic. It isn't. It is no more a character trait than height. It is just a physical fact, and that's all there is to it.
I am not sure that I am that smart. I think we work harder. When I was at university, there were a lot of smarter people than me, and they seem not to have done quite so well.
It was a dreamlike time for me from December 1997 to March of '98. Before that, I was basically unknown. Then, bang! The starting gun fired, and everybody just started running. It was learn-on-the-job. And there were more opportunities for work than I had time to do them.
Refugees come from many different backgrounds and live in many different circumstances, so I wouldn't like to generalise. But I think refugees from the U.K. would probably be healthier and better fed than those from many other countries.
Radio, which was a much better medium than television will ever be, was easy and pleasant to listen to. Your mind filled automatically with images.
I found that jazz musicians, possibly more than their classical counterparts, wear long-standing friendships easily and gracefully.
My parents are artists and they decided they would prefer to paint in the Mediterranean rather than in Scotland.
When it comes to storytelling, not taking risks is riskier than swinging for the fences. I have very simple ambitions when it comes to taking risks in storytelling and programming. I try very hard to avoid the expected.
I've always felt that work - learning from people who know more than I know - is what keeps you going.
I can be Erykah the human being more than the celebrity.
We're going to live longer than our parents' generation, and there comes a point when you ask yourself, 'What am I going do?' You can only play so much golf.
On 'MADtv,' I discovered I could do Billy Crystal. 'Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 68th Annual Academy Awards!' Surprisingly, there's more call for that one than you'd think.
I don't think there's any honor bigger than going to your Hall of Fame for your sport.
There is no shorter road to defeat than by entering a war with inadequate preparation.
I buy my produce at the local farmer's market, which is actually cheaper than shopping at the grocery store.
Example moves the world more than doctrine. The great exemplars are the poets of action, and it makes little difference whether they be forces for good or forces for evil.
My dog wants the entrepreneurial community to know how thankful she is for the fact that she gets to go out. She has heard more pitches than probably much of the world.
My favorite part of any playdate comes later when I get to carry my exhausted and sleeping daughter to the car. Is there anything more trusting than a sleeping child completely and utterly leaning into your body?
Ironically, the original Detroit Stock Exchange once sat less than a thousand feet from StockX headquarters here in downtown Detroit. It is only fitting that we are going to build the next iteration of the world's most efficient market invention almost in the same spot.
The Busted thing happened when I was 16. I saw an opportunity, took it and it was better than being at school. It was a fun job but I'd never claim Busted was anything other than a pop band.
Some people are more fluid than others at just being themselves and recognizing what's good about themselves.
When I hear the word 'documentary,' I don't think certain things should be left out. You've got to keep it 100 percent as much as you can, unless your group has a meeting beforehand and says, 'Yo - don't say this, 'cause boom, boom, boom.' Other than that, it's a documentary so let's document, you know what I mean?
Some of my colleagues seem more interested in using every procedural method possible to keep the Senate from doing anything than they are in creating jobs or helping Americans struggling in a difficult economy.
On more than one occasion, the camera has cut to me after a break as I'm still trying to swallow the last bite of cookie. Those of you who have thought to yourselves, 'That guy talks like he has marbles in his mouth,' should know that they are not marbles, but oatmeal cookies.
I'd love to have the time to learn to sing opera properly rather than bellowing half-formed fragments of melody in exuberant moments.
It has been said that people never do evil with more enthusiasm than when they do it in the name of God.
Seniors vote, and that is why we have, you know, Medicare since the 1960s for seniors, and we didn't have a national healthcare program for children, even though it's a lot more cost-effective to deal with children than with seniors.
Sometimes, magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect.
