Somehow, people act like I have no competition, but the thing is, the competition is so good that it forces me to be better than I even thought was possible.
I think my music's more disturbing than Tupac's - or at least I thought some of the themes of 'The Downward Spiral' were more disturbing on a deeper level - you know, issues about suicide and hating yourself and God and people and everything else.
'Star Trek' seems to be an appeal to our better nature, the side of ourselves that works toward peace and cooperation and understanding and knowledge and yearns to seek out knowledge rather than the side that wants to divide and control one another.
If there's anything I hate more than a stupid action comedy, it's an incompetent stupid action comedy. It's not so bad it's good. It's so bad it's nothing else but bad.
Everybody is so anti-aging, but I don't want to look younger than I am. Our face is a map of our life; the more that's there, the better.
Israel is under a dual terrorist attack, from within and from without. And terrorism from within is always more dangerous than terrorism from without.
I used to tell my three younger siblings stories because that was my household chore, and I told long stories in installments because it was easier and more fun than making up a new story every night. I loved it.
Yes, I would loved to have just sustained myself through my art, but less than one in a billion musicians gets that life. So rather than being like, 'I'm an exception!', like a moron, I thought I'd get a real job.
I usually don't throw around the word 'fabulous,' but how else to describe buildings decorated with mirrored water dragons, serpents tiled in colored glass, and hundreds - no, thousands, no, tens of thousands - of gold-leaf Buddhas? Luang Prabang has more than 47,000 residents, but its Buddha population must be ten times that.
A sack is way better than any nightclub. A touchdown is way better than any bar experience I've ever had.
There is a serious defect in the thinking of someone who wants - more than anything else - to become rich. As long as they don't have the money, it'll seem like a worthwhile goal. Once they do, they'll understand how important other things are - and have always been.
The medium is less important than the story we're trying to tell and the funniest way to tell it.
I prefer film to the stage. I always like the rehearsal better than I like performing.
Women are wiser than men because they know less and understand more.
There's nothing harder than defining oneself.
I start with theory rather than people. I don't like novels which have no theoretical or philosophical underpinning. I hate the contemporary novel where people just sit and talk to each other about their relationships.
When Juan Antonio Samaranch said the Olympics are more important than the Catholic Church, I just couldn't believe it. I said to myself, 'Don't let your expression show that he has just made a total ass of himself. Be cool, and just keep right on talking.'
I can still love an ex as a person, regardless if the breakup was bad. I would never wish anything negative on them. It takes more energy to hate them than to wish them well.
It's only recently that we've discovered that the artist's inner self is somehow more important than the public world. I'm happier to create exterior pieces for the world rather than to express something I deeply feel or wish to say.
The arrogance of liberal progressives is that they're just a lot smarter and better angels than the Stalins and the Chavezes and the Castros of the world, and if we give them all the control, and they control your life, they're going to do a great job of it. Well, it just isn't true.
Seeing what you want from life from the inside out, rather than from the outside in, is the most important thing.
Letters are something from you. It's a different kind of intention than writing an e-mail.
My parents instilled something greater than myself. They instilled faith in me.
It was at the Children's Defense Fund that I met Hillary. I was 21, feisty, and ready to fight. And I remember thinking immediately, 'Here is a woman who doesn't mess around.' Steel in her spine, Hillary didn't want to talk about anything other than how to make children's lives better.
Libertarians are essentially what the Republicans were 30 years ago. Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan. They'd all fit more under the Libertarian label than the modern day Republican label.
Probably more than anybody else, I loved Nat 'King' Cole as a performer - not only his singing but his piano playing. Whenever he had a new record come out, I'd get it and try to learn how he was playing. And he was one of the nicest people I'd ever met.
I'm a proud Dominican American. My folks always taught me that it's important to keep the ladder down and that to whom much is given, much is expected. That's why I have pursued a career in public service. I can't think of a better way to give back what this nation gave to us than to try to make sure that opportunity exists for everyone.
If I have to be considered any type of jazz artist, it would be New Orleans jazz because New Orleans jazz never forgot that jazz is dance music and jazz is fun. I'm more influenced by that style of jazz than anything else.
I never wanted to just press play on some DJ set and let the lights do all the work. I value old-fashioned performance a little more than that.
I am on the power toothbrush train and I'm asking people to try to using an Oral B power toothbrush. I just started using one and I cannot believe that I waited this long to use a power toothbrush. It's so much easier than using a manual toothbrush.
In many cases your imagination is much more effective than what can be shown. It primes you to know something is about to happen - the anticipation and anxiety is worse than what ends up happening.
I'd rather have 100,000 people who really get what I'm doing and like it for what it is than a million who can take it or leave it.
Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.
I have much more to offer than my physical appearance, and a hijab protects me against 'You're too skinny,' 'You're too thick,' 'Look at her hips,' 'Look at her thigh gap.' I don't have to worry about that.
I really feel better about aging at the age of 86 than I did at 70.
I bought myself a DVD set of 'Lost' and only allowed myself to watch it while I was strength training. Sometimes I'd exercise longer than I intended to because I didn't want to turn it off. Talk about positive reinforcement!
