I still find trusting people quite hard. I've got a couple of mates that I do let in, but that's it. It's something I've got to sort out - I cut people off.
The University of Southern California has a wonderful social work department, and I was thrilled to find out that they have a whole veterans' initiative program there. They approached me, and I set up a scholarship that would go to a military-oriented person to learn techniques and skills to better help veterans.
I just can't stand the fact that they're going out on their own - I love having my kids around, and I'm angry at them for going out and becoming independent. I want to tuck them in and drive them to school in the morning, but they just won't let me do that anymore.
When I go out and I see the genuine appreciation from the people, that's a big thing for me.
I like to go against the grain, against what's out there. Every day is like a challenge.
Stated clearly enough, an idea may cancel itself out.
Around 1930, a small new phenomenon arose in Depression-ridden America, spawned out of the letter columns in science fiction magazines: fandom.
Last-mile efficiencies is a big trend. It's something that consumers have demonstrated that they want and existing businesses are trying to figure out and new businesses are rising up to.
Every project is an opportunity to learn, to figure out problems and challenges, to invent and reinvent.
I'm prepared for Amir Khan moving swiftly - or for whatever style he comes out using. I prepared with sparring, in the style similar to what he uses.
I like things clean, and I have a biannual clean-out of my apartment. I throw out raggedy things and things I never wear, and there's a Goodwill around the corner for anything worthwhile.
I had no inkling of how crazy the political life would turn out to be. You shuttle between your constituency and Ottawa, you try to make every barbecue, festival, parade and charity run, but sometimes you feel pulled in 14 directions at once.
For me, titles are either a natural two-second experience or stressful enough to give you an ulcer. If they don't pop out perfect on the first try, they can be really hard to repair. Or, worse, if the author thinks they pop out perfect, but the publishing house does not agree, it's difficult to shift gears. And then? Then you go insane.
I'm never going to get married again. Three strikes, you're out. I think if I would try to get married again in California, I have to go to prison, don't I? I think you only get three.
If you get satisfaction out of playing music and entertaining people and it makes you feel right, then go for it.
I have a few filmmaker friends who are known for shooting super-fast, and they say that you don't have the time to over-think things and how that helps things out creatively.
Outside of the oppressive nature that the South offered to the black people, black gay people, black gay people who happened to be Christian, who wouldn't want to leave? I couldn't wait to get out of there.
When I started out as a novelist, I thought I was going to be a private-eye writer. That was my intent, and that's what I studied, I mean, scholarly.
I feel like I need to start wearing a T-shirt saying 'This is not a photo opportunity'. People are so lovely but you do find that when you're out you spend 40% of your time posing for photographs.
I don't really like going out for dinner. It's way better to not have to wait for food... It's quite boring. I don't cook anything, though; I just transfer it from the fridge into bowls. I'm more of a transferer than a cook.
A lot of folks feel like my brother and me or other politicians chart out their careers from Day 1 until the end. I've never been like that.
While I wouldn't say that most entrepreneurs find it easy to get funding, there are certainly more people out there funding technology and healthcare companies than in other areas.
The first 'Star Wars' movie had come out in 1977 and had become this huge phenomenon with all the toys and everything - it just kind of swept America. But internationally, it was also a big deal.
I just turned 40, and I look at so many performers and so many people who are actually always on time and always have an album out. They don't have actual lives, in my opinion. I feel like I'm so much more than being famous and meeting a musical quota. And I don't know, just the weight of the scrutiny and attention is too weird for me.
What's so brave about being bald? I've not fought for my country or found the cure for cancer - I've just gone out without my hat on!
What I've learned is that people have a desire to talk after the first line of reporters go away, and they are no longer speaking out of shock.
Entrepreneurs must be practical experts. They needn't set out to be subject matter experts in what they do; they must set out to solve a problem or pursue some cause or purpose greater than themselves.
It can be hard in this business, especially when you're very young, to figure out who you can and can't trust.
Business is war. I go out there, I want to kill the competitors. I want to make their lives miserable. I want to steal their market share. I want them to fear me and I want everyone on my team thinking we're going to win.
I have been able to sniff out a phony.
If you are interested in writing, get out and live your life! Do a lot. See a lot. Keep your eyes and ears open. Pay attention to the different ways people speak. Read lots of different kinds of books. And then try writing in different voices and styles - don't be afraid to experiment.
One of our goals is to figure out ways of diversifying where we are.
When I was in my 20s, I used to go crazy. I used to work out two or three hours a day, like cycling; I was never anorexic, just picky. When I was in my 30s, I'd go back and forth, now that I'm 41, I'm like, 'Whatever, man!' For the most part, I just do a regular workout.
It's your job as an actor to fill out the blanks. I love doing that. To fill in the bones.
I've learned some exciting things - mostly, that people really want to help each other; and that, if you can lay out a vision for them - and that vision is sincere and genuine - they'll get interested.
Several years ago, when I was about to start a novel, I thought I might get some mileage out of the idea of a civilization in which people somehow felt - that is, they shared - all the pain and all the pleasure they caused one another.
