If there is such a thing as freedom, then there is no fate.
I'd been writing poems for many years, but most of them I didn't like. Then, when I was 23, I wrote one I did like, sent it to 'The Paris Review' - the highest publication I could think of - and they accepted it. No other moment in my literary life has quite come close to that.
I wore glasses my whole life, but then I got Lasik eyeball surgery, and I fixed that.
Our first two records are a lot quieter and more studio-based. We kind of had this feeling like we wanted to make a more quote-unquote 'rock' record. Then Patrick joined and really brought a new Herculean power to the band.
This is the world we live in, isn't it? Tons of spin-offs; people reboot things very quickly. I was amazed how quickly they made a Wolverine movie, then, 'Let's do another origins Wolverine movie.'
Throughout the day, I'll make a lot of green smoothies or salads, and then when I travel, I try my hardest to just keep up the regime. It's not always easy, but I do my best.
That's the reality of my life - I do normal things and then get to go to film festivals and wear borrowed clothes and turn up at premieres and talk about things I am passionate about. But then you click back to normality and your family and friends.
I would often take this bus and go to a nearby village where I had hordes of animal friends. I was hardly around four or five years old then. The conductor was so used to seeing me hop on to the bus and get down at the same place, that he never asked any questions. The strangest part is, he never asked for a ticket either!
Fight as hard as you can, and then understand there's going to have to be some amount of reasonable compromise.
I wouldn't say there isn't a direct path to a successful career. There are people who knew exactly what they wanted to do from a very young age, weren't going to be diverted, and then they just went out and achieved it.
I only hear my own voice. When you start hearing other voices, then it's time to worry.
Buy one pair of knickers or underpants from Marks & Spencer. Then you'll truly be like a Brit!
I'm writing all the time. I tend to work on at least two books simultaneously. I'll spend time with one, and then I'll spend time with the other. Finishing takes whatever time it takes.
My intent was to go to law school... And then what I realised quickly is what I wanted was to be on L.A. Law.
What you start learning is that to get over a breakup, you kind of have to live through the emotions and not run away from it because then it lasts longer.
I was actually born and raised in Puerto Rico. I moved to the States when I was 19. I was very impressed early on by being around people who spoke my language and ate the same food and listened to the same music, dressed the same. But then you look around and, you know, you're not in Puerto Rico.
I've always been in rock bands. I was in a rock band with my brother in high school. Then I was playing classical guitar recitals, and people said, 'You know, you can't really do both things.' My intuition told me they were wrong. Somehow, what was interesting about me was that I had those two things in my life.
What I liked was to set the tone - set the pace for the team. I know when we're starting the game, I can get on and steal a base, then a guy bring me in. Then we're in the lead and in a good position to win. That was the most exciting thing - to help the team.
From meeting Robert Plant, John Bonham, and John Paul Jones, teaming up, rehearsing, playing selected gigs outside of Britain, coming back into Olympic Studios to record the first album, and then going to America, which we crack open like a nut with the debut record - all that happened, literally, within months.
You have to look for story. That's obvious. If that's not on the page, you can forget it. But I also read whatever character I'm being offered. And if you can cut them out without it affecting the story, then I say no straight away.
Amin managed to invite both the US and Soviet ambassadors to his palace at the very same time and then deliberately kept them together in his waiting room.
If I cannot be the best or operate at the best highest level, then I need to go away.
I'm a filmmaker, so I always think: When is the breaking point? Sometimes you've got to go beyond the breaking point, and then you catch it. When is long enough? It's one of those things you have to look at, walk away, and go home and find out what it is.
With Bitcoin, every transaction is publicly verified, so many risks are eliminated, including chargeback fraud or 'friendly fraud.' This is when a customer purchases something online with a credit card; waits to receive the goods or service, then requests a chargeback refund. The bank then forcibly takes the funds out of the merchant's account.
We have so many young men, especially, who are growing up without their dads. We have to fill that void. We have to do a better job helping young people see what it means to be a man, what it means to be a woman. And then, somehow, we have to put that family structure back together.
If you feel the government should leave you alone, you're a Republican. If you think the job of the government is to go push people around and take things for you, then you're a Democrat.
People don't know. People are ignorant. They feel that if you stutter, then you're slow or whatnot.
Things come in waves, and I'm always more interested in places like, for instance, Chicago, where people don't follow fashion. They're not galloping past your window on the way to the latest anything. They're living their lives. You do a play, they come and see it and say, 'That's nice', and then they go home.
When I'm not at work, I put deep conditioner in my hair and wear a baseball cap. I'll just roll around on the off-days with goop in my hair, and then just rinse it out.
I certainly notice the vitality in Belfast, which wasn't there in the Seventies. There was a war going on then. Now there are cranes everywhere. There really is a sense of renewal and hope.
To answer the question, though: I didn't always want to direct. I just liked the idea of it. If a friend was making a short and needed someone who knew screen direction, I would jump in. It would be horrible, but it led to a short, then another, and another. It was like student films.
Scholl Velvet Smooth Express Pedi is just great. You get yourself in a hot bath to soften up your skin and then use this, and it really works. Plus, it's so easy to do, and you don't have to leave the house, so whenever you want to put sandals on, you don't have to worry about going to the salon.
I've learned to start from a really sound argument, boil down the essence of what you're trying to say, then build your humor around that, rather than starting with, 'This sounds funny,' and going from there.
They are just really stupid people in Hollywood. You write them a script, and they say they love it, they absolutely love it. Then they say, 'But doesn't it need a small dog, and an Eskimo, and shouldn't it be set in New Guinea?' And you say, 'But it is a sophisticated romantic comedy set in Paris.'
It's much better to wreak havoc on a show and be a maniac than promote myself. Plugs and anecdotes aren't really in line with my beliefs. Besides, if someone sees me on a morning show and thinks, 'That's not funny; this guy is crazy,' then I don't want them to come to the show anyway.
Never thank anybody for anything, except a drink of water in the desert - and then make it brief.
