In the past, I never wrote any love songs. That was not my thing.
Talking about a materialistic thing, I get about 13 times more royalties from Europe than I do from America.
We're not saying that you don't need coal, but when you do mine the coal there are responsibilities to it. It may cost a little more, but it is the right thing to do.
It's not the coolest thing in the world to be walking around humming the Taylor Swift song. It's not as cool to be singing along with the number one song in the country as it is to be the jaded, indifferent hipster who wants to turn you on to something that nobody else is talking about.
I've always felt that sexuality is a really slippery thing. In this day and age, it tends to get categorized and labeled, and I think labels are for food. Canned food.
I've always described my taste in fashion and music as being very eclectic and uniquely based off my feelings that day. That's the wonderful thing about style. You can be whatever you want to be. You can describe yourself however you want to describe yourself.
It is one thing to mortify curiosity, another to conquer it.
The one excellent thing that can be learned from a lion is that whatever a man intends doing should be done by him with a whole-hearted and strenuous effort.
At the beginning of this album I discovered the computer and had great fun playing with the thing. And I realized that, not being a good keyboard player, I could write things in very small sections, give them a certain feel and mess about with bends on the keyboard.
When I first started, I thought I was wack. Lyrically, I thought I was wack. The thing I had over everybody was that I was the realest rapper.
When a fellow says, 'It ain't the money but the principle of the thing,' it's the money.
I think the best songs are being written by the very under-stated, under-appreciated indie artists. The thing that separates them from mainstream success is they either consciously or unknowingly refuse to deliver on a big chorus.
Do you know the phrase, 'The word 'water' will not wet you?' It's one thing to write down an idea and another thing entirely to execute it.
My career was one of just taking it step by step. I didn't know how I was gonna fare on the professional circuit when I qualified. I didn't know whether I was gonna make a dime. I didn't know anything but this one thing: I had some dreams, and I was gonna work harder than anybody out here to ply my trade.
In re-reading 'Presumed Innocent,' the one thing that struck me - and I re-read the book four different times in writing 'Innocent,' interested in different things each time - but I did think there were a couple of extra loops in the plot that I probably didn't need. The other thing that sort of amazed me was how discursive the book was.
The thing is, I really like working. If I sit around too much, I get really bad anxiety.
That element of surprise is what I look for when I am writing. It is my way of judging what I am doing - which is never an easy thing to do.
Thing is, I'm a funny actor, but I'm not good at being funny. I'm going to ramble for a second: I'm an actor who can make things funny in the moment, like in stakes or in circumstances or out of character.
I'm usually more concerned with how things sound than how they look on the page. Some people write for the page, and that's a whole other thing. I'm going for what it sounds like right away, so it may not even look good on the page.
One thing I am really dying to do, while I'm still young and in shape, is an action movie. I would love to do a Lara Croft type of thing that's really physical and tough. I want to have a gun and do martial arts. I would love to get paid to get into the best shape of my life.
The thing is, if I try to talk about acting, I come off as moaning. But I'm privileged. I think it's all about control. Acting is vulnerable because you're not in control of anything. You have to give up a lot of your trust; it's up to somebody else what they do with what you've given them.
The wonderful thing about age is that your knees don't work as well, you can't run down steps quite as easily and obviously you can't lift heavy weights. But your mind doesn't feel any different.
It's good for people to look at me and think, 'This guy is doing his thing and enjoying what he's doing and successful at it and living his life.' And that's what I'm doing, and I'm very happy.
I think we need a very, very serious effort, primarily through tax policy to provide incentives and encouragement for people to save and invest and expand their businesses and to create more jobs. The kind of thing we did in the early Reagan years, 30 years ago. I think that's essential.
Of course the most difficult thing on the violin is always intonation. The second one is rhythm. If you play in tune, in time with a good sound that's already high level. Those three are the main things.
When I read a script, the important thing is that I can connect in some way with that character and have some idea from what his story is that I can tell that story too, because that's all acting is, is storytelling.
I'd love to do more TV, but I'd love to get into more feature films. I'd also love to go back to the stage when the time and opportunity is right. I haven't gotten to do a lot of that here in L.A., but my favorite thing to do is live theatre. I'd love to actually have a career where you can kind of move in and out of all of those mediums.
It even has the same phraseology as the English orders of knighthood, companions and this sort of thing.
Having a successful first album is one thing, but a successful third is another.
There's a clock ticking on the pregnancy thing, but not a clock ticking on adoption.
I don't want to be just known for the way I dress. I want to be known for how I play, how I treat people, and how I am as a role model. I don't just want to be, 'He dresses cool' or 'He dresses crazy.' You're going to have lovers and haters. I want my golf game to be the main thing.
I like to express certain things that happen in my life, the joy of spring, the birds singing and young babies coming into the world. You know, the whole thing as well as the part I'm not happy with, the sad part.
The great thing about 'Skins' is that it's not '90210.' We don't have to look stick-thin and ripped. Those shows send out the wrong messages by showing body-perfect people but not mentioning that they spend four hours a day in the gym to look that way.
Knowing yourself, and learning to love yourself as you are, is the beginning of beauty. I think the most important thing is to show off what's most beautiful about you and to hide what's less beautiful.
I've always kind of ripped from real life to some degree or at least how I'm feeling in the moment. In fact, maybe that's really it. In anything I've ever written, all the characters sound like me, which I don't think is a bad thing.
I noticed, when I taught elementary school, how true the squeaky wheel thing is, and how endearing squeaky wheels can be! Because when you're being a squeaky wheel, you're also really letting people know who you are.
