When you see a tumour in the brain, it's an ugly looking thing. It's kind of black, grisly and messy. Or it can be white. To see it taken away is just amazing.
As far as Iraq, the important thing is that the Taliban is gone in Afghanistan, three-quarters of the al-Qaida leadership is either dead or in jail, and we now have Saudi Arabia working with us, Pakistan working with us.
You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down.
The most important thing for staying in shape is having fun with your workouts.
I'll immediately gain, like, 5 pounds even just by thinking about cutting out dessert. It's a nightmare. I decided, for me, the healthiest thing was to eat what I want and just exercise. Some women can watch what they eat, but I just can't do that.
It hasn't been hard getting nominated, but winning it is another thing. The competition is tough.
I actually think some of the rappers can help our image, because the thing I'm concerned about is the NBA's image. I always want our image to be on the rise, and if the rappers can help young players get business-minded, then I'm all for it.
For me, open source is a moral thing.
I have Dalinian thought: the one thing the world will never have enough of is the outrageous.
There is in fact no such thing as art for art's sake, art that stands above classes, art that is detached from or independent of politics. Proletarian literature and art are part of the whole proletarian revolutionary cause.
I believe the world economy will crash when Russia or China moves to a gold-backed currency. They know that when this thing blows, the old law returns: he with most gold makes the rules.
When it comes to controlling human beings, there is no better instrument than lies. Because you see, humans live by beliefs. And beliefs can be manipulated. The power to manipulate beliefs is the only thing that counts.
You can go crazy and play solos in the right place, and that's great because it can intensify and bring an emotional lift. But the thing is you don't want to get in the way of the song.
It's just a way of trying to get to a third thing that's not particular to any quote-unquote genre. It's been great for me; it's really opened me up and gotten me to use that part of my imagination. It's very scary in a lot of ways, and just as exciting.
One thing I know is that I don't want to be a director for hire, making genre films.
The thing about theatre is that when it is actually occurring, when you have the audience on your side, you absolutely think you can will them to do anything. It's exhilarating.
Happiness is the only thing worth fighting for in your life.
I was having a conversation with my father and he was talking about this thing - strangeness and charm. It's actually the name of the two smallest particles that there are when you split the atom, so I wrote a song around it. I even managed to fit the word 'hydrogen' in there. Isn't that a nice thing for scientists to call them though?
You know the funny thing, I don't get along with rich people. I get along with the middle class and the poor people better than I get along with the rich people.
If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.
Largely this is a class thing - writers tend to be cosseted little middle-class kiddies who think that the world owes them a royalty cheque. But just doing it - being in your room for years on end, locked in your head, alone with invented ghosts - it weakens and softens the body. And I know I can't just live in my head.
When you can't see someone all day long, the only thing you have to evaluate is the work. A lot of the petty evaluation stats just melt away.
As an actor, that's the best thing you can do, really take people along on a story and tell them something.
At only 20 years old I got married. I was still a kid myself, but in those times, if you got someone pregnant, you had no choice but to get married. So I left school and the only thing I could do was sing.
Artwork is not like a commercial business; there is no such thing as a schedule for art. You can't hurry art.
Having dinner with somebody you've looked up to your whole life is quite a memorable thing. Like, 'Wow. I'm having dinner with someone who is a huge inspiration to me.' That's intense.
The nice thing is that, at least in Los Angeles, I'm known as a character actor and I do auditions for other things besides just cartoon shows.
One thing I love is to do children's hospital visits.
I used to have a silk dressing gown an uncle bought in Japan and when I came downstairs in it, my dad used to call me Davinia. There was never embarrassment about that kind of thing. My sister used to dress me up a lot. She thought I was a little doll.
Carrying out the thing, getting it to the point when one might say: There, now it is good - that point is hard to reach. Often, one sets very high goals for oneself. Perhaps too high.
The most important thing to strive for in life is some kind of personal and professional achievement. Not as a man or a woman, but as a person.
The forthputting of willpower is a means of strengthening willpower. The will becomes strong by exercise. To stick to a thing till you are master is a test of intellectual discipline and power.
The other thing is that doctors test only the most common estrogen level. There are three kinds of estrogen in a woman but they don't test the other two because they are so rare; mine was the third kind of estrogen.
It's an extraordinary thing about Mozart is that you never tire of him... he never bores me, and he doesn't... not only bore me, that's too strong a word.
The thing I don't like on television is when somebody does something that makes absolutely no sense just for the shock of it.
It is that, but really, it's about how we don't recognise the little things in life, or appreciate the little things in life like belonging. A sense of belonging is a big thing today.
