Mark Twain had a way of telling stories that shifts your consciousness away from labels.
I myself was completely torn by the decision to start Teach For America. There was a voice in my head telling me not to do it - to take a more normal path. I did have one thing going for me, which was that I had been rejected from all the other jobs I'd applied to.
Growing up, I've had plenty of obstacles, but to be honest, I didn't always have doubters. I was a standout athlete, so when that happens, you don't have too many people telling you 'You can't do this,' and 'You can't do that.' I've always been a bit of a people person and a hard worker.
If you are willing to take the trip through 'Analogue,' you'll be rewarded with some of the best writing in gaming today and a look into the future of what kind of meaningful stories video games are capable of telling.
I couldn't be happier teaming up to make the feature with a company as innovative as VICE. There is so much the world doesn't know about piracy in Somalia and the people involved, and I'm excited to be telling a story of piracy in Somalia from a different perspective.
You write in songs what you're too scared to write in real life, and then you sing the songs to loads of people instead of telling it to the person you should be telling it to... Songs are a great way of dealing with those issues but kind of a coward's way as well.
Obviously I like pretty girls, but I'm also looking for someone who can take control. I know guys complain about girls telling them what to do, but I think we all kind of enjoy it.
I seem to enjoy telling stories with a central absence, with a lacuna tunnelled into them.
Telling everyone I wanted to go into forensic anthropology was my form of rebellion.
I basically applied to law school as a way of telling my parents that I wasn't going to medical school.
Sometimes we look at gay being a bigger sin than being proud or not telling the truth. I don't think God categorizes sins.
Life is a story. You and I are telling stories; they may suck, but we are telling stories. And we tell stories about the things that we want. So you go through your bank account, and those are things you have told stories about.
How much of our lives is consumed with meeting people, attracting people, keeping people and missing people? Usually, when everything is resolved romantically in one of my books, the characters stop talking in my head, and I stop telling the story.
You can't have a United States if you are telling some folks that they can't get on the train. There is a cracking point where a society collapses.
We are essentially in the business of telling stories. We would like to think that most of our stories are basically human stories with sports as a backdrop.
I have been fighting writing songs for a long time. People keep telling me I should write, and other writers have offered to write with me, and to be honest, it's not something I've ever really had a passion for - plus I wasn't sure I had the talent to do it!
There's a part in a woman's soul, God has given it to every woman, and it's the part where you know whether he's telling the truth or not. Women see red flags.
I always want to be telling stories in whatever fashion I can, and directing is really just understanding and learning a different element of that storytelling process.
I am telling you that I am very grateful and am so proud of you for being a symbolic generation that is calling for change to the better, that is dreaming for a better future, and is making the future.
I remember telling President Carter on his first night, when I was escorting people around, that I was interested in continuing public service and that politics didn't matter - but it does, doesn't it?
Government has no place telling you who to fall in love with and who to marry.
I think film, to me, as a director, is about telling a story.
Certainly, I devote my energy to both telling my personal life story and seeking self- obliteration. However, I will not destroy myself through art.
I want to remind people that there is no soundtrack in 'Southland;' there is no scored music or soundtrack telling you what you're supposed to feel.
I work with gold that holds our past and diamonds that see the future and rubies that long for love. It's just a way of telling a story.
No matter where I go, I actually have a lot of couples coming and telling me that one of my songs was instrumental in strengthening their romance!
In Russia we only had two TV channels. Channel One was propaganda. Channel Two consisted of a KGB officer telling you: Turn back at once to Channel One.
It's the big question of every TV show, right, where you have these two people who it's clear the world wants to put them together and everyone wants to see them together, but also when you're telling these stories you can't throw these people together immediately.
My dad was a journalist. He was in Rwanda right after the genocide. In Berlin when the wall came down. He was always disappearing and coming back with amazing stories. So telling stories for a living made sense to me.
Overcoming my dad telling me that I could never amount to anything is what has made me the megalomaniac that you see today.
I think, in the grand epic, Jesus is the hero of our stories. And our stories, as they were, are subplots in a grand epic and our job is not to be the hero of any story. Our job is to be a saint in a story that he is telling.
I'm telling you, there is a lot of power in being unapologetic.
I had so many friends over the years - so many, out of the woodwork, telling me, 'When are you coming back to TV?'
When everyone is telling you, 'You're so beautiful, there's nobody like you,' you begin to think it's true. But of course there is nobody like you.
I have definitely been curious and involved in the process; even as a young actor. I was always looking at where the camera was, what story it was telling. And as my experience grew, I wanted to know even more.
I hate being manipulated by song. Don't tell me what I should be feeling. I don't want cellos or violins to be telling me that I should be bawling right now.