I would like to be able to be both a film actor and a stage actor - to be an American actor in the style of a lot the English actors who do films. They are these wonderful actors who can do everything.
Part of me wanted to disappear into a cave in India, and I did end up going on retreats there, but, don't ask me why, I always felt very strongly that the point for me was to find a way to live a truly spiritual life in the modern day world and be able to work with all the positive aspects of our cultural and technological advancements.
For a decade, I had been studying a transparent worm, the C. elegans. I immediately thought, if you could put the G.F.P. gene into C. elegans, you'd then be able to see biological processes in live animals. Until then, we had to kill them and prepare their tissues chemically to visualize proteins or active genes within cells.
I think a CEO lives or dies in whether he's been able to hold on to elements of culture that are needed in the company.
Album sales have collapsed, with few artists making money from albums; touring is more lucrative. But I'm 53 now and won't be able to tour forever, so a logical step is to get into writing film scores. Trouble is, you need to be somewhere which has a big film industry - another reason why I'm thinking about living in California.
I think if two people love each other, they should be able to get married. That's pretty much simple.
The whole novelty and challenge of playing twins is something that has kept things wonderfully fresh for me. Just the pure joy and freedom of being able to explore so many facets of not just one, but two, different characters at once is a very singular experience.
When you think about what the odds are to have four boys to not only be able to follow in the footsteps in a basketball career but to also be good in the secondary career as far as the broadcasting, it's pretty remarkable.
I'd like to one day be able to say, 'I was in more than one play on Broadway.'
I love playing and working on music. It is something that I feel really lucky to be able to spend my life doing. And I don't sleep much!
The more centuries that I am able to score, the happier I will be.
I think you can find yourself on one of these shows for a long period of time and think that all you'll ever be able to do is that character. Certainly people think of you that way.
Everyone's mind wanders, without doubt, and we always have to start over. Everyone resists or dislikes the thought of or is too tired to meditate at times, and we have to be able to begin again.
In hip-hop, I wasn't very focused on delivering a message. It was just a string of lines that didn't connect. What I wanted to do is write stories... and affect someone's emotions with that song. I think as a soul singer, I'm able to accomplish that.
It's a real roller-coaster ride if you're lucky to have longevity in this business - you have to be able to ride those waves.
The tactics we were able to use in the 1960s, 1970s - let's have a campaign, mobilize everybody and, therefore, social pressure - stop littering, or stop spitting, or be courteous to one another: I am not sure that kind of approach will work anymore.
It's such an egotistical thing to be able to just stand there and say, 'Action!' It's like being a little mini-god.
If I spent my time wondering about what genre I wanted to be in or where I was on the charts, I wouldn't be able to write these kinds of song. I'd be too busy doing other things.
I experienced firsthand what it means to be poor, what it means to go hungry, and that, I think, may be the reason, the root cause of why I'm able to work so hard, even these days.
Central banks need to be able to buy bonds if there are short-term malfunctions of the markets. But buying bonds without differentiation and without limits would be very problematic.
If you were ever a ballerina, you know the pain: just to be able to look like it's all so light, but when they take off their shoes, it's all bloody.
I try to indulge my muse whenever I am able to get away from it all.
I wrote 'Ohio,' and it was really awesome to be able to share that with my fans because a lot of them can relate to not having a parent in their life. It's really one of my favourite songs to sing live.
I value being able to go into a record shop and people leaving me alone.
I don't believe we ought to discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation. If people are in a same-sex relationship, and they want their partner to be able to have health benefits or be designated as a beneficiary in your life insurance, there's no reason we shouldn't do that.
I'd always used humour as a weapon, as a protection. But being able to make people laugh is a way of not getting in too deep; it's a quick, transient fix.
Directing was a natural thing for me. Actually, it was far less stressful directing than being the lead actor. I was able to have my input in all aspects of it.
What I do is allow middle-income families to finally be able to save their money tax-free. No tax on interest dividends or capital gains for middle-income Americans.
It's amazing the support we've been able to get from Latinos and just in general from everyone.
Being able to take musical ideas through every iteration is attractive to me. Granted, not everyone's going to want to listen to that, but it should exist.
It's funny, I was talking to somebody who writes for a cop show, and he was saying how they aren't allowed to acknowledge Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, just because it has to be able to play forever.
What I love most about acting is being able to play different types of personalities without being considered crazy.
Fiction is able to encompass books that are bleak and which dwell on the manifold and terrible problems of our times. But I don't think that all books need to have that particular focus.
I never got tied down to any social scene. I was just into creating stuff. And I think, even today, that's how I'm able to work and move between so many different genres - I want to be part of what's happening, I want to make new things.
I've never had to get a job as a waiter or anything. I've always been able to support myself in 'the biz.' Which is great. It's really fantastic to be able to say that, because I know it's hard to do.
As far as I'm concerned, the first business leader who was able to establish a cult of personality around his tenure was Lee Iacocca.
