As attractive as it is, the idea that nature can exist beyond our dangerous 'instinct for happiness' is never the whole story.
We've had science fiction novels where China is dominant; we've had novels where India is dominant, and I suppose it's all about getting away from that cliched old tired idea that the future belongs to the West.
This idea that the open exchange of information can have a positive global impact is being proven over and over again around the world nearly on a daily basis - and for Secretary Clinton to recognize that, I think, is a huge step.
I haven't been out in the marketplace in a while. I'm thinking about going back into it. I've got some things set up over the next couple of months just to go and see. But I have no idea what the specific way to a solution is anymore. It's mysterious to me.
I love the idea that movies, like 'Fast Times,' can be iconic and change people's lives in little, tiny ways.
I grew up with the idea of the cyborg and the robot, but at the same time I felt this intense disconnection between the things I was engaged with and inspired by in terms of fun and play. It seemed like paintings and drawings were so static.
The idea of money being something physical is almost entirely a fiction. Sure, you can go to your ATM and pull out cash. And you can feel cash in your back pocket and have some tangible comfort there - but in reality, the majority of your money is a number on a screen.
You cannot ask somebody to be creative in 15 minutes and really think about a problem. You might have a quick idea, but to be in deep thought about a problem and really consider a problem carefully, you need long stretches of uninterrupted time.
The theory of cultural bias... is the idea that a culture is based on a particular form of organization. It can't be transplanted except to another variant of that organization.
Sugar crystallizes something in our American soul. It is emblematic of all industrial processes. And of the idea of becoming white. White being equated with pure and 'true': it takes a lot of energy to turn brown things into white things. A lot of pressure.
It seems like a gross waste of time to continue our career predicated on the idea that we're going to divide opinion. What's more important is just doing something that you love.
My idea of a good time abroad is to visit someone's house and hang out, poking into their cupboards if they will let me.
I like the idea of defying the convention of what it is to be in your 40s, or 50s, or 60s.
I was raised with the idea of maximum effort: as long as you could look in the mirror and say, 'I gave it everything I had,' it was OK. But if you gave it less, that would disgrace you.
I don't take notes. I don't have any notebooks. I keep on trying to do that because it seems like a very writerly thing to do, but my mind doesn't work that way. I tend to get the idea for a novel in a big splash.
And the idea of just wandering off to a cafe with a notebook and writing and seeing where that takes me for awhile is just bliss.
When you're an established name, you know that a children's book will have a pretty good chance of getting picked up. Like Madonna. It's not that I had this great idea. Actually, in my case, it was a great idea.
At Harvard, people like to impart the idea that you are a mover and shaker.
Fiction allows you to embody certain ideas and give them an emotional reality. The characters allow you to get close viscerally to an idea.
There's sketch, improv, writing, acting, music, and badminton. Those are the seven forms of comedy. But I do like the idea of being an auteur in the sense of writing and being in your own stuff.
Sometimes, if I need assistance on the government level, I can appeal through official channels. For example, when I bought the New Jersey Nets, President Medvedev raised the issue with President Obama, who voiced support for the idea, which is always a nice thing to have going for us.
We all pretend, we all hide things, so why not take the concept to an extreme? That is the basic idea for the character of Dexter. Pretend to be human, while quietly and carefully living out the life of a monster on the side.
The idea of a Frankenstein-like creature is something I've done several times. It's such an icon of the horror scene.
What doesn't confuse me about what women wear? When it comes to women's fashion I'm so oblivious. I have no idea what's going on.
So many directors say nothing beautifully, and so many others say great and profound things but have no idea how to read a light meter or arrange a shot.
I am shocked at how much time I spend in the White House. I mean, you know, for people on the outside, the idea of going to the White House for a meeting must seem like the most important, serious, even glamorous kind of thing to do.
I always knew who I was, but everyone else wanted to me to be their 'idea' of the 'right' artist. At times, I even believed them.
I've been to a couple of restaurants in L.A. that were so loud, I left there with a sore throat; you literally could not have a conversation. I think it's very deliberate: There's this idea that somehow it's more fun if there's a roar in the room.
Scalability is this idea of coming up with a blockchain that can scale much larger than existing chains essentially by processing transactions in parallel. And moving away from this paradigm where every single node on the network has to process every single transaction.
Sometimes I'll have an idea for a story or have a subject, and that will inspire lyrics, but most of the time, hopefully, they already exist somewhere else.
On the movie side of things, the difficulties come with so few movies being made, and when they are, it seems that it's a marketing game. Story sometimes takes a backseat to that one grand marketing idea.
People are fascinated with eternal life and physical power - the idea of having no vulnerability. We all feel small and powerless in the world at times, so the temptation to be a vampire is compelling.
I still don't buy the idea that I'm a 'sex symbol.'
I like the idea that I can talk to any teenage girls. You know, in a language that makes sense to them.
My books start almost before I realise it. Once in a while, some accident causes an idea to rise to the surface and say: 'now.'
I am specifically concerned about the idea that the legislative process is one that gets characterized the way it is as the 'fiscal cliff.' At the end of the day, the United States is the biggest economy in the world, and the dollar is the reserve currency in the world. I think it behooves us to act in a much more responsible way.
