Before starting a building project, it is wise to discuss your plans in full with the neighbours.
I'm fascinated by musicians who don't completely understand their territory; that's when you do your best work.
When you hold things back, when you don't commit completely to your ideas and trust completely in your own instincts, you are guaranteeing your own failure - even if you end up having commercial success.
I met Hugh Jackman, and I was like, 'I love your movies!' And, of course, he asked, 'Which one?' A reasonable question, but I blanked completely. In that moment, I couldn't remember a single film that Hugh Jackman had done. So I copped out. 'The recent one!' And that was one of his biggest disasters. Well done, me.
There's a catharsis in cutting down trees. But there's absolutely none of that in picking cotton. It's maddening! It's fiddly, and it pricks your fingers, and it's something that's a very hard skill if you have no alacrity for it.
You should feel good about making your home nicer for your family and your friends. You should feel great about cooking a good dinner and making a dress for a granddaughter, creating a beautiful birthday party. It's all part of life.
I live in New York and got a call from my agent saying there was this new role on 'Mad Men,' it might be recurring and they're seeing people tomorrow. I said, 'OK, this is one of those things where you hedge your bets, use your miles and get on a plane.' I flew out Tuesday morning and got the job on a Wednesday.
When a sinister person means to be your enemy, they always start by trying to become your friend.
People just wanna talk. They wanna create negative things about you and your life and make up things. You can't let them affect you!
Do what is best for most people, not just a few. Prevent your elites and growing middle class, those who often benefit most from growth and development, from turning into a special interests group that blocks reforms.
The thing is, as a film director, you're essentially alone: You have to tell a story primarily through pictures, and only you know the film you see in your head.
If you're a representative, you listen to your constituents, and then you go vote their conscience. You don't go vote your special interest buddies' interest and then come back and justify it.
If you have a family mission statement that clarifies what your purpose is, then you use that as the criterion by which you make the decisions.
Working with other artists and sharing your passions is great.
There are three types of pitchers you have to deal with. Some, you just have to tell what town they're in, remind them where they are. Some, you remind them about mechanics, and some, you have to bust their tail. You have to make them your friend and have them trust you.
You really get your sense of women, to begin with, from your mom.
All the circuit training, it's cardio circuit training, so everything you're doing, you're still running up your heart rate. You're burning, I think, triple the amount of calories than if you were just weight lifting.
One of my favorite movies is 'A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints.'
Anyone who writes knows that ultimately the majority of your time is spent alone in a room with a piano or a guitar, no matter what the project is.
I don't really use Facebook, because I find it a bit intrusive on your personal life.
There is a responsibility as president to choose your words carefully, especially on foreign policy, and to speak as clearly as possible.
If you're watching a film on your television, is it no longer a film because you're not watching it in a theatre? If you watch a TV show on your iPad, is it no longer a TV show? The device and the length are irrelevant; the labels are useless, except perhaps to agents and managers and lawyers, who use these labels to conduct business deals.
A musical, in its true form, is where emotions reach a height where true spoken word cannot be enough, and you must sing. That's all it is. It's not posh; it's not out of your reach. It's the most visceral way to tell a story.
When my son was growing up, I was always guilty, no matter what I did. Make decisions and be happy with the decisions you've made. I tell myself, in the long run, it's the love, the quality of relationships that you have with your family, your friends and giving back to the community that matters.
In India, we are parented in a way that we get very good values. But the whole culture forgets to tell us to also value ourselves. It's really OK sometimes to take into consideration your own happiness.
When I was talking to strangers over the Internet in the 1990s, there would be a much more intense connection because they're disembodied, so it's just your brain and your soul interacting with this other person, and it just frees you up in this incredibly empowering way.
I'm constantly amazed that owners and managers of all businesses don't train their people to call the person who pays by credit card by name. It definitely makes the customer feel good and will be a factor in bringing them back to your place of business.
Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.
If you're a successful woman, chances are that you spend a ton of time working. You're probably on your email a lot, taking phone calls and going on regular business trips that don't involve your man. He can start to feel left out of a very important and very time-consuming part of your life.
Anyone who spends time on the road knows there's something special about being in the middle of Utah or Nebraska - you sit with it, and there's a peace about it. You can go left or right, and it opens up all kinds of doors. You take your own path.
Counsel with your parents is a privilege at any age.
Simply switching to a healthy, plant-based diet can lessen stroke risk by reducing cholesterol and blood pressure, flooding your body with antioxidants and improving blood flow.
Because work takes up a lot of time, you have to choose your moments for really letting rip. I hang out with my friends and my family and I spend time with my kids when I'm not working. They don't see my being an actor as exotic. For them, it's just an everyday thing. Sometimes it's amusing to them and other times, embarrassing.
As much as you don't like disciplining your kids, you have to sometimes. Kids want that structure, that leadership, that guidance. I think that's what I try to give my children.
You can't tell yourself that your stress is produced in your head and feel better. You still need to learn how to create a change.
Often the grind of book promotion wearies you of your own book - though at the same time this frees you from its clutches.
