Originally I studied as a musician, a classical pianist. That was my career before I took up acting in my late 20s.
What I ended up learning was that I had to do what I do well, and do it really well and say, 'Maybe there is no pop music that sounds like this now, but I can make it so maybe tomorrow what I like can be what everybody likes.'
It's great that I can look up a fact instantly on my cellphone, but I miss the days in my room with a dog-eared, text-heavy paperback, immersed in the statistics of crime and punishment and lunacy, completely alone with the narrative of human depravity.
How arrogant - how very far from humility - would be the self-satisfied, smug assurance that God, a tidy-up-after-us God will come and clean up our mess? Hope for a nanny God, who will with a miracle grant us amnesty from our folly - that's not aligned with either history or the text of the Bible.
We are so caught up in our media, in our jobs, in our gossip, and in our consuming that we genuinely feel like we don't have the time or energy to bother ourselves with the tribulations of nations near and far.
As order exponentially increases, time exponentially speeds up.
I think the reaction to a World War II situation would be the same today as it was in 1942. Initially, people would question, but once patriotism got stirred up, the whole thing would gather momentum and we'd all pull together.
I didn't put out this album because I wanted everybody to know I was grown up. I'm 21 and that's not grown up.
I had heard some Elvis songs on the radio. During Christmastime, they'd play 'Blue Christmas,' and I knew I liked his songs, but I didn't know who it was singing them. I just knew I liked them... I started reading, watching, and just picking up everything I could about him.
The things that got me through grade school are helping me out later in life. It's like, I show up on time. If you buy a ticket to one of my shows, I'll show up. I'll be there. And if it says 10:00, I'll be on stage at 10:00.
I want to make something commercial that people can pick up on.
Stand up for your rights and be brave, and don't be intimidated. Read your Bible. That's really given me strength, and it will give you strength. Pray, and use God's name, Jehovah. And never tell a lie, ever.
I'm moving to a point that I'm fed up with the N.C.A.A. dictation.
I believe that the United States has a moral obligation to stand up for those citizens of the world who cannot stand up for themselves, and I am proud to have authored the bill signed into law today that continues to put significant pressure on the brutal Burmese military junta.
In a free market, businesses compete for customers by keeping prices down and for labor by keeping wages up.
Growing up in a family of doctors, I wanted to be a brain surgeon for a while. But ultimately, I get most excited about creating things, which is why I decided to become an entrepreneur.
When something really matters, you should never give up or give in.
I joined the Navy hoping to be submariner and ended up in the sub service aboard a tender in the Pacific.
My first book didn't even have a Canadian publisher. And that upset me, because I so wanted a readership up there.
I think Mr. Obama is a disaster for business and a disaster for the United States. Not that Mr. Romney would be much better, but the Republicans understand the problem of excessive debt better than Mr. Obama, who basically doesn't care about piling up debt.
The self-image of many contemporary sportswriters seems to depend on maintaining that were it not for sports, athletes would be pumping gas, if they were not sticking up the gas station.
I grew up watching a lot of the coverage of the early U.S. space program, all the way back starting with Mercury and then through Gemini and Apollo and of course going to the moon as the main part of the Apollo program.
The more commercial work that is happening, the more people are operating cameras and are setting up studio lights, the greater the opportunity for drama production to happen.
They've pushed me down a big ravine, but I'll get back up to the top.
When Paul and I were first friends, starting in the sixth grade and seventh grade, we would sing a little together and we would make up radio shows and become disc jockeys on our home wire recorder. And then came rock and roll.
Men have the choice to arrange their schedules so they can pick up the kids from school twice a week. And they have the choice not to, and then to feel guilty about this choice.
It's important that we start conversations about changing the culture of sexual harassment and discrimination in politics, state capitols, and our larger communities with an acknowledgment of the courage of so many women who have chosen to speak up and speak out.
From the time I was 16 to really up until turning 21, the roles were really, really few and far between. I had people say that I just wasn't a good singer. They didn't know what to do with me; I would never fit in any markets. I almost quit acting altogether.
I grew up really close to Alabama, about 10 minutes from the Alabama line. We'd make trips to Alabama, and I feel at home there.
The GOP leaders are upset with me, but the Republicans around the district are thanking me for stepping up to the plate and giving them a choice in this election of a real common sense conservative Reagan Republican.
The thing about being an actor is that you're in the business of not growing up.
The 1986 tax act is sort of the unsung hero of the very good economic times we had for a long time. Of course, politics gums it all up again and preferences get put in.
I am the the type to have a personal experience with a celebrity, but I'm too classy to bring that up.
I never ever believed that I would be able to give up on this dream which has driven me to live, breathe, love and embrace the game of rugby from the earliest days that I can remember.
I've got lots of good friends. I could have affairs. I can read a book all night, put the cat on the end of the bed. I can pick up my passport and go to France. I don't have to ask anybody.
Now that I'm a dad, I'm practicing what I call 'one- handed cooking,' because I've got something more important in my other arm. I'm whipping up lots of frittatas and omelets.
