It is a tremendous honor to be named poet laureate, but one that I find humbling as well, because it's the kind of thing that makes me feel like - even as it's been bestowed upon me - I must continue to live up to what it means... Being the younger laureate in the age of social media is a new challenge.
I love being a producer, and I think I essentially still operate as a producer even though I now have control of marketing and the ability to green-light shows - something every producer wants but that they don't get!
Much of my work has come from being lazy.
Historically, the Justice Department has been Congress' ally in fighting wrongdoing in government, but under this Justice Department and Eric Holder, rather than being the people's attorney, Eric Holder sees himself as the president's attorney and he'll do anything to defend the president.
In such misfortunes my Mother was of an heroic spirit, in suffering patiently when there was no remedy, and being industrious where she thought she could help.
'The Importance of Being Earnest' is important, but it says nothing about anything.
There is a growing frustration that the EU is seen as something that is done to people rather than acting on their behalf. And this is being intensified by the very solutions required to resolve the economic problems.
I think about being married again, having a home and a wife. No one can ever be married too many times, and maybe if I keep trying I'll get it right one day.
Being happy in your skin that's what it's all about.
Being able to speak to all my fans is really cool - you always hear people cheering for you on the court, but to have messages of support in between tournaments is really motivating.
Being on television, playing the same character for many years, for me, I think that would get a little tedious.
You don't have to know anything about baseball to respond to Babe Ruth because he's just this magnificent human being. And a really good story because he was this kid who grew up essentially as an orphan, you know, had a tough life, and then he became the most successful baseball player ever. But he was also a really good guy.
While unions did not play a part in my family life when I was being brought up, my early years were most certainly spent in a working-class community.
I am not an enormous believer in research being the be-all and end-all. I get suspicious when I read about actors spending six months in a clinic, say, in order to play someone who is sick.
I'm suggesting that, ironically, the secret to becoming a world 'hyperpower' is tolerance. If you look at history, you see great powers being very tolerant in their rise to global dominance.
I love being an actor, and that's really the bottom line - in any medium, in any genre - and I want to do it.
I get a kick out of being an outsider constantly. It allows me to be creative.
Being a bad guy is fun for me.
I have been able to tap into all the negative things that can happen to me throughout my life by numbing myself to the pain so to speak and kind of being able to vent it through my music.
Birds are a miracle because they prove to us there is a finer, simpler state of being which we may strive to attain.
You cannot combine being a movie star with not being a movie star.
Not being beautiful was the true blessing. Not being beautiful forced me to develop my inner resources. The pretty girl has a handicap to overcome.
When we are angry or depressed in our creativity, we have misplaced our power. We have allowed someone else to determine our worth, and then we are angry at being undervalued.
I would be happy not even being a supermodel. Being able to get a taste of everything that I want a taste of makes me happy.
When I was in my teens, I thought, 'Would I like to try and work hard at being an actor, or do I want to work hard at doing something musical?' Acting won out, but I do really enjoy those moments where I get to just belt something out.
It is tragic that many in America think of us - Christians - as being people who hate others.
There's no sense in being precise when you don't even know what you're talking about.
I think it hurt my performance because I stopped being me. That won't ever happen again.
Alan Turing is so important to me and to the world, and his story is so important to be told, so it was a big thing to take up, and I was a little petrified. Like, who am I to write the Alan Turing story? He's one of the great geniuses of the 20th century - who was horribly persecuted for being gay - and I'm a kid from Chicago.
He didn't even have the satisfaction of being killed for civil rights. it had to be some silly little Communist.
Being on 'Glee' was amazing. I remember my first day on set, my first day I arrived to the set I was in my trailer and all of the actors came and banged on my door - Lea Michele, Chris Colfer, Amber Riley, Naya Rivera. They all welcomed me with open arms, so it was a great experience. It felt like family, and I miss them a lot over there.
As a former presidential campaign manager, I remember the final week of the campaign as being the longest and most important week of the campaign. The week doesn't seem to end.
I was actually pretty shy in school. My defense mechanism was to be the class clown. I remember getting into a lot of trouble for being disruptive, and I was brought in front of the headteacher, who said: 'What's going to happen to you; what are you going to do when you grow up?' and I said: 'Well, I'm obviously going to be a comedian.'
I've dreamt of being in a movie musical for a long time. For some reason I never even thought 'Les Mis' would be possible.
You spend ten years of your life being trained to do one thing, and you're being taught to think that it's the most serious thing that anyone could possibly do, and then suddenly you find yourself doing something that in some respects is the epitome of frivolity.
We are living in a time when American popular music is finally being recognized as one of our most successful exports. The demand is huge.
