I do believe that in order to be a successful negotiator that as a diplomat, you have to be able to put yourself into the other person's shoes. Unless you can understand what is motivating them, you are never going to be able to figure out how to solve a particular problem.
The most serious problem doing biography is the matter of time because you have to shape events into a narrative of two hours; you have to create a dramatic arc. That can be a challenge.
I was a pretentious teenager, so of course I had, you know, 'Raging Bull' posters and all of that. 'Raging Bull' is not a pretentious movie, but me having the poster was a pretentious action. I even grew a goatee and had a Knicks cap, because I thought I wanted to be like Spike Lee.
Stand firm in your refusal to remain conscious during algebra. In real life, I assure you, there is no such thing as algebra.
When I came to England, the first director I met was Charles Sturridge, who told me, 'You speak like somebody out of the 1950s.'
Developing a relationship with someone you admire, who can encourage you to reach your full potential, is something that everyone can benefit from.
I have to practice to be good at guitar. I have to write 100 songs before you write the first good one.
As an actress, you're already disregarded for a lot of the parts by the people who are setting up those shows. You don't need your agent to be doing the same.
Very rarely do you have a perfect race, and it's about overcoming your mistakes in the race and remaining composed.
I don't think I've ever been starstruck because they're just, you know... everybody's a person; we all come and go the same way.
Once you meet an entrepreneur like Jack Ma, you just want to make sure you bet on him. It's not a hard decision.
Music is forever; music should grow and mature with you, following you right on up until you die.
When a sports movie really works, it gets you on all levels, because the stakes are high. It's black and white. It's win or lose.
To tell you the truth, I never listen to opera at home.
I had lost relationships with my dad, my brother and sister and I was just like, you know what, this is definitely the time to just get it together and so that's what I did.
We all get lost along the way, but hopefully we figure out some sort of path. It helps if you can imagine the process as well as the goal. Those kinds of dreams are easier to achieve.
Dad was just an emotional wreck. He was drinking a lot of the time, he was smoking a lot of pot. And because he takes certain medications, the drinking was making him... you know, he wasn't even present, really.
Typically, in the cities there can be resistance to the gospel or just to Americans, or anybody that's Western. When you get back into the villages, the people are very welcoming. Then when you get into Muslim areas, it definitely gets a little more difficult.
You can't be afraid to fail. It's the only way you succeed - you're not gonna succeed all the time, and I know that.
Consolation of music is different from the one of words. It starts from the inside... It cries with you instead of telling you to stop crying.
Life will force you to make changes you never wanted to make.
You can't change what time has in store for you, as the only constant that I've known is change.
Why waste time trying to discover the truth, when you can so easily create it?
The thing about 'Star Trek' is that it is not judgmental. You can do what ever you want, within reason.
You don't improvise with a Cameron Crowe script.
In an essay, you have the outcome in your pocket before you set out on your journey, and very rarely do you make an intellectual or psychological discovery. But when you write fiction, you don't know where you are going - sometimes down to the last paragraph - and that is the pleasure of it.
But you know, our show is our show, and it's not for everybody.
Home gigs can be hard because it's an odd collision. More than anything, I feel self-conscious when my family are in the audience. I'm doing this job which is not quite acting - part of it is me, part performance. You're presenting a cartoon of yourself to people who know you as a line-drawing.
Film is not like a book; it's not a writer's baby at all. So many people have put in their talent, by that time that you feel grateful for what they've done, you don't feel possessive about it in any way.
The single hardest part of leading any organization is knowing what is going on. There's too much noise in the system, too much complexity: you absolutely depend on people speaking up and raising concerns.
With 'American Idol,' you are on your toes a lot. People don't realize the amount of work.
When you think about it, the end of the world is a little bit like death: We all know it's going to come eventually, and as we get older, we feel we see the signs more and more distinctly.
WWE is my home, and I will always stay with the WWE in some part, whether it's an ambassador, or maybe one day you'll see Nikki Bella as a GM, and no one can touch me.
I believe you can remember the future as much as the past.
At the U.S. Open, you're going to make bogeys.
Be content to seem what you really are.
