When I do a character, I try to base it on someone I have met or an experience I've had.
This is for all of you out there tonight, reaching for a dream - don't ever give up! Never ever listen to anyone, when they try to discourage you, because they do that, believe me!
Whatever I'm doing at that moment, I try to only focus on that because I'm already ADD.
I try to make my books reflect humanity as I see it.
I want to try to prove that at 100, I could sing as well as I was singing when I was 45 or 43.
In the studio, I do try to have a thought in my head, so that it's not like a blank stare.
I think that women out there should just be happy with how they look, and they shouldn't really try to conform to any stereotype. Just be happy and, hopefully, healthy.
The security comes, as an actor, in knowing that you're not in control. If you try to control your career, or how people perceive you, you'll make yourself unhappy, because life doesn't work like that. So much is luck. It's much better to let yourself off, to think, 'There's nothing I can do.'
I wander around, get the lay of the land and try to imagine what kind of people would have lived there in that historical period. What would they eat? What kind of clothing would they wear? How did they shelter themselves? How did they get around?
It took a bit of talking through administrative people, but only once did an attorney try and get in the way of the process and say their artist couldn't do it.
Julius Peppers is a beast, man. I don't know how many pounds he outweighs me by... I still try to do things like him to make my game better.
I maintain my inner beauty by trying to lead a balanced life in general. I try to eat healthy foods, but... that doesn't mean I won't treat myself now and then! I work out almost every day, which gives me more energy and helps me feel stronger. I also try to be a genuinely good person to the people around me.
I try to play the best I can every time I play. But there's just some folks that seem to draw a little bit of that extra special out of you.
I used to work for a non-profit organization where I worked as a mentor and a counselor to first-generation college student and they kept asking me 'What can I read to try to know what I'm about to be in for,' and while I did have some good suggestions, I figured... I don't know that that book is out there, and that's sort of why I had to write it.
And I would like to marry and have more children. I would like to try and do it right.
I try not to set myself up as different or as a celebrity or special. I have a husband that can get on my nerves. I have kids that test my patience. I've got a cat I can't keep off the sofa. It's real. On a bad day, I'm reading 'Acts of Faith.'
It's important not to indicate. People don't try to show their feelings, they try to hide them.
There may be a new album, and there may not. Right now, we're encouraging bootlegging because there have been some great live things that ended up on the Internet. Rather than try to stop it, we like it. If nobody gave a crap about you, they wouldn't bother to bootleg you.
I try not to punish the audience by making them listen to too much acoustic guitar.
It's not easy to be my sons because we're very high profile. We try so hard to give them a normal life. I'm very, very tight with them about money. I don't give that money until they ask, 'I need 100 yuan for my lunch card,' and so on. So they never have extra money.
I always try to avoid looking at the section where my books would be shelved, but I do know that my most reliable neighbor to the right is Kate Chopin's 'The Awakening', which is dispiriting. That's a book I don't want to re-read.
I try to do the right thing at the right time. They may just be little things, but usually they make the difference between winning and losing.
I made a decision when my father passed away that I was going to be who God made me to be and not try to preach like my father.
Acting was something I always wanted to try. I just didn't know how, or I didn't know when the door was gonna be open for me to try it. But it finally opened up for me when I did 'Turn It Up', and ever since then I've been in love with doing films.
When you try to figure out what the religious right is, it ultimately comes down either to one man, Pat Robertson, or anyone who believes in a higher being and wants their taxes cut.
I always try to keep a pretty conservative demeanor on the court.
I try and spend a lot of time with my kids. I try and have fun with my kids. I try to put father time in there.
I decided I would go to Chicago and try my luck as a writer after those eight months as a fireman.
I eat egg whites a lot. Aside from that, I eat everything. I try to avoid too much oily food, but I do eat carbs. I have to have a balanced diet.
As parents, you want to try to mitigate your children's pain.
People will sooner aid a sick dog lying on the sidewalk than to try to find shelter for a sick person. It's too much to deal with.
A lot of women seem to think the way to ingratiate themselves is to put down other women or backstab. That's the quickest way to be eliminated from my life - try that with me, and you're out.
Somebody talked me into writing an autobiography about six or seven years ago. And I said I'd try. We talked into a tape recorder, and after a couple of months, I said, To hell with it. I was so depressed. It was like saying, 'This is the end.' I was more interested in what the hell was coming the next day or the next week.
My work schedule has changed over the years. The one constant is, when at work on a novel, I try to work seven days a week, so as not to lose touch with that world. Within that, I'm flexible on hours and output.
'Outlander' is based on a group of books; there's a slight fantasy element to it, but ours is authentic - we try to stick to historical accuracy as possible. Ours is about a small group of people and a core relationship rather than big armies.
Everyone has secrets, and I think some people flee from home - far from home - to try to keep those secrets.
