Part of me wants to stay hidden; it's no coincidence that I write movie music. It lets me stay in the shadows, in a way, but still lets me be expressive.
I firmly believe that knowing too much too soon can color your performance in a not good way. I just don't want to know until I need to know.
I think the Iraqi people have shown extraordinary patience and courage in the last few months. They have really put a political system on the way to success, to a real democracy here.
I think it's because most of us talk one way and live another. There are a few people who truly, truly walk the talk.
I aspired from early on to write a novel, to be in the 'New Yorker,' to be on Broadway, and at least in a fleeting way, I got all those things.
The largest party in America, by the way, is neither the Democrats nor the Republicans. It's the party of non-voters.
I do not say think as I think, but think in my way. Fear no shadows, least of all in that great spectre of personal unhappiness which binds half the world to orthodoxy.
I really enjoyed every minute of it. I mean, I've learned so much in the last week, I mean, just the way to play a real, real doubles. It was a great experience for me, and we had a lot of fun.
I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world.
Never let inexperience get in the way of ambition.
I think sex is very interesting for most people, but I'm interested in sex as a way of communication, I'm not that interested in the fantasy version of a sex scene.
The idea of avant-garde art is a very suspicious thing to me, the idea that poetry is new and it keeps being new the way Chevrolets every year are new.
The best way to help Burma is to empower the people of Burma, to help us have enough self-confidence to obtain what we want for ourselves.
Members of royal families are born into a world of indulgence and entitlement, and the princelings who grow up that way may never have to develop any discipline.
I think journalism is useful training for a writer in the way it takes the preciousness out of the pragmatic side of the craft.
The fundamental difficulty that most novelists face when they are trying to adapt their own book into a screenplay is realizing that a screenplay is a completely different way of storytelling, and it has limitations.
The telephone is a good way to talk to people without having to offer them a drink.
What is exciting is taking back the excitement of being able to debut something to an audience in exactly the way you want to.
Even if you're specific about the character of the song, it's more exciting to place them, juxtapose them in such a way as to make an adventure out of the sequence of the songs.
Do the story in the way it really demands to be done, which may mean using several different styles or only one style; but it's still about respecting the story.
A journalist and an information architect face exactly the same problem - how to give shape to the pile of information in front of you in a way that will make it easy and natural for people to comprehend. I can't imagine any better preparation for the work I do now.
I do not want to speak about overpopulation or birth control, but I think education is the way to give new impetus to the poverty question.
'American Idol' is the fast track to fame. I'm just lucky it worked out. I don't feel different. The way people react to me is different.
You don't hate history, you hate the way it was taught to you in high school.
The way you get to know yourself is by the expressions on other people's faces, because that's the only thing that you can see, unless you carry a mirror about.
You see, it took me so long, it was such a struggle, to move myself out of musicals - because I had had a success, nobody wanted to allow me to direct a non-musical picture. It was so hard. And the only way I could get it going was to become a producer myself.
I couldn't sing without a guitar. I like the way it feels to sing and be holding a guitar, even if I'm not playing it that much. All my idols that I grew up liking always had a guitar on them, but they didn't play it - Buddy Holly, John Lennon, Lou Reed, Elvis Costello. It's like having a partner with you.
People vary. You change your style, your hair, and the way you dress. Talking differently will be a part of that.
The Central Propaganda Department is the highest-ranking censorship agency in China. And it has control over everything from the appointment of newspaper editors to university professors to the way that films are cut and distributed.
We've taken on health care in a big way in our office, ever since nine years ago when I was paralyzed. I was in eight different hospitals, three different rehab centers, and all the rooms were dreadful. As an architect, designer, and patient, I can do something to help.
I have directed good actors and have gone through the process which is more detailed in theater in a way. You have to get people to stay for two or three hours in a performance. They need more talk and rehearsal than in films.
I remember hearing someone say that good acting is more about taking off a mask than putting one on, and in movie acting, certainly that's true. With the camera so close, you can see right down into your soul, hopefully. So being able to do that in a way is terrifying, and in another way, truly liberating. And I like that about it.
I think anytime you can affect people in general, in a positive way, then you're a lucky individual.
Changes in size are not a consequence of changes in shape, but the reverse: changes in size often require changes in shape. To put it another way, size is a supreme regulator of all matters biological. No living entity can evolve or develop without taking size into consideration. Much more than that, size is a prime mover in evolution.
Not a 'Mad Men' guy. Never got into it. I'm kind of a contrarian that way. If something gets too popular too fast before I can get on it, I just get really annoyed. Everybody tells me I'm an idiot; it's supposed to be amazing. I saw some of the second season; I loved it, but I was just detached. I didn't get into it.
I believe the only thing constant in life is change. That's just the way it is, no?
