Acting is not hiding to me; it's revealing. We give you license to feel. 'Hey, she's crying, so it's okay if I cry, too.' That's the most important thing in the world, because when you stop feeling, that's when you're dead.
I used the pen name because I knew I wanted to write better novels under my own name someday.
It turns out that popularity is scary. I don't feel comfortable receiving so much attention from people; perhaps that's because I'm just a kampong boy.
Margaret Thatcher was fearful of German unification because she believed that this would bring an immediate and formidable increase of economic strength to a Germany which was already the strongest economic partner in Europe.
There's no regret. You can't regret. I mean, I've felt regret but I've also refused to allow regret to sow a seed and live in me because I don't believe it. You feel it, it's like guilt, it's like jealousy, it's like all those horrible things. You've just got to snip them and get them out, because they're no good.
If a critic doesn't think I can act, it's because I'm not acting. That's me - and that's the way I act.
One is not idle because one is absorbed. There is both visible and invisible labor. To contemplate is to toil, to think is to do. The crossed arms work, the clasped hands act. The eyes upturned to Heaven are an act of creation.
It is unfortunate that Americans are no longer aware of what the constitution says and what their rights are. Because of that, we are often very passive about what happens when the government violates those rights.
The first rule of management is delegation. Don't try and do everything yourself because you can't.
I really love something that's strong vocally and a little more difficult to sing because it's fun.
We do it because we're committed, because we're believers.
Because we're actors we can pretend and fake it, but I'd rather the intimate investment was authentic.
People know me because I play the monsters, but I'm most recognized from the small roles in which they see my face. None of that stuff really bothers me. Whether I'm recognized in or out of a costume isn't a kind of pressure I put myself through anymore.
The real technical problems came because people working on the project didn't really follow my proposal at all, but set out to do other things instead of making a laser.
I come from a TV background, so for me this more like doing a freeing theatre piece because we'd go into a room and do the scene, instead of doing it as a wide shot, medium shot, and close up with only the odd line of dialogue.
The Connection Machines owned by the United States government laboratories were made available to me because they were considered impossible to program and there was no great demand for them at that time.
Just because it's in print doesn't mean it's the gospel.
They are imbeciles who call my work abstract. That which they call abstract is the most realistic, because what is real is not the exterior but the idea, the essence of things.
Obama has no power to change American policy because there are people who specialize in drawing these policies, which have been and still are hostile towards Islam.
Writers want to summarize: What does this mean? What did we learn from this? That's a very 19th-century way of thinking about art, because it assumes that it should make our lives better or teach us something.
Because I was suspicious of the traditional Christian church, I tended to tar them all with the same brush. That was a mistake, because there are righteous people working in a whole rainbow of belief systems - from Hasidic Jews to right-wing Bible Belters to charismatic Catholics.
I would love to work with Paolo Nutini because he is so soulful and an amazing songwriter.
Just because you have a learning difficulty or difference doesn't mean you aren't smart.
You have to be okay with wins and losses. You can't just be looking for the wins and, when the losses happen, you can't buy more and more because you're sure it's going to bounce. We call that revenge trading.
I identify with the regular person, because that is who I am.
The trouble with kingdoms of heaven on earth is that they're liable to come to pass, and then their fraudulence is apparent for all to see. We need a kingdom of heaven in Heaven, if only because it can't be realized.
As a songwriter, there's nothing better than winning Song Of The Year. But I couldn't really celebrate, because it wasn't right. Luther wasn't standing next to me, to receive the award.
It would be nice if areas could be revitalised - like places in the U.S. such as Pittsburgh, for example, which have been transformed through shale. There you have shiny cars in a shiny city because of the development of shale in an old industrial heartland.
You have that one basic string, but it can vibrate in many ways. But we're trying to get a lot of particles because experimental physicists have discovered a lot of particles.
Whenever I perform, people get me because I'm talking about things that people can identify with and relate to. I'm not just up there doing jokey, jokey, joke.
Because I'm very petite, I try not to wear things that have a heavy pattern because I feel like they overtake you.
I feel very strongly that where the facts exist, a historical novelist should use them if they're writing about a person who really lived, because a lot of people come to history through historical novels. I did. And a lot of people want their history that way.
The important thing to remember, if you are trying something that is an innovation, is not to think too much about it. Because if you take too long, by the time you get there, the world will have changed. You take a risk, and if it doesn't work, you make a change. We are not betting our lives on it.
My friends tease me because I don't like clutter. I'm not someone who gets attached to things.
I take a very unselfish approach to my job and what I do because people spend their hard-earned money to enjoy what we do. And our goal is to deliver the best show possible. If I can contribute to that, great.
The rich get richer. Not only because they have surpluses with which to invest, but because of the overriding emotional release they experience from having wealth.
