I remember that at the beginning of the month, the kind of menus my mom and father would prepare for us would have fish, chicken. But at the end of the month - because my father would be waiting for paycheck - the refrigerator would get empty. I remember that without a lot of food left, some of the best meals happened right there.
Mandela drafted the M Plan, a simple, commonsense plan for organization on a street basis so that Congress volunteers would be in daily touch with the people, alert to their needs and able to mobilize them.
I think the reason I was 23 before I ever wrote a song was that I was afraid of testing myself. What would I do if I discovered I didn't have anything to say?
I didn't want to be selling insurance at 40, wondering what would it have been like to do stand-up.
Let me just say something that I forgot, I also hoped and this was very true in the beginning - that this would also be a place that people would be able to walk in to the fountain and use it in a nice way of reading and examining the quotations on the blocks.
A writer should get as much education as possible, but just going to school is not enough; if it were, all owners of doctorates would be inspired writers.
I wanted to wear a uniform when I was in high school, but I couldn't. I was like, 'It would be so much easier!'
When I was four or five, I would organise my cars and my action figures. I needed some kind of structure, I think.
I had a thick accent, and people didn't understand me, and I was ashamed, and I fumbled. I radiated an uncertain energy; sometimes baristas sensed this and wouldn't try to talk to me, and then an insecure voice in my head would cry, 'He's racist!'
I'd seen all the great entertainers by the time I was 14 or 15. My mother was artistic. My father was a bookmaker, so he had access to all those nightclubs, and he was smitten by certain artists, and we would go see them. We'd see comics like Sid Caesar and Milton Berle - those kind of artists - many of whom I worked with later in my life.
Nobody thought I would be a great coach.
But that citizen's perception was also at one with the truth in recognizing that the very brutality of the means by which the IRA were pursuing change was destructive of the trust upon which new possibilities would have to be based.
I don't have a problem putting on or cutting weight. I would adapt my training if I'm training for a Light Heavyweight fight by using different techniques and by wearing a weight vest to get used to the extra fighting weight.
I've never been a social person. When I grew up, the other girls would all be combing their hair and exchanging lipstick, and I just couldn't do that group thing.
I think every person has their own identity and beauty. Everyone being different is what is really beautiful. If we were all the same, it would be boring.
I've talked to Mitt Romney. He's not going to run for this seat. I would be glad for him if he would.
Obviously, in journalism, you're confined to what happens. And the tendency to embellish, to mythologize, it's in us. It makes things more interesting, a closer call. But journalism taught me how to write a sentence that would make someone want to read the next one.
I would sing at home. I would sing in the car with my dad, but whenever he tried to make me sing in church, I was like, 'Nah, I'm not doing that.' I didn't want to sing in front of all these people.
My phone is key. This is because I like listening to music, and often, not travelling with it would be a killer. I also love my bed, but unfortunately I can't travel with it, but if I could I would.
I turned 30, and everyone told me I would feel different, and I didn't.
On one of my last days at school, the headmaster said I would either end up in prison or become a millionaire. That was quite a startling prediction, but in some respects, he was right on both counts!
When I started, there weren't any arenas. There was football fields, but they would only hold three or four or five hundred people at the most... We played a lot of high school auditoriums and things like that - a lot of churches... but boy, it has changed.
What's amazing is, if young people understood how doing well in school makes the rest of their life so much interesting, they would be more motivated. It's so far away in time that they can't appreciate what it means for their whole life.
It's not necessary that every film that I direct will have dance in it. I would love to explore different areas.
People who would go to an arthouse cinema and watch a Swedish movie and read subtitles... it's a small percentage.
The question always arose from both fans and friends was, 'Have you ever done 'Star Trek,' and if not, would you want to?' And the answer was always, 'No, I haven't, and yes, I would love to!' So now, at the age of 57, I can finally say, 'I'm in the new Star Trek!' And I'm so excited about it!
If I was to direct Ron Howard, I guarantee you, I would put him through a living hell every day. I would demand so much of him. We wouldn't quit until he leaves the set crying. Weeping! Spent!
My mother had no idea that her daughter would turn out to be a writer, but she would not let me go through a day of my childhood without music.
Since I'm so slow, I have to be fairly choosy about the projects I take on, and it can't be something that I'm only 'sort of' into. I knew that 'The Stand' would be an amazing challenge every month that would be a blast to illustrate.
I would never be fearful of any character.
You would never see anyone go to a restaurant in Milan wearing a jumpsuit!
In Singapore, Malcolm X type of activity would be extremely difficult because the government can be very harsh on lawbreakers.
I was shocked when I would read a newspaper from that time, and the Freedom March wasn't even mentioned.
To me, the most terrifying form of warfare would be if there was some simultaneous cyber attack on our grid, on the banking system, and on our transportation system. That would be quite a devastating thing, and yet in theory, absent some real protective measures, that could happen.
I would love to have a part opposite a great actor - like, say, Pacino or De Niro or Hoffman. And to work with a top director. That's my dream.
When I was 20, I was living in the Alps, snowboarding and studying political science. I blew out my knee, and I began to realize my days in the sport were numbered; the reality was I would never be a pro.
