Once I began doing stand-up, I didn't get a kick out of the applause or being the centre of attention; but I did get a kick out of the jigsaw puzzle aspect of it, searching for the right bit, adding another few pieces each night until the bigger picture appears. That's the appeal: the challenge of it. ~Stephen Merchant
#quotes #stephen-merchant #comedy #attention

Whenever the devil harasses you, seek the company of men or drink more, or joke and talk nonsense, or do some other merry thing. Sometimes we must drink more, sport, recreate ourselves, and even sin a little to spite the devil, so that we leave him no place for troubling our consciences with trifles. We are conquered if we try too conscientiously not to sin at all. So when the devil says to you: do not drink, answer him: I will drink, and right freely, just because you tell me not to. ~Martin Luther
#quotes #martin-luther #evil #alcohol

I don't know if people realize how hard I work, because sometimes people ask me for my secret. The truth is that I don't have any secrets apart from the fact that I've been directing theater and film for twenty years and trying at every stage to make my work better. ~Lucy Walker
#quotes #lucy-walker #entertainment

From early childhood, I was interested in understanding how the world worked, and assumed I would be some kind of physical scientist or chemist. But the truth was, I didn't know there was another kind of world, the inner world, that was just as interesting, if not more relevant, than what was going on in the outside world. ~Stephen LaBerge
#quotes #stephen-laberge #childhood #world

Every life has its years in which one progresses as on a tedious and dusty street of poplars, without caring to know where he is. ~Max Muller
#quotes #max-muller #life #progress

We are focused on doing the things that make the economy perform well, and as you do that, reduce deficits, for one, very important; secondly, keep growth rates high, very important. ~John W. Snow
#quotes #john-w-snow #economy

Mozart eliminates the idea of haste from life. His airs could not lag as they make their journey through the listener's attention; they are not the right shape for loitering. But it is as true that they never rush, they are never headlong or helter-skelter, they splash no mud, they raise no dust. ~Rebecca West
#quotes #rebecca-west #mozart #music

It is better to conceal one's knowledge than to reveal one's ignorance. ~Spanish Proverb
#proverbs #spanish-proverbs #knowledge #speaking

Very often I'll find out at the end of a book what I put in at the beginning. A sort of process of elimination and discovery in one. ~Jonathan Carroll
#quotes #jonathan-carroll #books #process

It takes no effort to be ordinary. Ordinary is not even a challenge. You can do nothing and be ordinary. ~Bernard Hopkins
#quotes #bernard-hopkins #extraordinary

My dad in particular, I tend to use; I call him "The Brain." If he's accessible, I'd rather put it through his brain. My wife, Melissa, maintains that the closer he is in proximity to me, the less I think for myself. And I think she's actually correct. So anything worth mulling over, I will mull over with my father, and that includes ratings. ~Joshua Malina
#quotes #joshua-malina #father

You must remember the value that you add to others and not just what others have added to you. That's how we build self-worth, which, in my opinion, is just as important as net worth. ~Suze Orman
#quotes #suze-orman #self #helping

I see it as my duty in some way is to be out in the world as an Australian putting forward what I consider to be authentic Australian music. ~Nick Cave
#quotes #nick-cave #music #australia

I look at couples in the street who are in their sixties and have been together for 40 years, and they're my idols. That's Ice and me for sure. ~Coco Austin
#quotes #coco-austin #family #love

It is amazing how many people beat you at golf now that you are no longer president. ~George H. W. Bush
#quotes #george-h-w-bush #golf

This arena is a special place. Everybody loves it. To be able to stand behind the bench and be a part of a great tournament for the '96 Elite is fun. The kids, having a chance to play in the building where the Penguins play, it's a special feeling for them. ~Mario Lemieux
#quotes #mario-lemieux #fun

Oh, and I suppose the apples ate the cheese. ~Suzanne Collins
#quotes #suzanne-collins

I played pretend games as a kid, army, whatever, but I never wanted to be an actor. ~Ray Liotta
#quotes #ray-liotta #childhood #acting

I have accepted fear as a part of life; specifically the fear of change. I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says: turn back. ~Erica Jong
#quotes #erica-jong #fear #change

In many ways, theatre is more rewarding for a writer. I used to think it was like painting a wall - that when the play is finished, it's done; but now I realise it's more like gardening; you plant the thing, then you have to constantly tend it. You're part of a thing that's living. ~Lee Hall
#quotes #lee-hall #gardening #theatre

There is a theory that creativity arises when individuals are out of sync with their environment. To put it simply, people who fit in with their communities have insufficient motivation to risk their psyches in creating something truly new, while those who are out of sync are driven by the constant need to prove their worth. ~Gary Taubes
#quotes #gary-taubes #motivation #creativity #science

If you watch the first [Star Wars] movie, you don't actually know exactly what the Empire is trying to do. They're going to rule by fear; but you don't know what their endgame is. You don't know what Leia is princess of. You don't yet understand who Jabba the Hutt is, even though there is a reference to him. You don't know that Vader is Luke's father, Leia is his sister; but the possibility is all there. The beauty of that movie was that it was an unfamiliar world, and yet you wanted to see it expand and to see where it went. ~J. J. Abrams
#quotes #j-j-abrams #star-wars

I am fortunate in that I am a lecturer too and this gets me out and about and away from the computer. I also have loads of friends all around the world, plus a core group of special people in my life that I can lean on, chat to, or just hang with. ~Paul Kane
#quotes #paul-kane #socializing

If you represent the Earth's lifetime by a single year, say from January when it was made to December, the 21st-century would be a quarter of a second in June; a tiny fraction of the year. But even in this concertinaed cosmic perspective, our century is very, very special; the first when humans can change themselves and their home planet. ~Martin Rees
#quotes #martin-rees #time #human #change

That which God said to the rose, and caused it to laugh in full-blown beauty, He said to my heart, and made it a hundred times more beautiful. ~Rumi
#quotes #rumi #god #flower #beauty