"Since the law prohibits the keeping of wild animals and I get no enjoyment from pets, I prefer to remain unmarried."

“A successful current affairs television show seems to be more and more a cross between a music hall turn and a scene in a torture chamber.”

“My original book [Straight to the Heart: Political Cantos] was 1,700 pages. The first editor brought it down to 700; there was a lot that didn't make it in. But at last it's finished. I had a hard time signing off on it. And I was worried about it hurting anyone I loved even indirectly. I sat in my room afterwards for two hours wondering what I had done. I wondered about it being judged and if people would understand.”

Source : Source: www.sfgate.com

“When Pixies broke up in 1993, I gave up the drums for the longest time. I hadn't been doing a lot, but I ended up attending a magic convention that initially got me interested. I took classes, bought videos, and practiced relentlessly. I began performing at parties and soon realized that developing an on-stage routine is often tougher than being a musician. I focused my act on magic that incorporated as much science as it did entertainment, which was really satisfying for me.”

“If painting is no longer needed, it seems a pity that some of us are born into the world with such a passion for line and color.”

“Curiosity’s primal. Our senses scan our surroundings, alerting us most urgently about sudden change. Useful, that. Change can mean opportunity. It can mean danger. Finding lunch or being lunch. We’re hard-wired to notice the unexpected, then take action.”

“Democracy is not just voting every 5 years and watching 'Big Brother' in between and wondering why nothing happens. Democracy is what we do and say where we live and work”

“Trade increases the wealth and glory of a country; but its real strength and stamina are to be looked for among the cultivators of the land.”

Source : Francis Thackeray, William Pitt (1827). “A history of the Right Honorable William Pitt, Earl of Chatham: containing his speeches in Parliament : a considerable portion of his correspondence, when Secretary of State, upon French, Spanish, and American affairs, never before published with an account of the principal events and persons of his time, connected with his life, sentiments and administrations ; (Mit dem Bildnisse Pitts)”, p.285

“We cannot cheat on DNA. We cannot get round photosynthesis. We cannot say I am not going to give a damn about phytoplankton. All these tiny mechanisms provide the preconditions of our planetary life. To say we do not care is to say in the most literal sense that "we choose death."”