"[About a conference on Systematic Biology] Many interesting statements were made that apply directly to the work of taxonomists. In some cases the interest lay in the value of the suggestion and sometimes in the obvious need for rebuttal."

“The sentences I write have their roots in song and poetry, and take their bearings from music and painting, as much as from the need to impart mere information, or mirror anything. I am not a realist writer, even if I seem like one.”

Source : "Exclusive Interview: Colm Toibin Talks About His New Story Collection". Interview with Anis Shivani, www.huffingtonpost.com. January 20, 2011.

“What matters most in a child’s development, they say, is not how much information we can stuff into her brain in the first few years. What matters, instead, is whether we are able to help her develop a very different set of qualities, a list that includes persistence, self-control, curiosity, conscientiousness, grit, and self-confidence. Economists refer to these as noncognitive skills, psychologists call them personality traits, and the rest of us sometimes think of them as character.”

“If you can believe this, I didn't fight for my first world title fight till I had 58 fights, so I really appreciated what I was fighting for and for whom as well.”

“I’m not investigating race as much as I’m investigating intimacy.”

“A negative outlook is more of a handicap than any physical injury.”

Source : Christopher Paolini (2014). “The Inheritance Cycle Complete Collection: Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, Inheritance”, p.932, Knopf Books for Young Readers

“No one but a fool would measure their satisfaction by what the world thinks of it.”

“I think you are born chic. You cannot be chic. It is something you cannot learn.”

“I think that painting relates very neatly to inner travel and the exploration of inner worlds. With painting, I always get the impression that you're sort of entering into a shared space.”

Source : Interview with Laura Hoptman, www.interviewmagazine.com. May 16, 2013.