The last thing one discovers in composing a work is what to put first.

Strength and wisdom are not opposing values.

I think that people who have played sports have an ability to relate to people because when you're playing you have to work on teams and with opposing players.

I wanted to be a sportswriter because I loved sports and I could not hit the curve ball the jump shot or the opposing ball carrier.

Science is fun. Science is curiosity. We all have natural curiosity. Science is a process of investigating. It's posing questions and coming up with a method. It's delving in.

Bush reiterated his stand to conservatives opposing his decision on stem cell research. He said today he believes life begins at conception and ends at execution.

I actually have more respect for people who are in the closet. You end up exposing so much of yourself because you have to talk about your sexual life. You shouldn't have to talk about it.

I always tell my kids that as soon as you have a secret something about you that you are ashamed to have others find out you have given other people the power to hurt you by exposing you.

I'd always loved poetry and I'd always loved writing music and composing music but I hadn't thought of putting the two together until around that time.

I was in Paris at an English-language bookstore. I picked up a volume of Dickinson's poetry. I came back to my hotel read 2 000 of her poems and immediately began composing in my head. I wrote down the melodies even before I got to a piano.

Poetry is composing for the breath.

Ah reality TV: where opportunists delight in exposing opportunism! It's kind of like the indie music scene.

I've been composing music all my life and if I'd been clever enough at school I would like to have gone to music college.

No candidate can win a presidential race advocating gay marriage and opposing the military action in Iraq.

On both 'The Bachelor' and 'The Bachelorette ' it seems like proposing marriage is equivalent to saying 'Let's date.' Everyone knows those aren't the same things.

Composing gives me a chance to work in multiple dimensions and helps me pare down my melodies into what is essential. Learning new skills has always energized me and scoring has opened up a world of sonic possibilities.

Breaking into a system or exposing its weaknesses is a good thing because truth and knowledge must win out.

Religion can make it worse. Are you supposing that if people were encouraged to believe in a transcendent reality and to be encouraged by grand rituals and music and preaching to love their neighbors then they would put jealousy and frustration aside?

While it is true that Frank had a great sense of humor he was also very serious about composing music. In reality there are only a handful of skilled players who can play his most complex pieces. It takes a lot of patience to learn and requires a fantastic memory.

It is my fervent hope and prayer that by exposing my mistakes and by pointing out the things that were a part of my early life some who might be following the same paths might not make those same mistakes.

In speech after speech on his health care plan the President has tried to convince us that what he is proposing will be good for America. But how can it be good for America if it raises taxes by a half trillion dollars and costs a trillion dollars or more to implement?

Hydraulic fracturing requires massive amounts of water. Disposing of the toxic wastewater as well as accidental spills can contaminate drinking water and harm human health.

The Israeli government has proved over the past year its commitment to peace both in words and deeds. By contrast the Palestinians are posing preconditions for renewing the diplomatic process in a way they have not done over the course of 16 years.

Our nation is too different too diverse to say that what works in Massachusetts is somehow going to be grabbed by the federal government usurping the power of states and imposing a one-size-fits-all plan on the nation. That will not work.