Somehow knowing that Alzheimer's is coming mocks all one's aspirations - to tell stories to think through certain issues as only a novel can do to be recognised for one's accomplishments and hard work - in a way that old familiar death does not.

Movies like that aren't about the visual effects and explosions. They're human stories about family about life about death.

All stories interest me and some haunt me until I end up writing them. Certain themes keep coming up: justice loyalty violence death political and social issues freedom.

Madame all stories if continued far enough end in death and he is no true-story teller who would keep that from you.

I have mostly been terrified of listening to scary stories around a campfire. We camp a lot as a family and at night my dad would try and tell us scary stories. This made eating s'mores difficult. The story would start with something like... 'and the old man who lived in these woods...' I would then run back into the camper terrified.

My dad and grandpa were in the army and as a country singer you're constantly playing at military bases all across the country and meeting soldiers and their families and hearing their stories.

I didn't want to travel. I didn't want to leave my family. I heard all these stories from Dad about not having Edward around when he was young and I didn't want that to happen.

When I was little we had a Golden Book that had all these Disney characters in one portrait on the first page. My dad used to read from it every night. We'd play this game of find Pluto or find Donald Duck. He'd read us stories and do all the voices. Those are great memories.

I never saw any of my dad's stories. My mother said he had piles and piles of manuscripts.

When we read stories of heroes we identify with them. We take the journey with them. We see how the obstacles almost overcome them. We see how they grow as human beings or gain qualities or show great qualities of strength and courage and with them we grow in some small way.

I wouldn't compare myself to any past Idol contestant because I don't feel like I am like any of them. Maybe stories are cool but my story is different from most people's story. I don't like to compare myself to other people I like to just be me.

Orlando's a part of me. The next guy's a part of me. And the next guy's a part of me. That's all I'm trying to do is tell cool stories that people can relate to.

I'm finding as I get older that I'm not much of a believer in redemption. I mean I believe in redemption in real life - redemption does happen and it's cool when it does - but I find myself getting leery of my desire for it in stories (especially my own).

As a kid I did want to be an old-timer since they were the ones with the big stories and the cool clothes. I wanted to go there. Now I guess I want to bring that with me and go back in time.

You know Motorcycle Diaries has no incredible stories no sudden plot twists it doesn't play that way. It's about recognizing that instance of change and embracing it.

Man coaching is a hard job and it requires a lot of time... I hear stories from coaches who tell me that players call them in the middle of the night not knowing where they parked their car.

There are going to be little victories that we claim even if it's finishing 15th and putting the car back in hauler without a scratch on it.

Not since the steam engine has any invention disrupted business models like the Internet. Whole industries including music distribution yellow-pages directories landline telephones and fax machines have been radically reordered by the digital revolution.

Really I have to laugh because there was a whole set of stories that made me sound like the Dragon Lady you know 'tough this and tough that.' Then there is this business about 'gooey.' The bottom line is I am a pragmatic idealist.

I believe that being successful means having a balance of success stories across the many areas of your life. You can't truly be considered successful in your business life if your home life is in shambles.

You hear the best stories from ordinary people. That sense of immediacy is more real to me than a lot of writerly literary-type crafted stories. I want that immediacy when I read a novel.

There's a victory and defeat the first and best of victories the lowest and worst of defeats which each man gains or sustains at the hands not of another but of himself.

Stories aren't the beauty of what did happen. They're the beauty of what could happen.

My father always taught by telling stories about his experiences. His lessons were about morality and art and what insects and birds and human beings had in common. He told me what it meant to be a man and to be a Black man. He taught me about love and responsibility about beauty and how to make gumbo.