That's what acting is - it's about... having the courage to allow your audience into the private moments of your characters' lives.

Sep-11 2001 revealed heroism in ordinary people who might have gone through their lives never called upon to demonstrate the extent of their courage.

I know that throughout their history the people of the United States defended their freedom their liberty their justice and their rights - if need be - with their lives. I think their courage is so admirable.

But we got up there and decided to stick to this mix of power chords and funk and that's where it really started for us. In having the courage to take that decision. To take a gamble not just with our music but our lives.

Killing yourself is a major commitment it takes a kind of courage. Most people just lead lives of cowardly desperation. It's kinda half suicide where you just dull yourself with substances.

No matter what you think about the Iraq war there is one thing we can all agree on for the next days - we have to salute the courage and bravery of those who are risking their lives to vote and those brave Iraqi and American soldiers fighting to protect their right to vote.

We need to find the courage to say no to the things and people that are not serving us if we want to rediscover ourselves and live our lives with authenticity.

All of us have moments in our lives that test our courage. Taking children into a house with a white carpet is one of them.

The great thing about it is in Hollywood certain people are very good at keeping their lives and who they are very private. I've never met anybody as down to earth and cool in Hollywood than Matt Damon.

Cynicism is kind of like folding your arms and stepping back and commenting on things like the old guys in 'The Muppets ' just throwing out comments all the time whereas there are other people on the ground really trying to affect things and improve their lives and the lives of other people. I think it's noble and I think it's cool.

My parents are the coolest of the cool on every single level and it's because they have a deep appreciation for every moment of their lives.

The idea that so many kids eat rubbish and sit on computers all day long appals me and getting them into sport is a major way of getting them off computers and leading healthier lives.

Our lives sometimes depend on computers performing as predicted.

Security is I would say our top priority because for all the exciting things you will be able to do with computers - organizing your lives staying in touch with people being creative - if we don't solve these security problems then people will hold back.

I don't understand why people whose entire lives or their corporate success depends on communication and yet they are led on occasion by CEOs who cannot talk their way out of a paper bag and don't care to.

Much can and must be done by governments but they cannot of themselves change lives.

Sureness is something like a neck brace which we clamp around our lives hoping to somehow protect ourselves from the frightening constant whiplash of change. Sadly the brace doesn't always hold.

Sometimes we look for those thunderous things to happen in our life for our lives to change or go in the other direction. We seek the miracle. We seek the parting of the seas the moving of the mountains. But no it's a quiet thing. At least for me it was.

From year to year environmental changes are incremental and often barely register in our lives but from evolutionary or geological perspectives what is happening is explosive change.

The damage that climate change is causing and that will get worse if we fail to act goes beyond the hundreds of thousands of lives homes and businesses lost ecosystems destroyed species driven to extinction infrastructure smashed and people inconvenienced.

I think it's harder for people than it should be. But as more and more of us become carbon neutral and change the patterns in our lives to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem we are now beginning to see the changes in policy that are needed.

The greatest revolution in our generation is that of human beings who by changing the inner attitudes of their minds can change the outer aspects of their lives.

One reason we resist making deliberate choices is that choice equals change and most of us feeling the world is unpredictable enough try to minimise the trauma of change in our personal lives.

To some extent Seattle remains a frontier metropolis a place where people can experiment with their lives and change and grow and make things happen.