I think films about men are often about characters who don't want to express their feelings. You're supposed to kind of admire them for not expressing their feelings. And I feel that's a bit dull. Women's stories often have stronger emotional content which I enjoy doing. What I really love doing is mixing that with humor.

It's self-effacing it's hard-luck the shtetl stories. All those Coasters things are an amalgam of Yiddish and black humor.

Suspense is very important. Even though this is humor and they're short stories that theory of building suspense is still there.

My stories are very somber so I think I need the comic ingredient. Besides life has so much humor.

I don't want to tell your story because you're a insensitive self-centered moron. I've told a lot of stories about young people and I always feel there's hope.

I hope telling stories though 'Making a Difference' - as in my academic work and nonprofit work - will help me to live my grandmother's adage of 'Life is not about what happens to you but about what you do with what happens to you.'

For all their current prestige Osama bin Laden and the suicide bombers are still regarded in all but the most desperate districts of Gaza or Peshawar as romantics with little chance of more than symbolic victories however bloody and brutal. That gives both the Middle East and the West a small and distant hope of security.

I am very lucky that I get to tell stories for a living. I love being able to grab people's attention to keep them turning the pages to make them stay awake all night. I want to stir the pulse yes but also to stir the heart. I hope 'The Woods' does that.

As long as we can tell stories about our ability to survive the more we will hope not self-destruct.

I hope you will go out and let stories happen to you and that you will work them water them with your blood and tears and you laughter till they bloom till you yourself burst into bloom.

I can remember being home from school with tonsillitis and writing stories in bed to pass the time.

How do you make any sense of history art or literature without knowing the stories and iconography of your own culture and all the world's main religions?

For at the same time many people seem eager to extend the circle of our moral consideration to animals in our factory farms and laboratories we are inflicting more suffering on more animals than at any time in history.

Storytelling in general is a communal act. Throughout human history people would gather around whether by the fire or at a tavern and tell stories. One person would chime in then another maybe someone would repeat a story they heard already but with a different spin. It's a collective process.

If history were taught in the form of stories it would never be forgotten.

Whether in chains or in laurels liberty knows nothing but victories.

If the states and territories do not sign up to fundamental reform then my message is equally simple: we will take this reform plan to the people at the next election - along with a referendum by or at that same election to give the Australian Government all the power it needs to reform the health system.

We've taken on the major health problems of the poorest - tuberculosis maternal mortality AIDS malaria - in four countries. We've scored some victories in the sense that we've cured or treated thousands and changed the discourse about what is possible.

In the beginning when I sat next to Tom Brokaw on the 'Today' show the stories I was interested in were those having to do with women and children and learning and health. In those days 25 to 30 years ago that was called soft news and not in a nice way.

I don't think there's a shortage of material in the world. Or in my head. I just pray for continued good health because I've got other stories to tell.

My greatest point is my persistence. I never give up in a match. However down I am I fight until the last ball. My list of matches shows that I have turned a great many so-called irretrievable defeats into victories.

Why do you think the old stories tell of men who set out on great journeys to impress the gods? Because trying to impress people just isn't worth the time and effort.

As the economy faces such difficulties more tough questions need to be asked about what the Tories would do if elected. Their ideology of free markets and small government needs challenging. That has to be part of our job.

I clearly believe a lot more than some of my coalition colleagues - Tories - in redistribution and using the tax system for that purpose. I also believe in the government having an active role in the economy which is having an industrial strategy. I'm not a believer in laissez-faire.