Let our New Year's resolution be this: we will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity in the finest sense of the word.

It doesn't matter who my father was it matters who I remember he was.

Every Christmas now for years I have found myself wondering about the point of the celebration. As the holiday has become more ecumenical and secular it has lost much of the magic that I remember so fondly from childhood.

From the time that I can remember I worked to make money - either baby-sitting or one year wrapping gifts at a department store at Christmas so I could have my own money.

The denominational world tries to pressure its members to focus on the birth of Christ but in doing so layers of guilt are imposed and competition gets complicated as one Christmas program tries to outdo the other.

I'm sure most of us remember being a kid and you have all of this endless time where two weeks before Christmas feels like ten years. I used to go to bed to try and go to sleep to try and make it go faster.

I remember wishing there was snow in L.A. And how jealous we used to get of those Christmas specials with kids playing in the snow.

My wife whenever I'd go off to work and I'd be kind of anxious she'll say 'Remember have fun.' Oh I forgot thanks for the reminder. Because sometimes we do forget. We take it all too seriously and there's a lot of joy to be had wherever you are.

The strongest influences in my life and my work are always whomever I love. Whomever I love and am with most of the time or whomever I remember most vividly. I think that's true of everyone don't you?

It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance and that in the end progress is accomplished by the man who does things.

I remember when the wave of Jennifer Lopez Salma Hayek and these beautiful Hispanic women came into light and I looked up to them and I loved them but I was like 'Where are Middle Eastern women?'

Remembering is painful it's difficult but it can be inspiring and it can give wisdom.

But I do think it's important to remember that writers do not have a monopoly of wisdom on their books. They can be wrong about their own books they can often learn about their own books.

After a gig I always head back to the hotel remembering granny's words of wisdom. I cancel the late-night pizza and watch the Jonathan Ross show instead.

Focus on the mind and the soul. Read. Study. Enrol in a course of lectures. Pray. Become a member of a religious congregation. Study the Bible or other ancient works of wisdom.

When planning your wedding you make so many decisions: 'Do I want this fork or that fork?' But in the end people aren't going to remember what napkin holder you choose.

I try to remember as I hear about friends getting engaged that it's not about the ring and it's not about the wedding. It's a grave thing getting married. And it's easy to get swept up in the wrong things.

I remember when I was in school they would ask 'What are you going to be when you grow up?' and then you'd have to draw a picture of it. I drew a picture of myself as a bride.

I'm old enough to remember the end of World War II. On Aug. 14 1946 a year after the Japanese were defeated most newspapers and magazines had single articles commemorating the end of the war.

I had two family members involved in World War I: two great-uncles. One of them is on a memorial in France. And the other was a trench runner who survived the war. The average life span of a trench runner was 36 hours but he survived the whole war.

I mean I was born the day war broke out but I don't remember all the bombs though they did actually break up Liverpool you know. I remember when I was a little older there was big gaps in all the streets where houses used to be. We used to play over them.

I remember the 1940s as a time when we were united in a way known only to that generation. We belonged to a common cause-the war.

I remember an article I can't recall who by it was after the fall of the Berlin Wall which said that now the Wall was down there could be no more class war. Only someone with money could ever say such a thing.

I remember the '80s being about the Cold War and Reagan and the homeless problem and AIDS. To me it was kind of a dark depressing time.