I did anything that would get me on the air.

I made the decision to come back to New York, quit my job and move to Paris.

Then I learned how to do wraparounds and things like that. I had no experience.

You know, I think I still have a sense that no matter what you do, no matter what you achieve, no matter how much success you have, no matter how much money you have, relationships are important.

I stayed three weeks in Paris, fell in love with the city, and decided that I was born to live in Paris.

And I realized that there was no sports reporter, so I started covering sporting events.

I'd watch my father get up at 5 o'clock and go down to the Eastern Market in Detroit to do the shopping for his restaurant, and get that business going and then go out on his vending machine business.

And I always found that the harder I worked, the better my luck was, because I was prepared for that.

Be prepared, work hard, and hope for a little luck. Recognize that the harder you work and the better prepared you are, the more luck you might have.

I taught sixth grade for three and a half years.

There was no one around me who didn't work hard.

My uncle was a hero, Lewis Roundtree. He was not even related to me really, but he was always called my uncle. He was like a father to me. I was closer to him than I was my father.

The only thing I'd ever done with news was to read copy sitting at the microphone in the studio.

But you know, I always said that no one else on my block was on the radio, and it was fun.

I will not go into a story unprepared. I will do my homework, and that's something I learned at an early age.

I always felt more emotionally attached to Cambodia than I did to Vietnam.

I would listen to how they told the story, to what elements they used, to how it sounded, and that's who I patterned myself after, the people who were on CBS News.

That's when I hit the ground. So in the instant that that round landed and blew me in the air, I had those separate and distinct thoughts. The guy who was standing right next to where I had been standing had a hole in his back I could put my fist into.

My mother worked in factories, worked as a domestic, worked in a restaurant, always had a second job.

I had no experience with broadcasting basketball games, so I took a tape recorder and went to a playground where there was a summer league, and I stood up in the top of the stands and I called the game.

Probably my mother. She was a very compassionate woman, and always kept me on my feet. And I think part of it is just the way you are, the way you're raised. And she had the responsibility for raising me.

I had a lot of fun in Cambodia, much more so in Cambodia than Vietnam.

So I just got on the phone and the engineer just patched me in and I did reports. I'd get a community leader and bring him to the phone, call up the station and do an interview over the phone with the guy.

Professionally, I remember Cronkite as a kid growing up, and more so for me, the importance of Cronkite was not him sitting there at the anchor desk, but him out there doing things.

I had never been out covering a story, but boy, was that fun.

The Paris peace talks kept a roof over my head and food on the table and clothes on my back because if something was said going in or coming out, I had the rent for the month.

I knew that God put me on this earth to be on the radio.

You can work hard to sharpen your talent, to get better at whatever it is that you do, and I think that's what it comes back to.

I did anything that would get me on the air.

The people in your life are important. Meaningful relationships with those people are very important.

Running is all about having the desire to train and persevere until every fiber in your legs, mind, and heart is turned to steel. And when you've finally forged hard enough, you will have become the best runner you can be. And that's all that you can ask for.

As regards this country, in which protection has always to some extent existed, it is the best customer that England ever had, and our demands upon her grow most steadily and regularly under protection.

Of course I have the license to make up things, but I think a lot of what's written about China is misleading, and most Americans don't know much about China, in-depth, even though China is such a crucial business partner, rival, whatever.

I create my own lyrics. I have a great band. I have a drummer from East Berlin.

When I become prime minister, I'm going to buy one of those Margaret Thatcher handbags, and I'll bang it on the table and demand my money back from the government for past bad services.

I have 800 books of just Samuel Beckett's work, tons of his correspondence, personal letters that he wrote. I have copies of plays he used when he directed, so all of his handwritten notes are in the corners of the page.

Everyone goes to the same exhibitions and the same parties, stays in the same handful of hotels, eats at the same no-star restaurants, and has almost the same opinions. I adore the art world, but this is copycat behavior in a sphere that prides itself on independent thinking.

The naked thing was short-lived. It was only around for about six months because we thought it was shocking. Once people expected us to do it we kind of never did it again.

Romantic heroes and heroines are a bit different from the sort of people we run into every day.

By every measure, John Kennedy's sex life was compulsive and reckless. At one level, it had clear public consequences. Knowledge of Kennedy's behavior gave FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover absolute job security, as well as the potential power to derail Kennedy's re-election had he survived assassination.

I'm seen as a chronicler of the class system, which I don't think is unfair.

Let's not forget we created that ideal middle class by destroying all of our industrial competitors during World War II.

I don't really want a film as a present; you can get me a diamond ring.

You either go through your life working for someone and getting a paycheck - and it can be a damn good paycheck, and I am not complaining as someone who has always been a salaried employee - or you can go out and become an entrepreneur.

Certain things you have to stumble on to. They can't be preprogrammed.

I will defend anyone as long as the client gives me total control of the case and pays up front.

I had a vocal coach. It's a sad thing, but I had to hire someone so that I could get my Australian accent back.

My dad grew up with an avocado tree in his backyard. My entire family, my wife and daughters, they love avocado. I may well be allergic. It makes me physically sick.

Every contemporary poet is a door to another poet.