Cuba rebelled against Spain in 1868 and fought for ten years.

The U.S.S. Maine was sent into Havana's harbor to protect American citizens and property and to intimidate the Cubans into behaving. Then it exploded on February 15. It killed more than 250 sailors.

On February 25, Theodore Roosevelt cabled naval commanders in the Pacific to prepare for military action against Spain. President McKinley ordered most of the cables undone, but he did leave Admiral George Dewey. Dewey was told to attack the Spanish fleet in the Philippines if the U.S. went to war with Spain.

Late in March, McKinley sent a list of demands to Spain, including; compensation for the Maine, an end to the reconcentration camps, a truce in Cuba, and Cuban independence. Spain accepted all but the last.

McKinley decided he could not stop the cries for war, even after Spain accepted all but the last of his demands. On April 11, 1898 he sent a war message to Congress. Not soon after that, Congress recognized Cuban independence and authorized force against Spain.

Chess is a curse upon a man.

When I was 20 years old, my mom flew me for my first Broadway audition for 'The Color Purple,' and I only found out about it because I knew that Fantasia was in it, and so I went online to ActorsEquity.com. I was not a part of the union, but I flew there for the audition, and the next week I made my Broadway debut!

Zone into your comfort zone and then zone into where you want to be. Be all that you can be.

What drew me to politics in the first place was the fact that I wanted to have a place to take a stand and use my voice to express what I believed in. But I've no longer got any political aspirations. I feel that as a politician, fifty per cent of people would hate you before you even left the house.

Winning tastes good.

Magic lives in curves not angles.

One of the biggest things we have to be able to do is to handle conflict and handle it correctly. We're able to look at our biases, look at our frustration, look at our sin in this area, our pride and our selfishness. It allows us to move forward.

In Europe you can be Sophia, you can be these older women who are considered very sexy.

I am unjust, but I can strive for justice. My life's unkind, but I can vote for kindness. I, the unloving, say life should be lovely. I, that am blind, cry out against my blindness.

If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.

It's Frederick Dierks Bentley, but my whole family goes by their middle name - my sister, my brother. So from day one, I've always been called Dierks.

When people get into that fight-or-flight place, then they move away from the creative centers of their brain.

The Church is the one institution that exists for those outside it.

Every act done, no matter how insignificant, will eventually return to the doer with equal impact. Good will be returned with good; evil with evil.

In time of crisis people want to know that you care more than they care what you know

There are no instant solutions.

During times of universal deceit telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act

Everything I worry about would be better if more people could read, write and comprehend.

If I can get my dress on, my weight is under control.

I don't think about Hollywood at all.

There is not enough religion in the world even to destroy religion.

Never forget who you are.

Tomorrow never comes

'Poltergeist' was really the film that really scarred but fascinated me with puppets and dolls, clowns, and stuff like that. I've always been afraid of clowns, and then my fear of puppets came around, and 'Poltergeist' was the perfect combination to scare me with a clown doll.