What change are you seeking to make? — Define what the difference between point A and B looks like and then use that difference to determine how successful your work is.

Who’s the work for?

What’s it for?

What is the worldview of the audience you’re seeking to reach?

What are they afraid of?

What story will you tell? Is it true?

How will it change your status?

How will you reach the early adopters/neophiliacs?

Where’s the network effect that will propel this forward?

If bees only gathered nectar from perfect flowers they wouldnt be able to make even a single drop of honey.

We have witnessed the terrible increases in the incidence of alcoholism, the advent of drug dependency, the protests, marches, strikes and human alienation.

Large meadows are lovely for picnics and romping, but they are for the lighter feelings. Meadows do not make me want to write.

I grew up around writers, and there was always a romance to them. They were charming. They would tell their stories of what they were working on, over the table.

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...it's learning to dance in the rain.

I've fought hard and now I'm weary to the bone.

I never step upon a stage without asking myself whether I will succeed in finishing the opera. The fact is that a conscientious singer is never sure of himself or of anything. He is ever in the hands of Destiny.

My life is so full of sacrifices.

It's as if we live in a house which has a vast treasury in one of its rooms. Only we've forgotten about it. So, instead of living a life of royalty, we go about in poverty.

I know that Duke made a number of demands, including that the attorney general drop its investigation. We have no intention of asking the attorney general to do that.

It doesn't hurt. Nothing hurts except the small smiles and blushes that flash across the room like tiny sparrows.

I think Barack Obama is a socialist. I think he cares for his country - don't get me wrong about that - but I think he truly misunderstands what this country was based upon, the values that America was based upon, which was free enterprise and having the ability to risk your capital and having a chance to have a return on your investment.

Since I was a kid, I'd wake up every morning hearing a voice say, 'You're the greatest rapper ever.' I'm trying to prove that voice right.

Bullies want to abuse you. Instead of allowing that, you can use them as your personal motivators. Power up and let the bully eat your dust.

Architecture is a ride - a physical ride and an intellectual ride.

When discussing overall impacts on employment, it is important not to overlook the new technologies and industries that can be driven by pollution control standards.

At 21, Real Madrid or Barcelona would have been more difficult for me. If I play well enough at Chelsea, I could win my place in the starting team, and my priority is to play.

In virtually every organization, regardless of mission and function, people are frustrated by problems that seem unsolvable.

I guess the thing I would say most fervently is that your original impulse to write something is an impulse you should trust, and that if it doesn't work on the first draft, which it hardly ever does, the commitment to revising ought to be something you embrace really early. And to revise and revise and revise.

I've always been a person afraid of the dark. I was taught that when you have complete darkness, that's when spirits walk. In our house when I was growing up, all the doors were always cracked a little bit at night so you could get light into the room.

The United States has got to adopt a policy of befriending and creating allies around the world.

Middle school is kind of like Middle-earth.

In our case, finding a Lucy is unique. No one will ever find another Lucy. You can't order one from a biological supply house. It's a unique discovery, a unique specimen.

I didn't know who was on the team, but I saw every eye as I walked down the aisle. It looked like a thousand eyes were staring right at me saying, 'Who is this young punk?' I just kept my eyes straight ahead.