Celebrities have more influence to be able to reach out to people, but people are becoming famous on Facebook and social media every day.

Although I have a lot of close female friends in my life, my number one is still my mom. Without her, I wouldn't have the values that I have and see the world the way that I do today. She taught me how to appreciate and respect women. She taught me chivalry and how to love a woman and respect their feelings and emotions.

I've worked with a lot of people who are more famous than myself who are terribly insecure.

Everybody is a teenage idol.

I became very famous, as a teenager, and my name and photo were splashed in all the media. They made me larger than life, so I wanted to live larger than life, and the only way to do that was to be intoxicated.

In the early days I had a very black-and-white view of everything. I think that's kind of natural for anyone who's just embraced Islam - or any religion - as a convert. It was important for me to duck out of the fast and furious life I'd been living as a pop star. I was in a different mood.

I used to be followed by a moon shadow. Now I'm followed by all these misconceptions, and they're like a ball and chain. I just want to write music from my heart and give people a message of hope and the search for a better place.

Music is a lady that I still love because she gives me the air that I breathe. We need all sorts of nourishment. And music satisfies and nourishes the hunger within ourselves for connection and harmony.

'Peace Train' is a song I wrote, the message of which continues to breeze thunderously through the hearts of millions. There is a powerful need for people to feel that gust of hope rise up again.

When many astronauts go to space, they see the insignificant size of the earth and vastness of space, and they become very religious, because they have seen the Signs of Allah.

Moderation is part of faith, so those who accuse Muslim schools of fostering fanaticism should learn a bit more about Islam.

There are certain comforts of living here in Dubai, the comforts of so many mosques and so much good food... It's just that much more secure. And may God keep it safe.

When people stare at you, and you read about yourself in papers - at 13, it just got very confusing. I thought that if this is what it's like to be famous, I don't like it one bit.

Sweden is a good country to raise a family in because there is an equality there I don't feel in the States.

The system in Sweden is great because you get free healthcare and free education; someone who doesn't have a lot of money can become a doctor or lawyer. There's good paternity and maternity leave - the U.S. is probably the only civilised country in the world that doesn't give parents anything.

When you're in the public eye, we all feel like we're constantly observed, so we don't let things out. Anger, sadness, happiness - when does that come out? Maybe when you're in traffic, because you're in the safety of your little metallic bubble.

Celebrity is a word that I find offensive. That's the c-word. I hate it. It means no discernible talent. It means all you want is to be famous. It doesn't mean you're a writer, an actor, a mime. I think I wanna not be a celebrity.

Our country was not built to support blood dynasties or to elevate the rich and famous to a higher ethical or constitutional plain.

George W. Bush is history's president, a man for whom the long-term success or failure of democracy in Iraq will determine his place in history.

The sad fact is that actual artistic oppression - book banning in its many modern forms - is a matter of course in the entertainment industry, especially when the underlying product is declared politically incorrect or runs contrary to the interests of Hollywood's political altar, the Democratic Party.

I have dreams that I will reach balance in my life, and, at forty-one, I have none.

Primarily motivated by a desire to keep abortion 'safe, legal and rare,' female liberals in the media have carte blanche to do and say anything.

Mrs. Palin is history in a dress. And her script is straight out of Hollywood - like those teen movies with the cliched ending featuring the female valedictorian delivering the speech of a lifetime projecting a bold and transformative future with an independent-minded woman in charge.

I like being famous when it's convenient for me and completely anonymous when it's not.

That's what I like about film-it can be bizarre, classic, normal, romantic. Cinema is to me the most versatile thing.

Love is suffering. One side always loves more.

Acting is also working with people who invite you into their dreams and trust you with their innermost being.

A woman has to be intelligent, have charm, a sense of humor, and be kind. It's the same qualities I require from a man.

I'm not an admirer of action movies. I just think, Oh my God, it must be so tiring.

I have no physical courage, I've asked for a double.

Celebrity is the advantage of being known to people who we don't know, and who don't know us.

The only thing that stops God from sending another flood is that the first one was useless.

Nature never said to me: Do not be poor; still less did she say: Be rich; her cry to me was always: Be independent.

Love is more pleasant than marriage for the same reason that novels are more amusing than history.

It's too late for me to get married before I'm famous. You never know people's intentions.

Leadership is something I was born with.

I told my mom I would graduate. I owe that much to her and myself.

I see a lot of young kids hit me on Twitter all the time, like, 'I want to be famous! Listen to my mixtape! I wish I could be like you!' But a lot comes with it. It's not easy.

I'm not a DJ, I don't know how to scratch and I don't know how to mix, but I do know how to party. One of my jobs is actually to travel the world and party.

When I eat cilantro, it's like someone sprayed perfume down my throat. It closes up my throat, even if there's only a little piece. I like Mexican food, and I'll go out to a Mexican restaurant and tell them, 'Look, I will die if you get cilantro in my food.' Then there's always that one little piece that falls in, and I gag.

No one can train you to be famous. How do you deal with the loss of anonymity, the loss of privacy? You have to be disciplined.

I was convicted of three misdemeanors of willful failure to file a form.

I like science fiction and physics, things like that. Planets being sucked into black holes, and the various vortexes that create possibility, and what happens on the other side of the black hole. To me it's the microcosmic study of the macrocosmic universe in man, and that's why I'm attracted to it.

I've come to the conclusion that beautiful women in the West aren't comfortable finding strength in their femininity. They want to do masculine-oriented things to establish their femininity. It's a contradiction.

I didn't get into writing to make money or get famous or any of that. I got into it to hit hearts, and man, when I get letters not just from the soldiers but from their kids, especially their kids, it makes it all worthwhile.

In fiction workshops, we tend to focus on matters of verisimilitude largely because such issues are so much easier to talk about than the failure of imagination.

Life is never all one thing. It bounces around. Certainly, my own life has. Look at Woody Allen's funny movies - all the humor comes out of sad stuff. Sometimes you have to laugh, no matter what life deals you.

Poetry is not an issue of form and enjambments. Poetry, as the word is classically used, has to do with sound and sense. It can be rhyme. It can be rhythm, pace, breath.

Fiction is a lie that is told in the service of truth.

Stories can encourage us and embolden us to face ourselves and to feel. Stories can make us feel less alone. If we're reading a story that moves us, we can feel that emotion that I feel towards my father or mother or girlfriend. So they can give us late-night company.