You can die of the cure before you die of the illness.

Who would have thought that a tap-dancing penguin would outpoint James Bond at the box office? And deserve to? Not that there's anything wrong with 'Casino Royale.' But 'Happy Feet' - written and directed by George Miller - is a complete charmer, even if, in the way of most family fare, it can't resist straying into the Inspirational.

In 1998, Vanity Fair asked me to write a big piece for them on the 50th anniversary of the New York City Ballet. My life, to a great extent, had been spent at and with the New York City Ballet, and I decided to try it. It was very scary, writing about something I loved so much and had such strong opinions about.

Most famous stage actors tactfully fade away.

Despite the rigid classicism of the famous Paris Opera school and company, the French have done more than their share to unmoor la Danse from its traditions and standards.

Tolstoy may be right about happy and unhappy families, but in ballet, it works the opposite way: All good ballets are different from each other and all bad ones are alike, at least in one crucial respect - they're all empty.

Schumann's 'Quintet in E flat for Piano and Strings' is one of the sublime moments in Romantic music.

A steady diet of the higher truths might prove exhausting, but it's important that we acknowledge their validity and celebrate their survival.

The man Dickens, whom the world at large thought it knew, stood for all the Victorian virtues - probity, kindness, hard work, sympathy for the down-trodden, the sanctity of domestic life - even as his novels exposed the violence, hypocrisy, greed, and cruelty of the Victorian age.

City Ballet has to develop choreographers of stature and a new approach to coaching before everything we value about it fades away and, in the great tradition of the Cheshire Cat, there's nothing left but Peter Martins' smile.

When I was working at the Sprint store, I got laid off. I was bummed out, but I stayed positive. I used the money I had earned while working there to make my first album. Without that job, maybe 'Corazon Sin Cara' would never had been made. It's a very inspirational story.

I remember when I was working at Sprint, I'd work on my birthday, New Year's Day, and even Christmas Eve. I'm just used to working on my birthday, so I'll be celebrating it afterward.

I sang everything - R&B slow jams, Spanish slow jams, romantic reggaeton - and I really didn't care which I got signed for.

I just think Valentine's Day is a day to really appreciate the person you love, no matter who it is, and to spend time with them. I don't think it's all about fancy presents or whatever. I think it's about spending that quality time with that special person.

I don't think I've ever had a bad Valentine's Day, I mean... c'mon, y'all know I never get a bad Valentine. Nah. Um, no, I've never really had - I don't have a bad Valentine's Day. I never really think... it doesn't come up to my mind.

I think that Valentine's Day is only as good as you want it to be. You know, I don't think it should be anything fancy, nothing crazy. As long as you're spending time with that person that's special, I think that's a great Valentine's Day.

Happiness will come from materialism, not from meaning.

The MTC is known for singing music by great master composers, hymns, American music, Broadway numbers, popular songs, and inspirational music. If the audience doesn't like one genre, they need only wait for the next number.

I'm not big on dark chocolate, but I do have a sweet tooth, so it gets me in trouble. I love warm chocolate chip cookies with ice cream. Then there's this chocolate pie my mom makes for me every year for my birthday. She's been making it since I was younger, and there's nothing like it. It's really so, so good!

I love chicken and anything to do with chicken. I love anything that's homemade. Oh, and BBQ. And I love green beans. There is so much good food. I can go on and on and on.

It's as if inside the White House the belief in Obama's inspirational charisma is still such that every time the ugliness of brute politics intrudes, it's a startling revelation.

Corporate communications will become a high-tech art, just as political communication is for Obama.

I think that big, sort of theatrical relaunches tend to set you up for failure and hype.

Give Obama a script he has made his own, and he is the motivational speaker to end all speakers. Tony Robbins cloned with Honest Abe.

Who was Amanda Knox? Was she a fresh-faced honor student from Seattle who met anyone's definition of an all-American girl - attractive, athletic, smart, hard-working, adventuresome, in love with languages and travel? Or was her pretty face a mask, a duplicitous cover for a depraved soul?

It always seemed to me ironic that the McCain campaign kept referring sneeringly to Obama's meager resume - 'a mere community organizer!' - before he entered electoral politics. It was Obama's experience as a community organizer that proved such a killer app when he applied that skill to the Internet.

The Brazilian poet Vinicius de Moraes wrote that beauty is fundamental. Well, with the poet's permission, so is courage.

Obama's stern demeanor punctuated by intermittent flashes of his wide, relaxing smile is his greatest weapon in defusing pent-up angst.

You have to be sincere in your feelings. And fear is one of those, sometimes; doubt is one of those; jealousy, anger - all your emotions are not going to be considered the strong emotions; all of them are not going to be love, happiness, joy.

Oh man, I love what the South brings as far as the soul, and I really have noticed from even the early days of listening to OutKast and Goodie Mob that Atlanta and the South has a diverse sound to it. You have bounce music. You have soulful musicians. You have artists with vocals who try to do different things.

Man, if I get a chance to speak on the microphone, I've got to say something somewhere in there. You know, I'm going to laugh and have fun, too, but something has to be said that has some substance, because this is a platform, and the power that we have with words and with this microphone is phenomenal.

People that I care about, that I consider being friends of mine, most of the things I discuss with them I wouldn't discuss in public because it's a real relationship. It's not a relationship for the public, you know?

I come from playing sports. I compete, so I gotta be better than I was last year. I gotta get better, and that better gotta come from just growing. From learning new stuff to working on it, experience it in life, and failing.

It's our responsibility for the village to say, 'Hey we're going to create these programs,' whether it's sports, creative arts, music, we need some things to give young people positive things to do, and that's including jobs.

We came equals into this world, and equals shall we go out of it.

Your dear baby has died innocent and blameless, and has been called away by an all wise and merciful Creator, most probably from a life to misery and misfortune, and most certainly to one of happiness and bliss.

Every society, all government, and every kind of civil compact therefore, is or ought to be, calculated for the general good and safety of the community.

As much as I value an union of all the states, I would not admit the southern states into the union, unless they agreed to the discontinuance of this disgraceful trade, because it would bring weakness and not strength to the union.

Half a century ago, the amazing courage of Rosa Parks, the visionary leadership of Martin Luther King, and the inspirational actions of the civil rights movement led politicians to write equality into the law and make real the promise of America for all her citizens.

Christmas gives us the opportunity to pause and reflect on the important things around us - a time when we can look back on the year that has passed and prepare for the year ahead.

Today, hundreds of millions dwell in freedom, from the Baltic to the Adriatic, from the Western Approaches to the Aegean. And while we must never take this for granted, the first purpose of the European Union - to secure peace - has been achieved and we should pay tribute to all those in the EU, alongside Nato, who made that happen.

Any government I lead will continue with the equality of gay and lesbian people.

The economy is the start and end of everything. You can't have successful education reform or any other reform if you don't have a strong economy.

One of the things I most admire about America is they have created a genuine melting pot society, a country of opportunity; you can be of any religion, colour, ethnicity, persuasion and make it to the top of your chosen field. And that's something I admire about America and hope they continue with.

After the Berlin Wall came down I visited that city and I will never forget it. The abandoned checkpoints. The sense of excitement about the future. The knowledge that a great continent was coming together. Healing those wounds of our history is the central story of the European Union.

Britain is characterized not just by its independence but, above all, by its openness.

I've said I'll stand for a full second term, but I think after that it will be time for new leadership. Terms are like Shredded Wheat - two are wonderful but three might just be too many.

There definitely comes a time where a fresh pair of eyes and fresh leadership would be good, and the Conservative Party has got some great people coming up - the Theresa Mays, and the George Osbornes, and the Boris Johnsons.

Yes, America must do the right thing, but to provide moral leadership, America must do it in the right way, too.

I think the country requires fresh leadership. I do not think I can be the captain to take the country to its next destination.