You know that being an American is more than a matter of where your parents came from. It is a belief that all men are created free and equal and that everyone deserves an even break. - Harry S Truman Being an American means never having to say you're sorry. - Kurt Vonnegut Look, if America - if being an American means anything, it means not having to lie under oath, not even for the president. - Linda Tripp It's a complex fate, being an American, and one of the responsibilities it entails is fighting against a superstitious valuation of Europe. - Henry James Being an American is something I wanted to be for a very long time, probably since I saw the moon landing when I was a child. - Craig Ferguson It's odd being an American now. Most of us are peaceful, but here we are again, in our fifth major war of this century. - Pete Hamill Mickey is one of the prime examples: Mickey has never been suspected of being an American export. It was deja vu. They gave him a local na

Being a politician is a lot like being an alcoholic in denial. - Huntley Fitzpatrick Anorexia was there for me before I got into modeling, but because of the arena and the demands, the disease really got out of control for me. It's like being an alcoholic and going and being a bartender. - Carre Otis It wasn't being an alcoholic - it was going wild. It happened when I got famous. It was like having my teens in my early thirties: blotting out your life, not having to think about anything. - Julie Walters

Her life was monotonous, but it kept her out of trouble.... This, her father would say, was called being an adult. - Sarah Addison Allen Sometimes being an adult means doing the right thing, even if it's not what you want. - Laurie Halse Anderson I always looked forward to being an adult, because I thought the adult world was, welladult. That adults weren't cliquey or nasty, that the whole notion of being cool, or in, or popular would case to be the arbiter of all things social, but I was beginning to realize that the adult world was as nonsensically brutal and socially perilous as the kingdom of childhood. - Peter Cameron I thought being an adult meant knowing what you believe, but that has not been my experience. - John Green I don't know what I believe, Hazel. I thought being an adult meant knowing what you believe, but that has not been my experience. - John Green Being an adult means accepting those situations where no action is possible. - John D Macdonald I kn

Being an actress is similar to trying to fit in with the popular kids in high school. You're expected to drive the right car, wear the right clothes and say the right things. - Lauren Ambrose The only thing I like about being an actress is acting. - Elizabeth Ashley Outside of being an actress, I feel like being out is the biggest way that gay people can change perception. There are people that give millions of dollars to gay organizations but are closeted to their own families. - Jill Bennett But I've never felt that being an actress is being in a comfortable place. It's seen from the outside that we're being driven in big cars and having these gorgeous suites and all of that. But come on, it's not about that. - Juliette Binoche I believe that being an actress or being involved in a movie has to be a life experience, otherwise why go for it? I have to change me, and I have to learn things, and I have to push me and my limits. By acting, I find a freedom inside

I wish we would all remember that being American is not just about the freedom we have; it is about those who gave it to us. - Mike Huckabee There's a deep-seated paranoia that Americans have about not being Americans or something. - Billy Joel That's why I'm very proud of being American. I'm proud to pay taxes. I pay a lot of taxes, but it sure beats the alternative. - Payne Stewart Why lower oneself to taking pride from being American or British, when you can boast of being man! - Jules Verne And part of being American is respecting all people's right to be whatever they want to be and at the same time respecting your own right to bitch about it, as long as you're educated and can reason your way through your bitching. - Sara Zarr

I suppose I have a really loose interpretation of "work," because I think that just being alive is so much work at something you don't always want to do. The machinery is always going. Even when you sleep. - Andy Warhol What do you miss about being alive?" The sound of my mom singing, a little off-key. The way my dad went to all my swim meets and I could hear his whistle when my head was underwater, even if he did yell at me afterward for not trying harder. I miss going to the library. I miss the smell of clothes fresh out of the dryer. I miss diving off the highest board and nailing the landing. I miss waffles" - p. 272. - Laurie Halse Anderson Living Memory I carry you with me into the world, into the smell of rain & the words that dance between people & for me, it will always be this way, walking in the light, remembering being alive together - Brian Andreas The whole point of being alive is to evolve into the complete person you were intended to

'How do you know so much about everything?' was asked of a very wise and intelligent man; and the answer was 'By never being afraid or ashamed to ask questions as to anything of which I was ignorant.' - John Abbott Puck Mulligan footed featly, trilling: I HARDLY HEAR THE PURLIEU CRY OR A TOMMY TALK AS I PASS ONE BY BEFORE MY THOUGHTS BEGIN TO RUN ON F. M'CURDY ATKINSON, THE SAME THAT HAD THE WOODEN LEG AND THAT FILIBUSTERING FILIBEG THAT NEVER DARED TO SLAKE HIS DROUTH, MAGEE THAT HAD THE CHINLESS MOUTH. BEING AFRAID TO MARRY ON EARTH THEY MASTURBATED FOR ALL THEY WERE WORTH. Jest on. Know thyself. - James Joyce I ignore my fear," he says. "When I make decisions, I pretend it doesn't exist." I stare at him for a second. I can't help it. To me there's a difference between not being afraid and acting in spite of fear, as he does. - Veronica Roth To me there's a difference between not being afraid and acting in spi

Every week I have a disaster in my kitchen. The fire alarm goes off repeatedly. But it doesn't stop me being adventurous. - Paul Ogrady Being an American musician means being adventurous. - Michael Tilson Thomas

An object is not first imagined or thought about and then expected or willed, but in being actively expected it is imagined as future and in being willed it is thought. - Samuel Alexander Being active every day makes it easier to hear that inner voice. - Haruki Murakami Engaging spirits isn't an elitist ability or industry, it's being active in the connection with All Things. It's innate to us all. - S Kelley Harrell I liked being active. I liked being creative. - Sarah Hughes Without individuals feeling safe and having an environment of safety, they then have reluctance of taking part in the city of being active. They wind up wanting to leave the city. That's more detrimental. - Dick Powell Most Americans aren't the sort of citizens the Founding Fathers expected; they are contented serfs. Far from being active critics of government, they assume that its might makes it right. - Joseph Sobran My priority is to turn people - especially kids - on to sports and b

I have the happy circumstance of either being accused of political grandstanding on the one hand or cover-ups on the other. - Ben Chandler I don't even pretend we can occupy the Lib Dem holier-than-thou, hands-entirely-clean-and-entirely-empty-type stance. No, we are getting our hands dirty, and inevitably and totally understandably we are being accused of being just like any other politicians. - Nick Clegg It was after 2:00 A.M. before we got back to the graveyard. The Feds had kept us forever, like they didn't believe we were telling them the whole truth. Fancy that. I hated being accused of concealing evidence when I wasn't. Made me want to lie to them just so they wouldn't be disappointed. - Laurell K Hamilton The judgment means a lot. As a journalist being accused of invading someone's privacy, there is always a risk that it will stick to your name. - Asne Seierstad I am being accused of all this plastic surgery, which is absolutely not true. - Nicolette

People get DUIs, people get in fights with their boyfriends, it happens, life happens, but it's about being accountable for your actions. I don't know. I'm just not that girl, I don't go to clubs. I'm a pretty normal girl. - Leslie Bibb I have had many occasions this year where I questioned and second-guessed my decision in a game, but it comes down to learning from mistakes and being accountable for what you did right or did wrong. - Don Mattingly

You shouldn't have asked," I said. "Love doesn't ask many questions, because if we stop to think we become fearful. It's an inexplicable fear; it's difficult even to describe it. Maybe it's the fear of being scorned, of not being accepted, or of breaking the spell. It's ridiculous, but that's the way it is. That's why you don't ask-you act. As you've said many times, you have to take risks. - Paulo Coelho I don't really care about being accepted now. I wish I had been like that earlier. - Terry Bradshaw To me, music was about being accepted and escaping from this crummy existence - Billy Corgan I knew being accepted was going to be hard, but I knew I was involved in a situation that was going to bring opportunities to other blacks. - Larry Doby I talk to women's groups all over the country and see women struggling with this. The fear of not being accepted, of being different, of not having a man, all make it hard for a woma

The Metropolitan Police Service is still, despite what people think, a working-class organisation and as such rejects totally the notion of an officer class. That is why every newly minted constable, regardless of their educational background, has to spend a two-year probationary period as an ordinary plod on the streets. This is because nothing builds character like being abused, spat at and vomited by members of the public. - Ben Aaronovitch The law protects you from being abused. It doesn't threaten your lifestyle for someone else to have the right to exhibit their lifestyle. - Jesse Jackson I got out of college and I went to get my master's in creative writing at San Francisco State. I was working as an actor at the Actor's Workshop, being abused as a intern. - Peter Coyote Why are we so obsessed with celebrity culture? We have front-page news about divorces instead of front-page news about global warming, about women being abused, about children being abused. We

The struggle of my life created empathy - I could relate to pain, being abandoned, having people not love me. - Oprah Winfrey You don't become an 'artist' unless you've got something missing somewhere. Blaise Pascal called it a God-shaped hole. Everyone's got one but some are blacker and wider than others. It's a feeling of being abandoned,cut adrift in space and time-sometimes following the loss of a loved one. You can never completely fill that hole-you can try with songs,family,faith and by living a full life...but when things are silent, you can still hear the hissing of what's missing. - Bono Being abandoned doesn't make for little angels. - Margaret Way

It was lonely on the hill, and cold. And all you could do was keep going. You could scream, cry, and stamp your feet, but apart from making you feel warmer, it wouldn't do any good. You could say it was unfair, and that was true, but the universe didn't care because it didn't know what "fair" meant. That was the big problem about being a witch. It was up to you. It was always up to you. - Terry Pratchett Well he should get over himself. He tried to get me burned at the stake in Brit History yesterday. Here I am minding my own business like a good little girl, and out of the blue Tucker raises his hand and accuses me of being a witch" "sounds like something Tucker would do" admits wendy. "Everybody had to vote on it. I barely escaped with my nuns life. Obviously I'll have to return the favour. - Cynthia Hand I suppose once you've been accused of being a witch, you're never really safe. People may blame all sorts of accidents and m

Today is a new day. Don't let your history interfere with your destiny! Let today be the day you stop being a victim of your circumstances and start taking action towards the life you want. You have the power and the time to shape your life. Break free from the poisonous victim mentality and embrace the truth of your greatness. You were not meant for a mundane or mediocre life! - Steve Maraboli That's the thing about being a victim; you start to think it'll happen to you on a regular basis. It's living with the reality of your own vulnerability, and it sucks. - Dennis Lehane Over 13 percent of women in college have reported being a victim of stalking during the school year, and one out of every five college women has reported being sexually assaulted. It is simple to talk about statistics. It is more difficult to remember that each number is a victim and represents a daughter, a sister or a friend. - Gwen Moore We need to ditch the idea that there is any value in th

Once born into childlike faith, brimming with belief, typical people begin to lose their faith. Society mocks them. Their friends smirk. They come to change the world, but over time the world changes them. Soon they forget who they were; they forget the faith they once had. Then one day someone tells them the truth, but they don't want to go back, because they're comfortable in their new skin. Being a stranger in this world is never easy. - Ted Dekker There was, I think, a prevailing impression common to the provincial mind, that his misfortune was the result of the defective moral quality of his being a stranger. - Bret Harte

Being a role model is the most powerful form of educating...too often fathers neglect it because they get so caught up in making a living they forget to make a life. - John Wooden I like looking feminine and I enjoy being a role model. I enjoy being a woman. It all comes down to having the confidence to be who you are. - Cathy Freeman It's very satisfying to promote science and education and see good results. Setting a good example for young people, being a role model, is very important for me. - Yuan T Lee No, I like being a role model because I know how much comfort my musical idols brought me. - Shirley Manson Being a role model, you just got to watch what you do. - Kel Mitchell In terms of being a role model, I didn't start out to be one. I don't go to work every day with that in mind. But, I do get a lot of fan mail from young girls. - Victoria Pratt

There's a lot of maintenance that goes into being a professional singer. - Betty Buckley If they had rankings in baseball, maybe I would have been able to do the math and figure out my chances of being a professional baseball player versus a tennis player. But that was the decision-maker for me, I just thought I was better in tennis. - Jim Courier When I was playing I never wished I was doing anything else. I think being a professional athlete is the finest thing a man can do. - Bob Gibson [On writing:] "There's a great quote by Julius Irving that went, 'Being a professional is doing the things you love to do, on the days you don't feel like doing them.'" ( One On 1 , interview with Budd Mishkin; NY1 , March 25, 2007.) - David Halberstam First of all, I really never imagined myself being a professional athlete. - Bo Jackson Being a professional writer is not an easy way to make a living. - Tracy Kidder Being a professional writer is a lot like being

Being a mentor is something that's new for me but a role that I take very seriously. - Nicole Richie Sometimes, life threw up problems that even the wisest, most trusted mentor couldn't solve for you. It was part of the pain of growing up. And having to stand by and watch was part of being a mentor. - John Flanagan

I am not insecure about being a journalist. - Tucker Carlson You know I take music seriously, right? So I expect journalists to take being a journalist seriously. - Glenn Danzig I think the key to being a journalist is getting your subject to feel comfortable enough to talk about stuff they want to talk about and the stuff they like and don't like, and still feel comfortable about it. - Glenn Danzig That was par for the course but I also found that commissions were being canceled and in fact I considered this directly libelous - I write biographies for a living as well as being a journalist - for a non fiction book to be called fiction from beginning to end. - Anthony Holden I was happy being a journalist. I didn't realize losing my job, my identity went with it. - Maria Shriver There have been trade-offs every day, every month, every year. There's a lot that I missed and I do have regrets in that area. But I have been able to bring to my family the richness of being

In fact, when he wasn't being a jerk, controlling or a pain in the ass, he looked at me... He looked at me... Oh hell, he looked at me like I was his life. - Kristen Ashley I have a big ego, and I'm a confident person, but when it comes down to being a jerk, that doesn't work for me, I tried it... for about ten years. - Harry Connick Jr I'm just starting to scratch the surface of what really makes me happy and it's taken me a while to admit that acting like a little child and being a jerk and a punk is fun. - Leonardo Dicaprio It's music rage, which is like road rage, only more righteous. When you get road rage, a tiny part of you knows you're being a jerk, but when you get music rage, you're carrying out the will of God, and God wants these people dead - Nick Hornby

You're going to go living. Because living is the challenge, Josie. Dying is so easy. Sometimes it only takes ten seconds to die. But living? That can take eighty years and you do something in that time, whether it's giving birth to a baby or being a housewife or a barrister or a soldier. You've accomplished something. To throw that away at such a young age, to have no hope, is the biggest tragedy. - Melina Marchetta Being a housewife and a mother is the biggest job in the world, but if it doesn't interest you, don't do it - I would have made a terrible mother. - Katharine Hepburn One is only really inwardly comfortable, so to speak, after one's life has assumed some sort of shape. Not just a routine, like studying or a job or being a housewife, but something more complete than all those, which would include goals set by oneself and a circle of life-time type friends. I think this is one of the hardest things to achieve, in fact often just trying doesn't a

I think what separates me from the candidates is the fact that I have a proven track record of being a fighter. A fighting for what people believe in, whether it is popular or not. Despite the opposition, I stand true. Because people know that I will do what I say. And that I say what I do. - Michele Bachmann People think coming in under the radar is like being a fighter pilot and actually coming in under the radar. It's a completely ridiculous idea to come in under the radar. It's the Olympics; everyone is on the radar here. - Bode Miller

Yeah, I got the instructions straight from Seoras. That and a bunch of smart-ass comments about my education being sadly lacking and something about not knowing my arse from my ear or my elbow, and also something about me being a fanny, and I don't know what the hell that means." "Fanny? Like a girl's name?" "I don't think so.. - P C Cast For film and television, it's interesting how fans feel that their particular ways of manifesting their affections are the correct ones. It's not just about being a fan, it's about how you perform your fandom. That's always been interesting to me. - Carrie Brownstein I think to just single out a highlight of Elvis's career is pretty much impossible. As far as being a fan of his, a lifetime fan, there were just too many highlights. - Jackie Deshannon When anybody honks at me in traffic, I blush, wave, and shout, "Thanks for being a fan." Being a celebrity is a 24/7 thing. - Jarod Kintz

George you were very very bad to run away from Alice. Very bad But you were very good to stomp Sinclair when he was being a dick so I think we'll call this a wash. - Maryjanice Davidson Being gay is not an excuse for being a dick. - John Green

Before acting, I wanted to become a journalist. I also toyed with the idea of being a chef - but that's only when people asked me what I wanted to be. In fact, I always used to say I wanted to be an actor, but I didn't ever believe that I was good enough to be come one. - Ian Mckellen I always had a fantasy of being a chef, because I like kitchen life. - Geoffrey Rush

I think self-awareness is probably the most important thing towards being a champion. - Billie Jean King The only yardstick for success our society has is being a champion. No one remembers anything else. - John Madden I'd like to think that the nature of the two teams - Boston being a championship team over the years and the Lakers, same thing - was a lot bigger than Larry Bird or Magic Johnson. - Oscar Robertson In my country, at that time, being a champion of chess was like being a King. At that time I was a King - and when you are King you feel a lot of responsibility, but there is nobody there to help you. - Boris Spassky

Books support us in our solitude and keep us from being a burden to ourselves. - Jeremy Collier My outlook was so limited that I assumed that all deviates were openly despised and rejected. Their grief and their fear drew my melancholy nature strongly. At first I only wanted to wallow in their misery, but, as time went by, I longed to reach its very essence. Finally I desired to represent it. By this process I managed to shift homosexuality from being a burden to being a cause. The weight lifted and some of the guilt evaporated. - Quentin Crisp Total nonretention has kept my education from being a burden to me. - Flannery O Connor

People rid the room of argument until they have no one left except people who agree with them. It is understandable. But I like a good argument. - Bono Many a good argument is ruined by some fool who knows what he is talking about. - Marshall Mcluhan People say there are no atheists in foxholes. A lot of people think this is a good argument against atheism. Personally, I think it's a much better argument against foxholes. - Kurt Vonnegut In science it often happens that scientists say, 'you know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion. - Carl Sagan You can make a very good argument that society would be much worse off if

Good Americans, when they die, go to Paris. - Thomas Gold Appleton When good Americans die they go to Paris. - Oscar Wilde A good American makes propaganda for whatever existence has forced him to become. - Saul Bellow I do this real moron thing, and it's called thinking. And apparently I'm not a very good American because I like to form my own opinions. - George Carlin I find respect for a mediocre British composer, as opposed to a really good American, ridiculous because they automatically respect a composer if he's from England. - John Corigliano Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people and that most of them seemed to come from Texas. - Ian Fleming Once upon a time there was a war...and a young American who thought of himself as the Quiet American and the Ugly American, and who wished to be neither, who wanted instead to be the Wise American, or the Good American, but who eventually came to witness himself as the Real American and finally as simply the

There is no story that is not true, The world has no end, and what is good among one people is an abomination with others. - Chinua Achebe But I can think of nothing on earth so beautiful as the final haul on Halloween night, which, for me, was ten to fifteen pounds of candy, a riot of colored wrappers and hopeful fonts,snub-nosed chocolate bars and SweeTARTS, the seductive rattle of Jujyfruits and Good & Plenty and lollipopsticks all akimbo, the foli ends of mini LifeSavers packs twinkling like dimes, and a thick sugary perfume rising up from the pillowcase. - Steve Almond They came to sit & dangle their feet off the edge of the world & after awhile they forgot everything but the good & true things they would do someday. - Brian Andreas Good Americans, when they die, go to Paris. - Thomas Gold Appleton When good Americans die they go to Paris. - Oscar Wilde Then what good is he? (Maggie) I ask myself every friggin' day exactly what you did. What good am I? Th

Next in importance to having a good aim is to recognize when to pull the trigger. - David Letterman It's unclear whether Brauser was trying to hit Franz Josef or Rangi. I hope it was the former. There's one difference between a bully and a hero, I guess: good aim. - Karen Russell

Are you conceding?" he says, his mouth falling open with mock surprise. "Seems like that serum did you some good after all..." I shove him as hard as I can. "Take that back. Take it back now." "Okay, okay!" He puts up his hands. "It's just... I'm not very nice either, you know. That's why I like you so - " "Out!" I shout, pointing at the door. Laughing to himself, Tobias kisses my cheek and leaves the room. - Veronica Roth You might be right," I say quietly. "Are you conceding ?" he says, his mouth falling open with mock surprise. "Seems like that serum did you some good after all...." I shove him as hard as I can. "Take that back. Take it back now . - Veronica Roth About morals, I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after. - Ernest Hemingway What is moral is what you feel good after, and what is immoral is what you feel bad