The central premise of this book is that the Western psychological notion of what it means to have a self is flawed.
When you say Sharia, even to a Muslim, it's understood in vastly different ways, in many ways it's part of an identity and most Muslims when they talk about wanting Sharia to play a role in their lives really mean it in so far as it talks about family law, you know, issues like, as I said marriage, divorce.
I mean, it really has a lot to do with who is actually physically doing a lot of talking. And we've just noticed that as we've evolved we're still making all the decisions from this, like, "cave."
Poetry is ... the physical enactment of a process of knowing by means of language.
What is evil? What is - where does the evil come from that lies behind someone like Saddam Hussein, or Radovan Karadzic, or General Claude Raymond in Haiti. As I say, I've tended to find these people - I mean, Saddam, I've never met or interviewed - but these other people to be rather disappointing. Their political goals were mundane. What they had working for them was opportunism, was very often cleverness and was ruthlessness.
If you want to deal with me, email is the way you do it. Working via email means that everything I do is searchable. I can go back and check out discussion threads from more than 15 years ago.
Kids should go to college, but they should go to the best school they can afford to get through with minimal or no debt. That might mean going to a community college or an inexpensive local state school. Whatever it takes.
I try to be fair, and I try not to be cruel or mean when I'm interviewing someone. But you have to push a few buttons. When you're on a roll and you're making a person laugh, you can say things that are truthful about them, and then they'll laugh at them as well. Otherwise, it might just sound like you're attacking them.
As long as we're honest and not mean, it's all fair game no matter what you say.
To know the right means of getting something done is virtually to have done it.
You can't just decide to take the subject matter of The Bible and figure out you can just change what you want. I mean, the audience knows, and if you give them a Biblical story, you better get it right.
You're trying to dramatize events to tell a story most effectively. That doesn't mean the events aren't true, it just means you're making them as dramatic as you possibly can.
I think you often say more by saying less. And interestingly enough, I mean, Jesus really set the standard. I mean, he could say more with fewer words than anybody. Most of the parables were less than 250 words. And, boy, did he have some one-liners just packed with truth.
In all the dictatorships, there's such a non-understanding of what human beings are. I mean, if you believe in the Bible, you have the story of Adam and Eve and God tells them, "Do whatever you want. The only thing you shouldn't do is eat the apple." What do they do the first thing? They eat the apple. So if you know a little bit the psychology of human beings, you have to understand that if you say something you should not do, then everybody wants to do it.
If it's a good work of adaptation, the book should remain a book and the film should remain a film, and you should not necessarily read the book to see the film. If you do need that, then that means that it's a failure. That is what I think.
I am absolutely not a feminist, I am against stupidity, and if it comes from males or females, it doesn't change anything. If it means that women and men, they are equal, then OK, certainly I am a feminist.
Graphic novels are not traditional literature, but that does not mean they are second-rate. Images are a way of writing. When you have the talent to be able to write and to draw, it seems a shame to choose one. I think it's better to do both.
I think that female musicians are constantly fighting an uphill battle in general. Even when I'm not writing heartbreak songs... the fact that songwriting is so difficult and music criticism has become so content driven means that sometimes critics can go for the easy descriptors rather than an in-depth analysis.
Just because my personal life may not be in shambles any more it doesn't mean anything has been solved. A ring doesn't solve problems. I think I'm still having dark visions. I think I'm just a little bit fatalistic. There is a personality flaw at work perhaps.
I think because I became a mom later in life, everything in life means more.
I have a nest egg, and I don't buy above my means.
There is nothing more flattering than a woman to say 'I'm a fan' or 'I think you're beautiful.' I don't know why, but it means a lot to get a compliment from a woman.
Europe has to avoid old prejudices and new ones. That means north versus south, rich versus poor.
I mean, the things you think will never happen, you have to confront; those things that come into your life that you thought you never could deal with, you do.
I can tell in two minutes if I should hire someone in the kitchen. Two minutes. It's his desire. It's that open-eyed, attentive expression. If he doesn't have it ... I mean, I can teach a chimp how to cook dinner. But I cannot teach a chimp how to love it.
