If religion were true its followers would not try to bludgeon their young into an artificial conformity but would merely insist on their unbending quest for truth irrespective of artificial backgrounds or practical consequences.

We talked about politics constantly in my family growing up in North Carolina. There were always debates. Being of Greek background it's in our blood to drink coffee and talk politics.

For too long we have focused on our differences - in our politics and backgrounds in our race and beliefs - rather than cherishing the unity and pride that binds us together.

But poetry is a way of language it is not its subject or its maker's background or interests or hobbies or fixations. It is nearer to utterance than history.

One difference between poetry and lyrics is that lyrics sort of fade into the background. They fade on the page and live on the stage when set to music.

I did not have a very literary background. I came to poetry from the sciences and mathematics and also through an interest in Japanese and Chinese poetry in translation.

The old interests of aristocracy - the romance of action the exalted passions of chivalry and war - faded into the background and their place was taken by the refined and intimate pursuits of peace and civilization.

I have a neuroscience background - that's what my doctorate is in - and I was trained to study hormones of attachment so I definitely feel my parenting is informed by that.

Also because people like to multitask in a way if you've got a bit of music on in the background and the lyrical content is making you want to listen to it then that would probably put you off the texting you wanted to do. I think people like things that just make that right kind of noise but leave your brain free to do something else.

I would say that although my music may be or may have been part of the cultural background fabric of the gay community I consider myself an outsider who belongs everywhere and nowhere... Being a human being is what truly counts. That's where you'll find me.

I'm a filmmaker and I'm proud of the movies I've made. But in the background of my life I was also very involved in the creation of the sport.

My Mom is a ballet director so I had this idea in me that classical training is the best foundation for anything you do so I wanted to get a classical background and voice.

My mom and dad put my brother and sister through university and they were very keen for us to have an academic background just to give us a chance.

I've always been a writer because I've always been a student. My mom's a retired professor so I come from a very academic background. I love writing you know?

Aretha Franklin was a teenage mom a musician who came from an incredibly Christian background but there was a lot of love which is really inspiring in a feminist way.

I know in my own marriage I stayed in it to provide my son with what I thought was a stable background and to give him what I thought was the family life a child should have with two parents. But that isn't always the best way and it took me taking my son to therapy after the divorce to really see it.

It was also my idea that the advisory committees of the Academy should replace the legal committees of the German Reichstag which was gradually fading into the background in the Reich.