The first duty of society is to give each of its members the possibility of fulfilling his destiny. When it becomes incapable of performing this duty it must be transformed.

Society is now one polished horde formed of two mighty tries the Bores and Bored.

If you look at the purported dangers of salt or fat there is no consensus of support in scientific literature. So I would ask first: 'Is it possible to have an informed government that actually follows the science?' From what I've seen it's not likely.

In Israel a land lacking in natural resources we learned to appreciate our greatest national advantage: our minds. Through creativity and innovation we transformed barren deserts into flourishing fields and pioneered new frontiers in science and technology.

Informed by our sad experience of history we require nothing short of a foundation for lasting democracy.

Ragtime has about the same amount of respect as comics. And in a way they're similar art forms. Ragtime is highly compositional and the emotion in the music is built in whereas in jazz a lot of that emotion comes from the way it's performed.

Bad acting comes in many bags various odors. It can be performed by cardboard refugees from an Ed Wood movie reciting their dialogue off an eye chart or by hopped-up pros looking to punch a hole through the fourth wall from pure ballistic force of personality like Joe Pesci in a bad mood. I can respect bad acting that owns its own style.

Ardent love or desire introduced as passionately longing to please and glorify the Divine Being to be in every respect conformed to him and in that way to enjoy him.

Too many younger artists critics and curators are fetishizing the sixties transforming the period into a deformed cult a fantasy religion a hip brand and a crippling disease.

Of all the important relationships that Australia has with other countries none has been more greatly transformed over the last 10 years than our relationship with China.

People who supported Obama felt like they formed a relationship that they were being spoken to. The way that campaign worked and the way he's worked during his first term is to make people feel like he's grasping their hand whether it's by tweeting or email moments after an event sometimes during an event. It makes people relate to him.

I don't feel particularly comfortable about actors using whatever power they may have to push their beliefs unless they're extremely well informed.

I think I have told you but if I have not you must have understood that a man who has a vision is not able to use the power of it until after he has performed the vision on earth for the people to see.

The President in talking about freedom and democracy is sparking a wave of very positive democratic sentiment that might help us override both Islamic fundamentalism that has formed in that region and also some of the hatred for our policies of invading Iraq.

I'm hopefully touring with Colin Baker next year in Perfect Strangers. I have performed with Sylvia Simms in poetry and music evenings. I would love to do those for the rest of my career - they are so fun and witty.

Are ideals confined to this deformed experiment upon a noble purpose tainted as it is with bargains and tied to a peace treaty which might have been disposed of long ago to the great benefit of the world if it had not been compelled to carry this rider on its back?

I feel that my father's greatest legacy was the people he inspired to get involved in public service and their communities to join the Peace Corps to go into space. And really that generation transformed this country in civil rights social justice the economy and everything.