We are the miracle of force and matter making itself over into imagination and will. Incredible. The Life Force experimenting with forms. You for one. Me for another. The Universe has shouted itself alive. We are one of the shouts.

I like being a Baha'i who has an out-there sense of humor. God gives us talents and faculties and making people laugh is one of mine.

I was sort of in denial about doing country for awhile but I sort of grew up and realized who I was what I wanted to say. I think country music is the best music in the world and I'm glad to be doing a country album. I hope people will love it as much as I loved making it.

I've had nine of my books adapted to film and almost all were enjoyable. I've been very lucky with Hollywood and look forward to more movies being adapted. But I don't get involved in that process. I know nothing about making movies and I stay away from it and hope for the best.

I love making movies and hope to write my own screenplay someday and do some producing and be behind-the-scenes as well.

I hope telling stories though 'Making a Difference' - as in my academic work and nonprofit work - will help me to live my grandmother's adage of 'Life is not about what happens to you but about what you do with what happens to you.'

Being an artist is a very long game. It is not a 10-year game. I hope I'll be around making art when I'm 80.

I do insist on making what I hope is sense so there's always a coherent narrative or argument that the reader can follow.

We hope President Obama will now respect the will of the people change course and commit to making the changes they are demanding. To the extent he is willing to do this we are ready to work with him.

I never make a movie for awards consideration. I will use the hope of getting an Academy Award a) to honor the people who work so hard and also b) it's the greatest Good Housekeeping seal in the world. It's the greatest brand. It's as good as Louis Vuitton and Dior in the world of moviemaking. It's the Super Bowl.

Oh man. If I had magic powers... I would hope that I would use them for good. I think I would. But I would do something pretty trivial like making traffic disappear.

They do not understand Islam and I think that is one area where perhaps I hope one day I will play a role in actually making people understand what we perceive Islam to be.

To my great disappointment it appears that the politics of division are making a big comeback. Many Americans share my disappointment - especially those who were filled with great hope a few years ago when then-Senator Obama announced his candidacy in Springfield Illinois.

Hundreds of thousands of American servicemen and women are deployed across the world in the war on terror. By bringing hope to the oppressed and delivering justice to the violent they are making America more secure.

How wonderful that we have met with a paradox. Now we have some hope of making progress.

I think that when you get dressed in the morning sometimes you're really making a decision about your behavior for the day. Like if you put on flipflops you're saying: 'Hope I don't get chased today.' 'Be nice to people in sneakers.'

I was from such a large family that when I first met my wife I told her: 'You can go work outside of the house and I'll stay home and continue making my cartoon strips. Maybe I'll make some commercials nearby you know I'll do anything locally but I would love to just stay at home and raise the kids like I did when I was growing up.'