My parents are very hard working people who did everything they could for their children. I have two brothers and they worked dog hard to give us an education and provide us with the most comfortable life possible. My dad provided for his family daily. So yes that is definitely in my DNA.

My memories are of my dad taking me to football on Saturday mornings and my mum taking me swimming. Those are the things I remember from my childhood not sitting around the table debating capitalism and the profit squeeze.

As a father now I wouldn't do what my dad did because it left me feeling emotionally unstable as a kid. But he didn't do the things he did out of selfishness or malice.

My dad and my uncles owned a bar outside of Cincinnati. I worked there growing up mopping floors waiting tables.

My dad would give me $10 which is a lot of money when you're 9 to sing at church on tables at restaurants at family functions just about anywhere.

I wanted to be a skinny little ballerina but I was a voluptuous little Italian girl whose dad had meatballs on the table every night.

Employee fathers need to step up to the plate and put their family needs on the table.

I'm more comfortable with whatever's wrong with me than my father was whenever he felt he failed or didn't measure up to the standard he set.

Greatness in the last analysis is largely bravery - courage in escaping from old ideas and old standards and respectable ways of doing things.

I think what I would say to my younger self and probably to younger just starting-out writers is that a lot of times you're just afraid to put yourself out there and it's uncomfortable because it's working up the courage to do something to push yourself to do those things.

We learned to be patient observers like the owl. We learned cleverness from the crow and courage from the jay who will attack an owl ten times its size to drive it off its territory. But above all of them ranked the chickadee because of its indomitable spirit.

Because with courage and conviction I believe we can deliver a more flexible adaptable and open European Union in which the interests and ambitions of all its members can be met.

You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all of the world's problems at once but don't ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.

The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself in spite of being unacceptable.

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.

As a father you immediately become uncool especially the older they get. The older you get it's inevitable that as cool as you think you are you're probably just as lame in your kids' eyes.

Sometimes the other characters are too normal and then you start to be brought back to reality but then Luna shows up and she is just so funny and cool and honest and slightly mad and she's all that matters. She is 100% true. She puts on no shows because she is so comfortable with herself.