“I had a big background in listening to classical music and I started trying to compose, like I was playing the guitar but I heard an orchestra in my head.” TryingBigsHeardListeningGuitarBackgroundsOrchestraClassical Music Author:John Fahey
“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.” WayLanguageInterestSubjectsBackgroundsPoetry IsMakersHobbiesUtteranceFixation Author:Thomas Lynch
“Comedy is something that we can all share, no matter what language we speak or our background, it has the power to unite us all.” MatterSpeakLanguagePowerComedyShareNo Matter WhatBackgrounds Author:Paul Goodman
“Language allows us to talk about the past and plan the future. We can teach children about things that are not present. And above all, we can bring people with different backgrounds and different knowledge together to discuss our problems. This actually gives me hope. I still think we are smart enough to not destroy planet Earth, our only home.” PeopleThinkingGivingChildrenStillsDifferentEnoughProblemHomeEarthTogetherPastLanguageTeachPlansPlanetsSmartGive MeBackgroundsPlanet EarthDifferent Backgrounds Author:Jane Goodall
“I was always the one in the background or the donkey. I was never a star, I never got to be the main part.” StarsBackgroundsDonkey Author:Joanna Page
“I think the painted backgrounds in animations are absolutely stunningly beautiful. There's something really special about this medium. I don't believe audiences have grown past it. I think what audiences love is to be entertained-thoroughly, deeply entertained, and that's what I've always set out to do.” ThinkingBelievePastBeautifulLove IsAudienceSpecialDon't BelieveBackgroundsMediumsAnimation Author:John Lasseter
“You don't need great actors to do a 3D picture. All of this condescending stuff that they put out? "Oh, we will always need actors." Bullshit! They are able to take anybody and put some markers on them, and have them walk through an empty room. Then they paint in the background.” NeedsAbleActorsStuffWalksRoomsEmptyPaintBackgroundsBullshitGreat ActorsMarkersCondescendingEmpty Rooms Author:William Friedkin
“I have my own method [of acting]. I come from, I've interrogated people; I come from an undercover background, so it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks.” PeopleHardMy OwnActingTeachDogMethodTricksBackgroundsOld DogUndercover Author:Mekhi Phifer
“I love working with people who have had television experience because I think there's a real efficiency and methodology that comes from that background.” PeopleThinkingRealTelevisionBackgroundsEfficiencyMethodology Author:Eric Bana
“I don't think that you necessarily need a certain type of background to take on roles. You see actors from very, very privileged backgrounds playing working class characters and vice-versa. I don't think your background limits you as to what you can do.” ThinkingNeedsCharacterCertainActorsCan DoClassRolesTypeLimitsVicesBackgroundsPrivilegedWorking ClassVice Versa Author:Daniel Radcliffe
“For me, you go to university to meet lots of different people from different backgrounds. I think that's one of the most important things you get there. And you also get some sense of direction regarding what you want to do when you leave. I sort of know what I want to do in my life - I want to act and ultimately I'd like to write. And in terms of meeting people from different backgrounds, that's what you get on a film set. So the two most valuable things that university would have given me I've sort of achieved by being on a film set.” PeopleThinkingKnowsWantWritingTwoImportantDifferentFilmGivenTermImportant ThingsMeetingsUniversityValuableWhat You WantBackgroundsDifferent PeoplesFilm SetValuable ThingsDifferent Backgrounds Author:Daniel Radcliffe
“The war is definitely in the background, only referred to in radio news blips and conversation. I think, ultimately, this film is about the choices these guys are faced with. In that way, I think this is a more personal story about their friendship, about the reaction that they have when they're essentially faced with death, to a certain degree.” ThinkingWayWarStoriesFilmGuyCertainChoicesConversationDegreesNewsRadioBackgroundsReactionsPersonal StoriesRadio News Author:Elijah Wood
“Unlike typical romantic comedies, Definitely Maybe is not formulaic or predictable and it spans a decade while being set against a political background. Also, the audience doesn't know who ends up with who until the very end, which makes it a sort of "romantic mystery comedy".” KnowsEndsPoliticalAudienceComedyMysteryDecadesBackgroundsTypicalPredictable Author:Isla Fisher
“I know something about the civilization of China, with my background, obviously, and I think I know something about American history. But that's about all. And I've traveled all over the world, and for a long time I didn't know very much about it, really.” ThinkingKnowsWorldLongCivilizationLong TimeChinaBackgroundsAmerican HistoryTraveled Author:I. M. Pei
“I come from a state that has virtually no gun control. And yet, at political peril, I voted for an instant background check, which I want to see strengthened and expanded. I voted to ban certain types of assault weapons which are designed only to kill people.” PeopleWantStatesPoliticalCertainTypeWeaponsGunBackgroundsChecksInstantGun ControlAssaultPerilBansAssault WeaponsBackground Checks Author:Bernie Sanders
“When I was exposed to the history and the cultural background of why women whose husbands die, why they have to become ascetic or live a life that is completely deprived of emotional or social or cultural sustenance, I was really shocked.” DiesSocialEmotionalHusbandBackgroundsExposedShockedDeprivedSustenance Author:Deepa Mehta
“No matter how much it's growing, the Internet still is a pretty specific demographic. It doesn't necessarily represent the general populace. There is stuff that is blown up on the Internet that isn't hugely successful with the entire world, and vice versa. I don't put a tremendous amount of stock in it, but at the same time, you always want people to like what you're doing. Certainly, to have come from an Internet background, we want to stay faithful and have people be supportive and happy with what we're doing.” PeopleWorldWantStillsMatterStuffSuccessfulGrowingAmountInternetVicesBackgroundsFaithfulSupportiveVice VersaDemographics Author:Andy Samberg
“My filmmaking background has really just been making movies with my friends since I was 12 years old. That's how I feel I learned how to tell a story visually, by just going out with a video camera and making movies with my friends and family.” FeelsYearsStoriesMy FriendsCamerasBackgroundsVideoFilmmakingGoing OutFamily And FriendsVideo Cameras Author:Rian Johnson
“For me, the stereoscopic imagery was a new game to play with. Surprisingly enough, it's also a return to tradition. I'm back with paper-looking puppets moving about in several layers of theatrical backgrounds.” EnoughPlayMovingGamesReturnPaperTraditionBackgroundsLayersImageryTheatricalPuppetsI'm Back Author:Michel Ocelot
“I used to believe, like many people who come from poor backgrounds, that it gave me an edge, but I think that's just something we have to tell ourselves to get by sometimes. I don't believe that anymore. Children of privilege can be just as talented and clever as anybody else.” PeopleThinkingBelieveChildrenSometimesUsedPoorDon't BelievePrivilegeEdgesCleverBackgroundsPoor Background Author:Craig Ferguson
“I just don't ever want to play the girlfriend. You know, the supporting character in the background who just sort of comes in and goes, "Oh, shucks." It's just a boring character.” KnowsWantPlayCharacterBoringBackgroundsGirlfriend Author:Kristen Bell
“I don't really care what someone's background is; creativity can come from any background.” CareCreativityBackgrounds Author:Jarvis Cocker
“Any political situation has many sides... We intellectualize the whole situation any way... We make our intellectual decisions based on our cultural background and how we live.” WayWholePoliticalSidesDecisionSituationIntellectualBackgrounds Author:Richard Gere
“I was glad to have had some dance background because some of the dances are pretty wild.” GladBackgrounds Author:Piper Perabo
“One of the biggest challenges in the past for me in working on the networks was that audiences have grown accustomed to television being something that keeps you company-background music, something that you have on while you're flipping through a magazine, cooking dinner, talking on the phone, putting the kids to bed.” KidsPastChallengesCompanyTalkingAudienceTelevisionBedCookingPhonesDinnerBackgroundsMagazinesAccustomedBackground MusicTalking On The PhoneCooking Dinner Author:Aaron Sorkin
“In England especially, poetry's woven into the background fabric of society. And in Ireland, it's in the foreground. The place of the poet in Irish society is enormous. If you say you're a poet in Ireland, you'd better know what you're doing, because the standard and the expectations are incredibly high.” IfsKnowsPoetStandardsExpectationsEnglandBackgroundsEnormousIrelandFabricWovenForeground Author:David Whyte
“When I think of my background, if I was privileged on any level, it was in terms of the kind of exposure to experience and bohe-mian cultural influence that my parents and my uncles and my grandfather gave me. On both sides I come from an extremely eccentric, artsy, intellectually intense, activist family.” IfsThinkingKindParentSidesTermLevelsInfluenceBackgroundsIntenseActivistGrandfatherPrivilegedUnclesBoth SidesExposureMy GrandfatherEccentric Author:Edward Norton
“I have my own charity organization in Berlin called Ruckenwind, which supports kids from - ya - not ideal backgrounds.” KidsMy OwnSupportIdealsOrganizationCharityBackgroundsBerlin Author:Paul van Dyk
“We are raising a generation of young Americans who are, to a very large degree, historically illiterate. It's not their faults. There's no problem about enlisting their interest in history. None. The problem is the teachers so often have no history in their background.” ProblemYoungInterestTeacherGenerationsDegreesFaultsBackgroundsNo ProblemIlliterateEnlisting Author:David McCullough
“I'm an activist and I come from a very socialist background. For me, my thinking was formed by great thought leaders. And wealth preserving wasn't part of my thinking.” ThinkingWealthLeaderBackgroundsActivistSocialist Author:Anita Roddick
“...academic credentials are neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for having your ideas taken seriously. If a famous professor repeatedly says stupid things, then tries to claim he never said them, there's no rule against calling him a mendacious idiot - and no special qualifications required to make that pronouncement other than doing your own homework.Conversely, if someone without formal credentials consistently makes trenchant, insightful observations, he or she has earned the right to be taken seriously, regardless of background.” IfsTryingSaidIdeasTakenSpecialConditionsStupidCallingClaimsBackgroundsObservationIdiotSufficientInsightfulProfessorsAcademicConsistentlyFormalHomeworkQualificationsStupid ThingsCredentials Author:Paul Krugman
“From my experience let me say this: in today's world it is no bad thing for a politician to have had the benefit of a scientific background. And not only politicians. Those who work in industry, in commerce, in investment. Indeed, so important has it become that I believe we are right to make science a compulsory subject for all schoolchildren.” WorldBelieveImportantTodayI BelieveSubjectsIndustryPoliticianBenefitsLet MeInvestmentBackgroundsBad ThingsCommerceCompulsoryToday's World Author:Margaret Thatcher
“In my platoon, we came from different parts of the country, with different backgrounds, different religious beliefs, different political beliefs—and yet we all put those differences aside. Fundamentally, I believe that’s what the American people expect of Congress as well. We all ought to be able to come together in Washington and do what’s best for our America.” PeopleBelieveWellsDifferentCountryAbleTogetherAmericaPoliticalBeliefI BelieveDifferencesReligiousOughtCongressBackgroundsReligious BeliefDifferent BackgroundsPolitical Beliefs Author:Seth Moulton
“Teaching 23-year-olds in an MBA programme strikes me as largely a waste of time. They lack the background of experience. You can teach them skills - accounting and what have you - but you can't teach them management.” YearsTeachTeachingSkillsWasteManagementStrikesBackgroundsWasting TimeAccountingProgrammesMba Author:Peter Drucker
“My background are acting, film production, directing, and I studied them for many years. Keep in mind that you need many other skills when you are starting any film project related to real life.” NeedsYearsMindRealFilmActingSkillsProjectsStartingProductionsReal LifeBackgroundsRelatedFilm Production Author:Tommy Wiseau
“I attend film school, my background is acting and directing. But the acting does best, I like to work on the stage.” DoeSchoolFilmActingStageBackgroundsFilm School Author:Tommy Wiseau
“This is not a matter of subjective theory, but of plain, historical fact. If there had never been a nation of Israel, there would have been no patriarchs, no prophets, no apostles, no Bible and no Saviour. In John 4:22, Jesus Himself summed all this up in one simple statement: "Salvation is from the Jews." Christians from all other racial backgrounds owe to the Jewish people a spiritual debt which can never be calculated.” PeopleIfsHas BeensMatterFactsChristianSpiritualJesusNationsSimpleTheorySalvationHistoricalJewIsraelDebtBackgroundsStatementsProphetSubjectiveApostlesSaviourHistorical Facts Author:Derek Prince
“The joy and happiness it gives you or the emotions you go through when you hold your child in your arms for the first time are indescribable! I really thought that there was going be this moment when a ray of light from heaven would come pouring in, background music would start playing with angels singing, but none of that happens!” GivingFirstsChildrenMomentsLightHappensJoyHeavenEmotionArmsSingingAngelFirst TimeOur ChildrenBackgroundsYour ChildrenRaysPouringJoy And HappinessIndescribableRays Of LightBackground MusicAngels Singing Author:Abhishek Bachchan
“History, well taught, is the demythologising of the past... Take any important issue of our time - Northern Ireland, Nuclear Disarmament, Race, The Welfare State, South Africa - and it becomes impossible to seriously confront any of them without understanding their historical background.” WellsImportantStatesPastUnderstandingRaceIssuesImpossibleTaughtHistoricalSouthNuclearBackgroundsWelfareOur TimeIrelandSouth AfricaDisarmamentWelfare StateImportant IssuesNorthern IrelandNuclear Disarmament Author:Alan Bullock
“You will find scraps of paper all over the house when I am designing a new woodcut and woe betide the person who touches one of the scraps. When I have the exact design in my mind, I set the model up, pots and flowers, leaves and background, and begin work.” MindPersonsHouseDesignFlowerPaperModelsBackgroundsPotWoeScrap Author:Margaret Preston
“For memetics to be a reasonable research programme, it should be the case that copying, and differential success in causing the multiplication of copies, overwhelmingly plays the major role in shaping all or at least most of the contents of culture. Evolved domain-specific psychological dispositions, if there are any, should be at most a relatively minor factor that could be considered part of background conditions.” IfsShouldPlayCultureRolesCasesConditionsMajorsResearchBackgroundsPsychologicalFactorsReasonableCopiesMinorsDispositionDomainProgrammesCopyingMultiplication Author:Dan Sperber
“I wrote lots of scripts that never got made and they were terrible. I thought they were good at the time. You can't write two scripts and expect your career to take off. Keep writing. Be you. Be original. A lot of people go for a genre, which is fine if you can do that really well, but we all have such layered histories. We all come from a unique background. Write about your past, write about you. Or make stuff up, but make it about something that really matters.” PeopleIfsWritingWellsMadeTwoMatterPastStuffCan DoCareersFineTerribleUniqueOriginalsScriptsBackgroundsGenreBe YouOur PastYour Past Author:Nicole Holofcener
“Girls come to the gang for very different reasons than boys. For boys in marginalized communities, they have a gender problem, and they solve it often through gang membership. They find an ability to do masculinity in a way that reasserts their importance in a society that mostly ignores them. For girls, they're coming out of more damaged backgrounds. Their families are often the reason they get propelled into gang membership.” WayDifferentReasonProblemGirlCommunityAbilityBoysImportanceGenderSolveBackgroundsComing OutMasculinityGangMembershipMarginalized Author:Meda Chesney-Lind
“During the election people from visible minorities stood as candidates on both the left and the right. And only one African woman was elected in a very left-wing constituency in Paris. The French don't seem to be ready to elect people from a visible minority. So maybe this society is not ready to have a woman from a foreign background in this important post. That really surprised us, because we thought we had evolved.” PeopleImportantSeemsLeftReadyElectionWingsBackgroundsPostsParisCandidatesVisibleMinoritiesNot ReadyLeft WingThis SocietyAfrican Women Author:Patrick Gaubert
“Almost 20 percent of the people living in Germany today have a foreign background. The problem is that Germany can't really offer foreigners an identity because the Germans hardly have a national identity themselves. That is certainly a result of Auschwitz.” PeopleProblemTodayResultsIdentityOffersPercentBackgroundsGermanyForeignersAuschwitzNational Identity Author:Bassam Tibi
“It is possible for two people who have wide differences of preference and opinion, of habits, of teaching, of training, of background and belief to enjoy the company of each other in many ways. Indeed, a diversity of friendships is one of life's real enrichments. To learn of the goodness of those who are unlike-their worth, their sincerity, their good hearts, their good minds, their good company-is rich and rewarding. It is wonderful to have a wide range of choice friends who can be counted on, friends who can be enjoyed and loved and trusted. Such is the meaning of friendship.” PeopleWayMindHeartTwoRealChoicesBeliefEnjoyDifferencesCompanyOpinionRichWonderfulTeachingHabitGoodnessDiversityTrainingWideBackgroundsEnjoyedRangeSincerityTrustedPreferenceGood HeartGood CompanyEnrichmentGood MindMeaning Of Friendship Author:Richard L. Evans
“One thing that makes France different from other countries is the tradition of social solidarity. People from all backgrounds and political positions are willing to contribute for services and protection of society as a whole - but on the condition that money is being spent effectively and that everyone is paying their part.” PeopleDifferentCountryWholePoliticalSocialOne ThingConditionsPositionWillingTraditionProtectionBackgroundsFranceOther CountriesSolidarity Author:Francois Hollande
“I give you the chameleon, whose ability to blend itself into the background tells you all you need to know about the roots of ecology and the foundations of a personal identity” KnowsNeedsGivingAbilityIdentityRootsFoundationBackgroundsEcologyChameleonPersonal Identity Book:Children of Dune Source: Children of Dune