It was always presumptuous to expect Russia, an ancient nation-state and proud empire of distinct culture with a tradition of autocracy, to become an Anglo-American democracy overnight - just as it is naive to expect it in other parts of the world.
Companies used to be able to function with autocratic bosses. We don't live in that world anymore.
The world wants to know - is the future a democratic one or an autocratic one? And I want to make sure that the United States leads on that, clearly that it's democratic.
There's nothing more satisfying than seeing a happy and smiling child. I always help in any way I can, even if it's just by signing an autograph. A child's smile is worth more than all the money in the world.
As more girls get basic schooling, larger numbers will move up the educational ladder - some to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. That's important because workplaces around the world, especially in many developing and emerging-market countries, are becoming more automated, favouring workers with technical skills.
Carrying an automatic weapon in a Third World country beyond the easy reach of higher authority? The job description is like a bug light to borderline personalities.
All in all, I don't think robots and greater automation can bring about a utopian world as I imagined it would as a kid 50 years ago.
The world runs on individuals pursuing their self interests. The great achievements of civilization have not come from government bureaus. Einstein didn't construct his theory under order from a, from a bureaucrat. Henry Ford didn't revolutionize the automobile industry that way.
I suppose I try to look for those things where the world turns on you. It's every automobile accident, every accident at a party, you're having a good time until suddenly you're not.
My father was a die maker for 39 years, so I had a basic understanding of the automobile industry and what the manufacturing world was like, just from the opportunity to spend time with him - just talking, because he was a car buff.
I guarantee you, yoga will compete with computers, music, sports, automobiles, the drug industry. Yoga will take over the world!
The billable hours is a classic case of restricted autonomy. I mean, you're working on - I mean, sometimes on these six-minute increments. So you're not focused on doing a good job. You're focused on hitting your numbers. It's one reason why lawyers typically are so unhappy. And I want a world of happy lawyers.
It's traumatic to meditate on the availability of information through the Internet, or the way we perceive the world as a result. People don't experience things totally or viscerally anymore. It's all through representation, be it a record on YouTube or a post on a blog.
I think the avant-garde often hides itself in the highly incomprehensible because they are frustrated that the real world is so boring.
Holy poverty confounds cupidity and avarice and the cares of this world.
Beauty is the disinterested one, without which the ancient world refused to understand itself, a word which both imperceptibly and yet unmistakably has bid farewell to our new world, a world of interests, leaving it to its own avarice and sadness.
My favorite soundtrack is 'Avatar.' It's the best thing in the world. I love it.
The only sci-fi movie that I've ever been offered that, had circumstances been different, I would have definitely done, was 'Avatar.' And I literally couldn't do it because of my schedule. But listening to James Cameron talk about 'Avatar' was so fascinating. Because he literally invented the world in his mind - and it literally existed.
The sound world that I created for 'Avatar' had to be very different, really, than anything I ever created before. There is also three hours of music.
America has the largest nuclear capability in the world. All this power neither prevented 9/11 nor helped to avenge it. How could it? Who would America have attacked?
