Storytelling in general is a communal act. Throughout human history people would gather around whether by the fire or at a tavern and tell stories. One person would chime in then another maybe someone would repeat a story they heard already but with a different spin. It's a collective process.

My cooking philosophy what I try to do is to make a cuisine where the produce and the product shines compared to some current trends that are maybe more adding additional things like molecular cuisine with a lot of additives and chemicals which are now showing that they could be bad for your health.

And so our goal on health care is if we can get instead of health care costs going up 6 percent a year it's going up at the level of inflation maybe just slightly above inflation we've made huge progress. And by the way that is the single most important thing we could do in terms of reducing our deficit. That's why we did it.

I think essentially the meaning of life is probably the journey and not really any one thing or an outcome or a result. I think it's kinda the process and I think that if you can find happiness in the process then maybe that's it.

I think money is essential to happiness and right now I wouldn't want to be anyone other than Wilbur Smith - I've had a fantastic life rewarded far more heavily than I deserve. Maybe I'd like to be J. K. Rowling but I'll settle for second best.

Did perpetual happiness in the Garden of Eden maybe get so boring that eating the apple was justified?

I try something new every night. It's an hour show if it works I maybe try it a few more times and then move that off and try something new. It's a great workshop for me.

I once wanted to prove myself by being a great actress. Now I want to prove that I'm a person. Then maybe I'll be a great actress.

A lot of companies have chosen to downsize and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers they would continue to open their wallets.

I took three years off. I differentiated myself from the industry. Found my identity - sort of... I haven't graduated yet. I'm not legitimately educated yet but maybe one day.