Freedom is fragile and must be protected. To sacrifice it even as a temporary measure is to betray it.

Maya Angelou the famous African American poet historian and civil rights activist who is hailed be many as one of the great voices of contemporary literature believes a struggle only makes a person stronger.

Because I didn't have brothers I was always interested in the kids down the street that had four brothers in their family so I became one of them - but it was not my family. I've always been attracted to temporary families. They tend to be lost characters.

Once you agree upon the price you and your family must pay for success it enables you to ignore the minor hurts the opponent's pressure and the temporary failures.

Failure should be our teacher not our undertaker. Failure is delay not defeat. It is a temporary detour not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing doing nothing and being nothing.

Before success comes in any man's life he's sure to meet with much temporary defeat and perhaps some failures. When defeat overtakes a man the easiest and the most logical thing to do is to quit. That's exactly what the majority of men do.

With 'Bright Star' and with 'The Piano ' too I felt a kind of sadness about it being in such a different era because of my lack of experience with the era. And one of the ways I'd get over it is to remind myself that every film even if it's contemporary creates its own world.

America is an idea. And it's the solemn responsibility of each 'temporary' president to protect and nurture that noblest of all ideas - with integrity. This man Mitt Romney has shown - not through his experience but through his actions and words - that he is unqualified to carry out that responsibility.

We need creativity in order to break free from the temporary structures that have been set up by a particular sequence of experience.

At every turn when humanity is asked the question 'Do you want temporary economic gain or long-term environmental loss which one do you prefer ' we invariably choose the money.