My dad was working abroad in Iraq and he was a doctor. We used to go and visit him in Baghdad off and on. For the first ten years of my life we used to go backwards and forwards to Baghdad so that was quite amazing. I spent a lot of time traveling around the Middle East.

Whether it's 18 years old or 40 years old we think we know what's going on. But if you're lucky enough to continue the journey its amazing how we keep learning how much we didn't know.

Of course this is Vegas and it is the melting pot for all over the world but people from all over the world know Donny and Marie. It is amazing. I have been in the business a long time to realize careers can be fleeting. Five years is a long career nowadays for some people and here we are still going strong after 40 years.

It is amazing to think after all that has happened in this country in the last few years the last few decades that so many people have this blind faith that government is our friend and therefore so we don't need protections against it.

A few years back when my style was 'punk grandma ' I picked up an amazing pair of sandals - orthopaedic ones with really thick soles. I've given them away to a friend now because these days my look is more '1980s substitute teacher gone wild.'

At that time I had recently finished a book called Amazing Grace which many people tell me is a very painful book to read. Well if it was painful to read it was also painful to write. I had pains in my chest for two years while I was writing that book.

What has made America amazing has been the fact that throughout our history throughout the more than 200 years of our history there have been men and women of courage who stood up and decided it was more important to look out for the future of their children and their grandchildren than their own political futures.

I've been pleased to work with so many wonderful stars through the years. This has been an amazing journey. I hope it continues.

For the last 20 years of my life I've had the mantra to do amazing parts with amazing people in amazing projects so I'm attracted to good story writing and character and good people. That's what I'm always searching for and I don't think that's ever going to change.

In 29 years I had recorded over 2 200 songs. I was amazed.

It's an amazing luxury to say I'm 31 years old and I'm gonna take a year off. That's pretty amazing.

I can barely remember what I wrote yesterday let alone 10 years ago.

On the one hand shopping is dependable: You can do it alone if you lose your heart to something that is wrong for you you can return it it's instant gratification and yet something you buy may well last for years.

In the last 5 years American employers have lost over $150 billion of productivity to depression alone. That is more than the GDP of 28 different States during the same period.

But if you observe children learning in their first few years of life you can see that they can and do learn on their own - we leave them alone to crawl walk talk and gain control over their bodies. It happens without much help from parents.

I have a grim outlook on the world and in particular on humanity. Spent years denying it but I am very misanthropic. And I live alone on a mountain for a reason.

Largely this is a class thing - writers tend to be cosseted little middle-class kiddies who think that the world owes them a royalty cheque. But just doing it - being in your room for years on end locked in your head alone with invented ghosts - it weakens and softens the body. And I know I can't just live in my head.

Perhaps the best motivation for going to Mars is political. It is obvious that no single nation currently has either the will or the resources to do it alone but a consortium of nations and space agencies could achieve it within 20 years.

I was able to support myself by acting alone about six years ago. Until then I was just scraping by.

I've performed solo for 20 years now but I don't do much of it because if you only play alone you go crazy and out of tune and play foolish music.

I know that books I have written will still resonate in 50 years - particularly 'My Sister's Keeper.' It has sold three million copies in the States alone. I strongly feel that as a novelist you have a platform and the ability to change people's minds.

I'm not into watching stuff I did last week let alone three or four years ago.

It's always easier if you have the support of your family if you're not alone. I came from a country that has been through a lot of troubles in the last 20 to 30 years but we have been through them together.

Most bands don't even last fourteen months let alone fourteen years.