My object will be first to show by what connections the history of the fossil bones of land animals is linked to the theory of the earth and why they have a particular importance in this respect.

I am very proud to come back to speak on the disinterested effort we have made and I believe that with all due respect that the decisions we made when we turned our final report over to President Johnson will stand in history.

That is a Medieval way of drawing history in which they do not respect the law and want the rest of the world to respect the law. That's not possible.

I think any period in history can be adapted into interesting fiction as long as you approach the actual history with respect.

I think the short story is a very underrated art form. We know that novels deserve respect.

Christianity is usually called a religion. As a religion it has had a wider geographic spread and is more deeply rooted among more peoples than any other religion in the history of mankind.

All human beings have an innate need to hear and tell stories and to have a story to live by. religion whatever else it has done has provided one of the main ways of meeting this abiding need.

And religion causes most of the problems war and economics of course and study your history or you're going to repeat it and if you're burning a Harry Potter book you need some serious counseling you don't get it you're missing the whole point.

The only difference is that religion is much better organised and has been around much longer but it's the same story with different characters and different costumes.

All religions have periods in their history which are looked back to with retrospective fear and trembling as eras of persecution and each religion has its own book of martyrs.

History is the key to everything: politics religion even fashion.

Practically speaking your religion is the story you tell about your life.

When I'm not writing I read loads of fiction but I've been writing quite constantly lately so I've been reading a lot of nonfiction - philosophy religion science history social or cultural studies.

The inner spaces that a good story lets us enter are the old apartments of religion.

Recounting of a life story a mind thinking aloud leads one inevitably to the consideration of problems which are no longer psychological but spiritual.

I am looking for a character that connects to me on some level. It has to be about something it has to have depth to it and it has to be about something. The story of the character and their relationship with the people and places around them appeal to me and are what I look for.

First play I ever did was 'Footloose.' I played the part of Willard when I was 16. I think I wore my drama teacher's jeans and her belt - that's how small I was. I know a lot of Willard's back story from the musical that's not explored in the film. Like he's got this whole relationship with his mama and he sings this song 'Mama Says.'

I still like the relationship part of any story. You don't want your character to figure everything out and then at the end of the day go home and eat soup from a can by herself.

The relationship between an actor and a director is like a love story between a man and a woman. I'm sure sometimes I'm the woman.

We have often been attracted to the story of the other the outcast. And he and I just loved working together so it just kept happening and our relationship is completely bound up with our work. We enjoy each other's art.

So I developed very early a massive inferiority complex and I've told the story often about how that inspired me later in life to get involved in other things because I couldn't out-do my brothers in sports and it's a very competitive relationship.

Having had that experience... I think what modern culture wants to see is the relationship with the woman. I don't think you can tell a story on film nowadays where the woman simply is there for the man when he decides to settle down.

I had a great time making the last movie 'Eclipse.' We shot my back-story stuff from the 1930's. But I was waiting for 'Breaking Dawn' because I love the relationship Rosalie has with Jacob and the rest of her family and Bella. She also provides comic relief.

On the Native American front we have turned a new page in the 400-year history of the interface between the American settlers of this country and the nation's first Americans. That's included a new relationship where the sovereignty of tribes is in fact recognized.